Welcome Back Withers, Now Get Back to Work
So unless you’ve been in a hole or on a Leaving Las Vegas-esque bender the last five days or so, you know that JMU Head Ball Coach Everett Withers – the man who’s brought all kinds of accountability, excitement, recruiting prowess, and general 21st-century style to the program the last two years – was pretty clearly a finalist for the open position at East Carolina. In the end, both Withers and former Michigan coach Brady Hoke were simply also-rans and the names the press got ahold of first as the Pirates (a 2017 Dukes opponent by the way) surprised everyone (though not necessarily themselves or a bad decision) by hiring Duke Offensive Coordinator Scottie Montgomery this weekend.
We get it. Now fix the damned defense.
In the meantime, a lot of Dukes fans seem to have found a lot more ways to scrutinize Withers, the program, and the progress or lack thereof that all of us on the couch have seen. We’ve even heard some diehards and optimists use the word “betrayal” in reference to Withers’ dalliance with a different shade of purple and gold. Our take? Settle down! Look, criticism of the sieve known as the JMU defense is valid, massive criticism actually. Criticism of Withers, allegedly a defensive guy who has presided over a similarly awful unit at OSU before finding a landing spot at JMU before likely being thrown under the bus by Urban Meyer, is valid. But to criticize Withers or feel betrayed by his interviewing for the ECU job is simply ridiculous. Even if you think Withers is overpaid at FCS/CAA JMU, Ruffin McNeil was let go at ECU making 1.4M a year, more than three times what JMU shells out. East Carolina is in the American Athletic Conference, which is quite obviously the clear-cut top conference outside the P5 (see Houston headed for a big boy bowl, Temple/Memphis/Navy all getting some brief playoff shine this year, and UConn still hanging banners in hoops). ECU is easily as much in his recruiting wheelhouse geographically as JMU. And most importantly, Withers is 52 and if he wants to keep moving up the ladder, he simply can’t pass up the chance to grab for opportunities like this no matter how badly ECU bungled this situation and what an uphill battle that’s going to be replacing a popular, successful coach like McNeill.
To the fans? If we want to keep playing at a high level, we need to recalibrate our thinking and remember that having other people trying to poach your people means things are going way better than the alternative. And to those of us that want to move up, if that ever happens we might as well get used to this.
Our own message to Withers? Get back to work, lock down the recruits you’ve got in the pipeline, and most of all fix the Defense come hell or high water.
Fix the special teams too. I’ve never seen three extra points blocked before in one game, and it cost us at William and Mary. And the two fumbles in the game against Colgate that cost us were also special teams.
Three Words;
Sisa must go
The guy has not D1 nor playing experience at a high level. At times his coverage calls were horrible.
McMillin – last head coaching job at JMU
Purzycki – last head coaching job at JMU
Scherer – left JMU for Memphis
Wood – “left” JMU for Vikings (QB coach)
Matthews – fired after 14 seasons
Withers – attempted to leave after 2 seasons
JMU fans are not used to coaches just up and leaving for the bigger and the better. Call it the Mickey effect. Are we better off with Withers (over some new guy)? Probably. Were we better off with Mickey (over Withers or another hire that would stick around for 10 years)? That remains to be seen.
So, are we just supposed to put up with this every year now? I feel he’s only here until something better comes along. There’s no loyalty. I get that he may pursue a more lucrative offer, and I don’t fault him for that, but what will he have to say to the JMU nation now? Not sure I can believe anything he says anymore. I don’t trust him.
I’m confused why anyone has the right to be upset…back to back 9 win seasons where the offense was scoring 40 points a game. Gameday on the Quad?? ..in my mind that was a bigger event and more important to the program than the national championship.
Have we forget the jet sweep left, jet sweep right, QB drop back run for your life offense we had for the 7 years before Withers?
Let’s just calm down and see if the defense can get better and not feel betrayed if someone leaves a program better off than when they showed up to make 3 times the salary…we would all do that.
Everyone needs to back away from the ledge just a bit. I am glad that EW will be back….but don’t blame him one bit for looking to move up the ladder. It is no different than one of use in our job……if we had the chance in the prime of our career to move up a rung on the ladder to play with the ‘big boys’ and get a HUGE pay bump. This is the nature of the beast. If you have a successful coach at the FCS level enjoy them while b/c if they have ambition and are successful they will be moving on eventually.
Glad to see EW make immediate changes to the defensive coaching staff as soon as he knew he would be staying. Those changes while hard to make had to be done. Good luck to Coach Bowers and Davilla.
Now makes some solid hires and firm up the recruiting for next year.
I am not mad at EW. he had a chance to move to bigger things with more money. If we stay FCS then we have to expect this. He has done a lot of good things while here. I am glad we no longer have MM. Glad to hear there is changes in the defense and hope there is till more to come like getting rid of Sisa. He would have made more money and he has a family to look after. We all need to understand that he will eventually leave if we don’t move up. Don’t blame him there are others you can blame for that. Looking forward to getting next year started! GO DUKES!
I understand how someone would want to quadruple their salary and move to FBS. I think if JMU moves to FBS things like this won’t happen every time a vacancy pops up. It is good that he is going to overhaul the defensive staff and see if we can get more production and better technique on that side of the ball. The only thing I believe is suspect about EW is how he treats the media and answers questions, of course Bourne is going to have to address that. I have been going over statistics since the season has been finished, and here is another that is particularly telling. In the past two seasons the 18 wins we have had have come against teams with an overall record of 90-116. Of our 7 losses the teams we lost to had a combined record 62-31. Take that any way you want to.
I have no problem with Withers looking. I am especially pleased with the outcome. The fact that he was being considered means he has started something special at JMU. The fact that he lost out to a non-head coach ought to tell him something. He is not there yet. Finish what you started, make a consistent winner that achieves the highest potential at our level, and your time will come. Until then, get to work and fix the holes in your program.
I am glad ECU showed interest and that hopefully Withers got the message. I am very glad he is the JMU coach and will have the opportunity to finish what he started.
Go Dukes!
I agree that looking at jobs was bounded to happen. But he prides home self on a team and family. I bet the players on the roster feel betrayed since he was about to leave them. I also wonder if this would effect recuiting now. Comments?
no problem with “wilting withers” looking for other jobs, just wish ECU would have done us a favor and hired him. Ol’ “One and Done” just ain’t going to get it done in Harrisonburg. Bad hire, the sooner we replace, the sooner we’ll have a chance to see the second round of the NCAA FCS playoffs.
If all goes as planned, next season will be my last as “jmuparent”. It’s been a great run, but a solid defense in 2016 sure would be nice!
Why is Withers, all of a sudden, carrying on about how he is not a defensive coach? Perhaps he has a bridge to sell …
Withers sounded touchy about the whole “defensive” coach thing. Probably because he lost out on a job to a guy who is an offensive coordinator.
Whatever his excuses, Withers needs to quit being such a dick to the media or he may end up having to find a job out of necessity instead of preference. He’s becoming disliked in the community at a rapid rate and people are getting tired of his act. Show a little respect for people just doing their jobs dude.
Sure Withers could be a little nicer to Matt Jones…..but if you want to gripe about that how about Jones go back to school and learn to be a competent sports journalist. All in all the relationship was ‘ok’ until Jones repeatedly BROKE the rules with regard to player access early in the Fall.
So the DNR has someone with the skills of a student reporter covering JMU football that cannot ask intelligent questions in a post game press conference and cannot follow media rules. He either asks yes/no questions or questions that really make no sense. So just who is it that that needs to show some respect for people just trying to do their job? Jones is a paid professional (NOT A STUDENT REPORTER) — act like a professional.
First things first – yes, I’m a VT grad. I married a JMU alum and don’t worry, she constantly reminds me of 21-16. Since she already had season tickets, I’ve been to almost every home game the past two years. I’ve really enjoyed watching Vad tear it up (it was nice to see some offensive fireworks opposed to what the Hokies usually put up) and was really gutted when he got injured against UR.
Ok, on to Withers… I think people should be wary of the “grass is greener” philosophy and appreciate what he’s brought to JMU. It’s also hard to fault a guy for looking at a job that would pay him more. That’s just life. Unless a candidate has deep ties to a school, it’s really, REALLY hard to keep a successful coach at any level. Unless JMU moves up to FBS, a coach with ambition will always be somewhat of a flight risk. That’s not inherently bad, it’s just the way it is. Heck, most P5 schools fall into that category too.
IMO, Withers has laid a solid foundation. He’s taking steps to fix the defense, which is a big plus. The secondary was the strength of the defense, and they’re an extremely young group. Run defense was a huge issue this year, and that’s seemingly being addressed by some new hires.
The thing that less people are talking about, and I think should be a bigger talking point, was how conservative the offensive play-calling became after Vad went down. It’s obvious that Schor isn’t the same caliber athlete and wasn’t as experienced, but I felt that they really limited him after the W&M game. That may have been because they were afraid to suffer another injury, but it certainly seemed like an entirely different scheme. Maybe it’s just not in Schor’s nature to tuck and run like Vad, but he’s capable of it and proved it a few times in the UR and W&M games. Hopefully a full off-season with Schor will allow the staff to construct an offensive gameplan around his talents.
Nonetheless, Withers has done a great job of putting JMU on the map and the importance of College Gameday can’t be underestimated. Other than the final outcome, that day was an awesome fan experience and hopefully the school and football program can build on that momentum.
Whether Withers likes Matt Jones or not, or the press for that matter, fans and supporters deserve to know what is going on with the program. His generic answers to questions at the Monday Fans and Press Luncheon were very frustrating. Our record this past two years made for exciting seasons, plus the benefits of Game Day. To me the question going forward is how can he recruit players and GOOD coaches now that they know he will move on when the opportunity presents itself.
AND Tidewater Dukes comments about the win/loss record of our opponents the past two years says a lot. I’m not sure we were as good as we appeared.
Hokie Married to a Duke,
Thanks for your comments. Well said.
That crap about it being normal and expected for Withers to look for another job is a cop out. I was watching a Division II playoff game this weekend and the coach of Shepherd University (Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, WV) has been there for 29 years and has a record of something like 222-90-1. He has his team playing for a national championship next week. You think that guy couldn’t have coached elsewhere if he had wanted to? How about Mickey Matthews after winning a national championship? No, they both liked where they coached and valued the program they had built.
Withers has only been at JMU two years and now the whole world knows he wants to move on. I don’t see how to repair that.
Xerk — MM did look to leave and go to South Alabama. He was very close to leaving and basically used that leverage to get a new deal from JMU. MM was gone until JMU paid up.
Withers moved from a $500,000 job at OSU to $350,000 at JMU. WHY? I don’t believe that it was ‘so he could be a head coach’ somewhere. If he was a DC at OSU, why was our defense so bad? I mean he is the head coach. JMU is giving him an interim job until something better comes along. I’ve said it before, his demeanor at the press conferences did not win any friends. And, how can he hire a GOOD DC if he prospective coach knows he might only have a job for a year? Like all Purple People, I want us to be champions every year. I just don’t feel good about it now with him as our head coach.
I found Coach’s handling of the media after the games to be
disappointing and condescending. I don’t know the sport like he
does. So,as a fan I am listening in to learn. I want to have some
insight into game planning, it’s execution , strategies, team chemistry etc.
Matt Brady on the other hand has been open and interesting during post
game interviews. Discussing detailed strategy, bench use, and technique,
it’s easy to pick-up on his love for the game and teach us at the same time.
Hopefully Coach withers will improve on his interaction and thus enhance
fan experience, increasing our already rabid enthusiasm.
The Dukes need to look for another FBS athletic QB to run the up tempo spread offense, Schor is more of a pro style QB. If they don’t get a transfer the offense needs to be adjusted to Schor’s strength. Withers says he’s not a defensive minded coach, how did he get a job as a defensive coordinator at UNC and OSU? He was asked about the ECU job, and he kept saying I have a job at JMU, everybody knew he had interviewed twice with ECU. The defense was absolutely atrocious versus the run, with better competition they couldn’t stop the run. I like the offensive scheme but he needs to hire defensive coaches with more experience.
I have concluded that Withers doesn’t answer questions because he doesn’t know the answer. Just go to his press conferences and you will see what I mean. I introduced myself at a Duke Club function before the season and felt…..well never mind. I love JMU and JMU athletics and want all of our coaches and representatives to be first class. Good example is Coach Wilder at ODU. Class Act and they love him there. He doesn’t fight the press, he embraces the press which helps create huge fan support. enough said.