Guest Blogger: A New Chapter in JMU History

We are getting ready to embark upon a new chapter in JMU’s history, fellow Dukes fans, and I am pretty stoked to have won the contest this week! My name is Matt Tremonte, Class of 2005, and this week’s topic is a bit of what I see in the future of THE University of Virginia, JMU.We sit on the precipice of a very exciting turn of events as we get ready to usher in the first new president of the new millennium next June : Mr. Jonathan R. Alger. That’s right folks, very soon Dr. Linwood Rose will step down as President of JMU. Rose has been a pivotal piece of JMU’s meteoric rise in the national spotlight in the 2000’s, and I am looking forward to continued successes in academics, athletics, and alumni involvement. Alger being only the sixth president of JMU in our 103 year history speaks to the enduring appeal of JMU. Each president has had an enduring legacy, and we can only dream about what Alger’s may be. I am EXCITED!!For a quick history lesson check out www.jmu.edu/president, but I prefer graphical representations of my JMU presidents:I draw that to say this: you never know when YOUR team will come together and get that coveted last W of the season. Personally, my sport of choice is football, and it has been for quite some time. I have had the great fortune of witnessing multiple championships by my favorite football teams over the years, with my friends on the Centreville High School football team winning the Virginia AAA Division 6 Football Championships when I was a senior, being a senior at JMU (THE University of Virginia) in 2004 when we won the Division 1-AA National Championship in The ‘Noog, and just last year when the Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XLV. What do all of these teams have in common? Their sports have a playoff in which one team prevails at the end of the season. Make sense, does it not?

Those that know me best are well aware of many a JMU alumni’s efforts to get the JMU faithful up and cheering during JMU sporting events. With so much to cheer about these past few years, how could you not? Here is one more thing to get excited about: if we take down the #2 Bison of North Dakota State University this Saturday we will be playing in sunny Bridgeforth Stadium in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley against the winner of Lehigh @ Towson. We will not count any eggs until they hatch against the ONLY team from the quarterfinals a year ago that finds itself in this year’s field. But, I will not count out this JMU team until their clock hits 0, hopefully with a W on January 7, 2012.

For Nick Keats and the other fallen Dukes of this year… gone, but not forgotten.