According to reports by FootballScoop.com, Everett Withers will be the new head coach of the JMU Dukes. Withers has been the co-defensive coordinator and assistant head coach to Urban Meyers at Ohio State for the past two years. Prior to joining the Buckeye staff, Withers was the interim head coach for North Carolina in the wake of Butch Davis’ dismissal. He also spent time as the defensive coordinator for the Tarheels and was on the coaching staff for the University of Minnesota, Tennessee Titans, and University of Texas. There has been no confirmation from Withers, any of his people, JMU, or Ohio State at this time.
Reports indicate that Weathers and JMU are currently finalizing contract negotiations and we can all expect a press conference and official announcement tomorrow. We’ll be back with plenty of thoughts on the potential hiring once the ink is dry. Provided JMU doesn’t get Mummed again of course.
Mickey Matthews had the above ad run in the DNR this morning. In it thanks the JMU and Harrisonburg communities for all of their support over the past 15 years. It’s a classy move by JMU’s all time winningest football coach and his family.
It’s not unusual to see millionaire athletes do something like this after they trade or retire. The fact that Mickey did it in his situation, while not unprecedented, just seems a little bit different and speaks volumes about the man. Just a classy move all around. Well done Coach. And thank you for all you did for us fans.
Don’t Cross the Damn Moats!
Before we get to some evolving thoughts on the search for a Head Ball Coach, we wanted to follow up all of the awards talk surrounding current Duke Stephon Robertson with some great news about a former Duke, in this case Buffalo Bills Linebacker Arthur Moats. As many of you know, Moats has been having a career year. His first as a full-time defensive starter has been very solid on the field. But even better, Moats has endeared himself to upstate New York through his actions off the field. And for this, he was just named Buffalo’s nominee for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Moats’ dedication to the philanthropic work and commitment to the Buffalo community (in addition to crushing Favre and inspiring #dontcrossthemoats of course) have made him a bit of a cult hero among Bills fans and we couldn’t be prouder to have him as one of the more recognizable representatives of JMU!
But of course we have to express a few more thoughts on the coaching search. First, we have to give JMU and Carr some credit for the general veil of secrecy surrounding the search. Even the intrepid Matthew Stoss of the DNR appears to be struggling to gain much traction in the way of verifiable information. In our opinion, this isn’t a bad thing. Next, an update on the names is seems we know: George Barlow (current assistant at Vandy and former Dukes DC) has interviewed, Brian Stinespring (current VT whipping boy and assclown) has interviewed, John DeFilippo (former Dukes QB and current Raiders assistant) has very likely interviewed though probably not in the ‘Burg, and we assume Mike O’Cain (current Dukes OC and former NC State HC) has interviewed. Those are the four names we know. It seems likley there are one or two more, less obvious candidates we don’t know. We think, based on Stoss’s take and the fact we hope JB can hear the VT Fans rejoicing if they find a way to get rid of Stinespring, that the leading candidates are Barlow, DeFilippo, and maybe O’Cain. Of that group, Barlow appears to have emerged as the fans’ choice and we can’t blame them. We’re trying to reserve judgment, because we’re in no way qualified make a judgment on any of these guys, but we can say confidently we’d be excited about either Barlow or DeFilippo for sure. We also wonder if there’s a chance O’Cain could be convinced to stick around with either or both of those guys??
Next, a quick note on Carr’s involvement. We’ve heard quite a few voices saying essentially, “these guys were all obvious JMU targets and why are we paying Carr?” While that may not be entirely invalid, Carr provides more than just candidates. First, you’ve got to think they’ve put candidates on the board that JB wouldn’t have thought of or seriously considered on his own. Even if he chooses to stick to his short list, there’s value in forcing him to choose. Second, the lack of leaks or public shitshows that we’ve occasionally seen in the past has to be in part credited to Carr’s involvement. The use of a third party to talk with agents, set up meetings, etc. definitely gives JMU the ability to keep a lower profile publicly. Next, nobody really seems to know all the candidates so the use of Carr is not something that anyone seems qualified (other than JB and co.) to make judgments about yet. Finally, if JMU ends up with the right guy before Christmas, we’ll be pleased no matter how they chose to get there.
And no, the sky isn’t falling just yet due to the delayed hire. This decision is too important long-term, especially as it relates to the new direction JMU Athletics is heading as they likely switch conferences in the next few months, to rush the process over fears of losing one or two recruits. We’re as anxious as anyone, and it is “gettin’ late early” but we’re also hopeful for a decision this weekend or next weekend at the latest and won’t be busting out our pitchforks just yet.
The winner of the 2013 Buck Buchanan Award was announced today. Unfortunately, JMU’s own Stephon Robertson did not win and had to settle for second place. The award instead was given to Montana State defensive end Brad Daly. Daly had a heck of a year, sharing the defensive player of the year for the Big Sky with Cal Poly’s Sullivan Grosz. Still his selection irked plenty of JMU fans who thought Stephon was more far deserving of the honor.
Robertson not winning the Buchanan does nothing to take away from the outstanding season (and career) he had. While they are something fans get excited about, these post season awards are largely pointless away. All of the awards except one that is. The Totally Best Defender in Entire U.S.A. is the one college football season that definitely proves who the best defensive player in football is. The winner is selected by an esteemed panel of experts consisting solely of me and Todd. And this year the 2013 Totally Best Defender in Entire U.S.A. goes to none other than JMU’s Stephon Robertson. Rules dictate that the voting results remain private, but we can say that Robertson totally crushed Daly. Congratulations Stephon on this very prestigious honor.
Ding dong the witch is dead. Or at least the 6 game losing streak is over. JMU went on the road and defeated High Point by the score of 84-69 Saturday night. JMU moved to 3-8 on the year, while High Point fell to 3-5.
High Point had the upper hand in the first half, shooting 50% overall and hitting 6 of 10 from behind the arc. JMU let High Point get out to double-digit leads multiple times, only to go on runs to close the gap. In the closing minutes of the first half, a 7-0 run sent them into the locker room down 40-35. They carried the positive momentum into the second half, grabbed the lead at 43-42, and pretty much controlled the game from there on out. Charles Cooke led the way with 25 points. Andrey Semenov, Ron Curry, Jackson Kent, and Taylor Bessick also reached double figures in scoring. Here are a few things we liked about the win. read more…
The official job requisition for the JMU Head Coach position closed this week. Without a firm understanding of the great state of Virginia’ employment laws, I really have no idea what that means or how close we are to finding out who the next coach of the JMU Dukes will be. However, it certainly seems as if it’s an appropriate time for some baseless speculation about who will get the job. So we’re going to throw a few names out there for guys we believe are in the mix. We invite you to do the same in the comments.
Keep in mind, neither Todd nor I know anything or have any inside knowledge whatsoever. None. You’d think our complete ignorance would be evident to anyone who’s ever read this thing, but we still consistently field questions from folks asking us for the inside scoop. We don’t have it. We do have incredibly outsized egos and opinions when it comes to JMU sports however. So there’s that. Without further ado, here is a list of guys we think could be (or should be) in the running for the JMU job. read more…
Jackson Kent, a 6’7″ freshman guard for the Dukes, won the CAA Rookie of the Week award yesterday. Kent averaged 11 points per game in the Lumberjack Classic, hitting on 3 of 5 from downtown and 11 of 14 from the charity stripe. As we mentioned previously, Kent’s play has been a silver lining thus far in the young season. This is hopefully the first of many honors for Jackson during his JMU career. Read all about it and the other top performances in the CAA (including Charles Cooke stellar play) here.
Since there are really only so many ways to keep saying the same things about men’s hoops right now (injuries, a suspension, youth, horrendous shooting but just need to stay patient) and we haven’t heard anything on the coaching search in football yet, we’re thrilled to share a really bright piece of JMU athletics alumni news. Former Dukes soccer standout C.J. Sapong (@BigAfrika88 and a good follow) and his side, SportingKansasCity, won the MLS Cup yesterday. You can read all about the epic, ten-round penalty shootout to decide the title after the 1-1 draw here but we’re of course gonna focus on Sapong. He was the MLS Rookie of the Year two years back but had been up and down late last season and early this season. But Sapong scored a huge goal in SKC’s Eastern Conference clinching match last week and then converted his PK in the shootout and played strong throughout the match yesterday. Huge congrats to another proud Duke!
This is a young team and it’s a rebuilding year. Sorry, I just had to see it in writing to remind myself. The Dukes took a trip to Texas and lost a pair of games to Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State. I don’t know much about either school, but I tend to think of them as Texas’ own little version of a Michigan directional school. That may or may not be an apt comparison. Regardless, each team did what it had to in order to defeat the Dukes. read more…
It seems to me that if you’ve been paying attention to JMU football over the last few years, you had an understanding that Coach Matthews’ job was less than secure. Some of that insecurity is due to expectations built up over a successful run from 1999-2013 or at least the appearance of one. Matthews compiled a .606 winning %, appeared in the playoffs 6 times, and won one national championship. However, his tenure was not great across the board: There were 7 years that were marked by a record of .500 or worse in conference play. Was it reasonable to expect anything different over the last few years? (Note: 2010 and 2013 were years in which JMU was less than .500 in conference play). An argument could be made that while frustrating in any particular year, Matthews gave us exactly what was reasonable to expect given his career at JMU- moments of greatness while moments of futility. Just two short years ago, JMU got to the second round of the playoffs. This was only the third time this happened in Matthews’ tenure. In fact Matthews’ greatest run was from 2004 to 2008 which went championship, missed playoffs, first round loss, first round loss, semi-finals loss. This run was bookended on one side by 4 consecutive years without a playoff appearance and on the other side by two years without a playoff appearance. It isn’t rational to expect any different than what we know already from Matthews and what we know is that his tenure was marked by highs and lows. Does this mean Matthews should have been retained? I don’t think so but the reality is that our expectations should have been in line with Matthews’ track record read more…
