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…
Travel & Leisure published its list of America’s Best College Towns and Harrisonburg was judged to be one of the best. Because of course it was. The Friendly City officially ranked 5th on the list. As alums, we don’t need anyone to tell us that Harrisonburg is a great college town. While we could go on and on about the many things that make it so, Travel & Leisure gave the ‘burg high marks due to the high quality of its biking and beer. Can’t argue with that.
Harrisonburg was one of five Virginia towns on the list. This of course proves what I’ve always said, that the Commonwealth is the most college-towniest state in the Union. Or something like that.
Finishing in the top five is definitely an accomplishment though. Presumably Harrisonburg would have secured an even higher spot, had it scored better on the “degree to which it smells like dog food after even moderate precipitation” portion of the rankings. Regardless, it’s nice to see our favorite college town get the recognition it deserves.
We apologize for the lack of posts lately. We were enjoying time with family and friends and hope you were doing the same. Here are a few links to catch you up on things you might have missed.
JMU hoops is struggling at putting the ball in the basket. Yes, it’s a rebuilding year and yes, the Dukes are missing Semenov and Nation. They’ve lost four straight though and currently shooting 21.6% from three point range. That’s good for 350th best in the country. Out of 351 teams (LOL Miami). They shot 30% from the field and went 0-16 from behind the arc in Saturday’s loss to Richmond.
Kenny Brooks and the ladies saw their dreams for a perfect season come to an end with a loss to Mississippi State. They then dropped another one to Wright State courtesy of a three pointer at the buzzer. (Mental note: see if girl from Wright State can be the three point threat the guys need in Semenov’s absence.)
The Marching Royal Dukes and Dukettes made all of JMU proud with their performance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Plenty of coverage here, here, and here (with video). JMU was even trending on Twitter.
Curt Newsome isn’t taking any chances now that his boss, Mickey Matthews has been let go. He reached out to Emory & Henry to express his interest in the school’s head coaching position.
Jeff Bourne explains it pretty clearly. Mickey Matthews was let go because JMU expected more wins. He also plays the cards close to his vest regarding the FBS elephant in the room.
Matt Brady offered a scholarship to a 6’8″ scorer who’s mom is a Duke. Bring it home for your alma mater mom.
And finally, there was some sad news. JMU alum, member of the 2004 National Championship team, and World’s Strongest Man competitor Mike Jenkins passed away in his sleep last week. R.I.P. Mike.
