JMU’s own C.J. Sapong was in the midst of a 7 game scoring drought for Sporting KC heading into last weekend’s clash with San Jose. He broke out of the slump in spectacular fashion with a well timed run and strike to give his team a 1-0 lead. Sporting KC hung on to win the match 2-1. Sapong’s outstanding finish has been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week. The winner will be determined by a fan vote. That means all you soccer fans can rid yourself of the USMNT hangover and focus on stuffing the online ballot box here. Voting runs until 11:59 PM PST on Thursday.
Update: Sapong’s goal captured received more than twice the number of votes as the nearest runner-up and was officially declared MLS Goal of the Week.
Earlier today, The Daily News Record’s Matt Stoss broke the story that Jace Edwards has been given his release and will transfer from JMU. We wish Jace well wherever he ends up, but this isn’t really a surprise. Mickey Matthews was somewhat dismissive when answering questions at the NOVA Coaches Caravan about Jace’s role going forward. He quickly mentioned that Jace had played hurt and then seemed to shift focus to speculating on the chances of Justin Thorpe being granted a 6th year of eligibility. While nothing specific was said about Jace’s future, Todd and I both came away with the impression that his spot as the heir apparent to Thorpe was anything but secure.
As a redshirt freshman Jace Edwards was forced into the starting role during Justin Thorpe’s suspension (or “sabbatical” as Mickey refers to it). He lead the Dukes to a homecoming victory over Richmond in his first start, and JMU went 2-3 overall with him under center. He showed flashes of maturity and deserves credit for doing enough to keep the Dukes’ playoff hopes alive while Thorpe was out. Due to his involvement in an off-campus altercation, he was due to serve a one game suspension to open the 2012 season. Whether or not that has anything to do with his decision to transfer is pure speculation at this point however.
Edwards missed all of spring practice recovering from shoulder surgery. As a result, Andre Coble practiced as the de facto back-up QB. Presumably, Coble will enter the season as Thorpe’s primary back-up. There is potentially some good depth developing behind Coble however, with a trio of well regarded QB recruits in Michael Birdsong, Ian Fisher, and Taylor Reynolds set to join the team this year. Maybe that had something to do with Thorpes’ decision or maybe he just wanted to go back to Texas. The point is, JMU has some talent in the pipeline at QB. Given Thorpe’s history of injuries, there is a decent chance JMU is going to need Coble or one of the freshmen to step in at some point this season.
Like a lot of people, we often get swept up by life’s distractions and convince ourselves that completely trivial things (like conference realignment for example) are more important than they actually are. Holidays like Memorial Day snap us back into reality and cause us to remember what actually is important. And that’s exactly the point. So whatever you do today, we hope you take the time to thank the men and women of our armed services. Hopefully you’re out and about celebrating with family and friends. If you’re not though, you might want to give this classic piece by Chris Jones a read. Happy Memorial Day everyone. And our sincere thanks to all of the members of our military.
With his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, Rob thankfully pointed out earlier this week that JMU will, in fact, be taking the field for football this fall regardless of their future conference affiliation. At least for me, it was a great wake-up call. The last two summers, once the final out of the baseball season was recorded, we’ve struggled to post for May and June. In the end, we’ve enjoyed ourselves immensely with serious debates over Luigi’s vs. Gus’ and Puddleduck against everything circa 1997. And of course, we’ve spaced out posts over the summer previewing the Dukes upcoming gridiron opponents and occassionally other high-profile FCS programs.
Needless to say, this year we’ve had no trouble finding content or wading into controversial, and purely speculative, opinion pieces. And while the pageviews are nice and we’re glad our 11 readers seem to be enjoying a lively comments section, the truth is we’re both a little over all of this conference talk. JMU appears screwed for the time-being. And everytime I hear some report from some podunk paper on Twitter announcing some ridiculous, barely accredited “university” is under consideration for the CAA it makes me want to vomit (actually it makes me want to cry a little but I just didn’t want to admit that). So that said, we’re just going to bring up one more point to consider and then hopefully move on for a few weeks in the absence of new hard news about JMU’s future.
We’ve covered financial risk, media markets, travel insanity, the medium and long term college football landscape, our alternating hatred and jealously of ODU, and of course the “academic standards” email we all got from JMU’s AD Jeff Bourne. And really, “academics” is the last bastion of the true scalawag when you’ve already told your constiutency you’ve been actively looking to move to FBS.
But I got to spend last weekend hanging out with our one “insider” friend from JMU. And she got me thinking about something I really hadn’t considered in all this craziness. ODU is joining CUSA. CUSA does not even sponsor four of ODU’s current sports, including long-time ODU strongsuits Wrestling and Field Hockey. I have no idea what ODU is planning to do with their orphaned sports (drop them, ineffectively beg to keept them in the CAA, move them to some two-bit nonsense conferece like the Big South) and I really don’t care. And the truth of the matter is I probably wouldn’t care for JMU either if we were in that position. But it is kind of insane to think about that. Even when considering the MAC, there’s no doubt for some of JMU’s sports, that conference would actually be a HUGE step backwards in terms of national credibility. And that’s just for the sports they actually have. Our soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, and track programs have all enjoyed very solid “high mid-major” status. So while after further consideration, I’m just not sure I can buy the academics argument, this is definitely another fly in the ointment of my best-laid FBS plans and it nearly brings us back to where we were at this time last year: Be Careful What You Wish For
*Last post on realignment – for a little while.
[polldaddy poll=6252521]
I know, it’s true. Despite the seemingly endless amount of energy some people have spent worrying, speculating, and over-analyzing the future of the CAA and FCS football (guilty as charged), JMU has decided to go ahead and play out the 2012 football season anyway. Crazy. And since we’re officially 100 days out from the start of the FCS season, we thought we would at least temporarily turn our attention to the 2012 Dukes. Indulge us for a moment please. We promise we’ll get back to conference realignment talk soon. So save your stories about your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Jeff Bourne hold a secret meeting in the Wilson Hall clock-tower with officials from the MAC. We’re sure he did, undoubtedly right before seeing Ferris pass out at 31 flavors (Google it kids).
Where was I? Oh yeah, the 2012 JMU Dukes football team. Todd and I are scarily optimistic about this team’s chances. And it’s not just because we believe in the “every 4 years they make a run” theory. This year’s Dukes team brings a lot of talent back. With Stephon Roberston anchoring the linebacker core, Jakarie Jackson and Dean Marlowe patrolling the secondary, and Sage Harold ready to break out as a pass rushing force, the defense is loaded. And on offense, the Dukes will have more weapons than they’ve had in years. Quentin Hunter will be fully recovered and ready to make plays at wideout. The versatile Andre Coble should continue to mature. Dae’Quan Scott and Jordan Anderson both have 1,000 yard season potential at tail-back. Brian Barlow could be a beast in the red-zone. And we haven’t even mentioned Justin Thorpe, a QB who is 10-1 in his last 11 FCS starts. This team could be good. Really good. But that’s just what we think. Vote in the poll or sound off in the comments to let us know your expectations.
While most JMU fans still have plenty to say about the recent departures from the CAA, it’s time to look forward. With VCU gone and ODU on its way out, there are some big holes to fill. Both schools had solid hoops programs that were perennial contenders for the league title. And despite only playing one year of CAA football, ODU estabsilshed itself as a program to be taken seriously. In addition to those losses, the CAA will need to replace Georgia State a program that brought a lot to the table as well nobody cared about anyway. Plus, Rhode Island will be off to the Northeast Conference in 2013, leaving CAA with 8 football members and 9 for all other sports. There are plenty of schools that the CAA is rumored to be targeting for expansion. Let’s take a look at a four of them and the odds of each joining the league.
Stony Brook University
Location: Stony Brook, NY (Long Island)
Size: 24,594 students
Rumors of the CAA scooping up Stony Brook have been floating around online for months. Its a large state university that is located less than an hour away from Hofstra. Like a lot of the schools in the SUNY system, its somewhat of an unknown to people outside of the Northeast. It’s a solid school with a good athletic program. Its teams play in the America East Conference, except for its football team which plays in the Big South. Last year, the football team won the Big South and made it to the second round of the playoffs. In hoops they won the regular season title, before falling the conference tourney. The did secure an NIT bid however. They’re a solid investment for the future, something Glenmore Investment would probably support.
Odds: 5-1
Appalachian State
Location: Boone, NC
Size: 20,222 students
The Mountaineers are probably the “dream” option for a lot of JMU football fans. They’re a powerhouse program with outstanding support and several National Championships in the trophy case. They currently play in the Southern Conference, a league whose fans claim (unconvincingly) is every bit as good as the CAA in football. The Mountaineer hoops program leaves a little to be desired though. So while the addition of App State would cement the CAA as the top FCS football league in the land, the hoops team would do little more than fill a slot. And with the school (and it’s fans) already declaring its desire to go FBS, a move to another FCS conference might not go over well.
Odds 12-1
College of Charleston
Location: Charleston, SC
Size: 9,866 students
C of C doesn’t have football, so this move would be made primarily with hoops in mind. And it would be a solid addition to the league. The Cougars are currently members of the Southern Conference along with App State. While not a house-hold name, C of C has a proud basketball history, reaching the NCAA tournament 4 times in the 90’s. They haven’t been back to the dance in a decade, but they were a consistent winner under former head coach Bobby Cremins. Doug Wojick will take over for Cremins next season and look to build on a 18 win campaign. Adding Charleston would be enticing for UNCW, who are left hanging without any other CAA schools in the Carolinas. It also would make for a very nice road trip for CAA fans.
Odds: 8-1
Davidson College
Location: Davidson, NC
Size: 1,890 students
Davidson has a football program, but their addition would be more of a move for hoops. And honestly, I didn’t even know they had a football program until I just Googled it, so this would really be a hoops focused addition. Davidson has a very strong and relatively well known mid-major hoops program thanks to alums like Seth Curry and former head coach Lefty Driesell. They also sent Denzel Bowles home with a loss in his final game as a Duke, in the opening round of some low-rent post-season tourney 2 years ago. The Wildcats currently compete in the Pioneer League for football and the Southern Conference for all other sports. Football would need to improve dramatically to hang in the CAA. With 11 NCAA tournament appearances including one last season, the Davidson hoops team would be a shot in the arm to a rebuilding CAA. The school’s small size might be a factor that works against the CAA though.
Odds 10-1
ODU formally announced they are accepting their invitation to Conference USA today. They will be joining in all sports except football beginning Summer 2013 and for football in 2015. Obviously this is disappointing, concerning, disturbing, and largely just plain sad for JMU fans. To watch a school we wouldn’t wipe our feet with academically that just started football three years ago pass us by and leave us holding our shiny new stadium (and our dicks) just makes you feel like some big meathead kid stole your middle-school girlfriend.
There are a million JMU angles to cover from this story and we need to credit the following Twitter folks (schools they cover or are associated with in parens) in advance for ripping off some of today’s best material: @BGMull (UNCW), @defiantlydutch (Hofstra), @caahoops, @MarkRSelig (JMU), @ChrisMottram (GMU), @CAArleigh (JMU/CAA), @SeanDKennedy (CAA Norfolk angle), @batogato (W&M), @Brian_Ewart (Nova), @Gheorghetheblog (W&M), @FairbankDP (ODU), @Dukie95 (JMU), @ry_hudson (JMU), @CurtDudley (JMU), @NUHF (Northeastern), @D1scource. Thanks to all of you for making today a little more light-hearted than it otherwise might have been.
Here are the important links for your consideration:
The Norfolk view of the move. What this story fails to mention is that in addition to the $250,000 exit fee for the CAA, ODU is on the hook for a $2.5M entrance fee to CUSA, and you know, the added forty five or so scholarships (jump in football from FCS to FBS plus accompanying jump in women’s schollies to remain compliant with Title IX). So that’s really nice that ODU claims they’ve raised $3M in private donations and won’t be raising student fees, but that’s close to $5M a year increase for a fledgling program already in the hole from startup costs who plays in an ancient p.o.s. stadium with no parking and little chance of short-term expansion or increased revenue streams. Good Gosh! Bet the Virginia General Assembly’s going to be thrilled if ODU comes looking for a handout ten years from now!
For reference’s sake, here’s an amazing chart from USA Today that breaks down the finances of 227 schools. That “% subsidized” column on the end represents the percentage of that school’s athletics budget that comes from student fees. You will notice that the Virginia schools have some of the highest percentages in the nation. But before you go freaking out and calling your local Tea Party rep, you need to hear the whole story. As it turns out Virginia is one of the only states that doesn’t allow it’s public schools to pad their athetic budgets with money from the university’s general fund (i.e. tuition). In other states, schools just steal from their academic funds to pay for sports and don’t have to tell anyone. At least at JMU it’s honest and transparent that thet is where your student fees are largely going. You can always vote with your feet by going somewhere else, but you’d be a dumbass because even after these fees, JMU is one of the best values in public higher education in the country when you compare it with the tuition at other schools (tuition, by the way, that is presumably inflated by having to unknowingly subsidize athletics).
The CAA’s statement on the matter from Commissioner Tom Yeager. The highlight here are that he believes the dust has finally settled for this year and the CAA can now aggressively pursue new members. Those rumored to be at the top of the list include Stony Brook (solid football in a solid location for growth and would please the football-only affiliate members up north), Davidson (has football and more suited academically to CAA than their current conference, but why would they leave the cushiness they enjoy in hoops?), UNC-Greensboro (no football, but would be a solid and appeasing rival for UNCW with a large enrollment in a metro area), Coastal Carolina (has football, sucks academically, would be natural rival for UNCW), and College of Charleston (not gonna happen though would make for a nice road trip occassionally).
Yeager also provided the comment that led to my favorite part of the day. The CAA has a rule in place that when you leave the conference, you are no longer eligible for the CAA Hoops tourney. He stated that the remaining members would vote on whether to lift the rule for ODU for this year because ODU requested they be allowed to compete since they’ve been such a long-time member. WAAHHHH, WAAHHHH! Said @defiantlydutch: ODU wants to be allowed to compete in CAA Hoops tourney next year. Related: I want $40M dropped from a plane onto my lawn. That’s chutzpah from ODU. Like dumping your wife for a trophy blonde and asking if you can still store your stuff at home.
Here is the statement from JMU today and if you read nothing else, read this one. It’s appropriate and says basically all the things we want to hear. Of course, one could also snark that what it doesn’t say is “we’re all committed because we’ve got no place else that want our sorry asses.” It’s also nice that we want to maintain our high standards on the academic side, and if you told me something like, say, JMU and W&M were going to the Patriot League and deemphasizing football, it would be hard to say that’s entirely wrong. But then again, there’s that shiny new $70M stadium that says that was never the plan but we’ve been derailed by the lack of a television market.
On that note, rest assured we’ll have plenty of time for the knashing of teeth and to debate the merits of the FireJeffBourne crowd this summer and presumably on the occasional fall Saturday without even an internet feed at ghetto Bailey’s/Big Al’s for years to come so we’d kindly ask that we all back off of our Gingrichian reactionary statements and let this breathe for a day or so. After all, JMU isn’t doing shit this year except trying in vain to convince football recruits JMU remains a better option than the school in Norfolk they don’t have to study to attend. And it’s not that a long history of things like “@ Eastern Kentucky” don’t make it extremely difficult to trust our AD’s competence, it’s just that there are a lot of ways to look at this and not all of them involve football. (wait, what the f did I just say?!)
Finally, I loved this from @D1scource today and I think it was echoed well in JMU’s statement on our own mission: “The three most powerful forces in conference realignment are fear, greed, and a myopia that fails to recognize nothing is permanent.” That last one in particular is what stands out. If ODU is sure that a nationwide conference of mostly financial losers is going to be around for them in the 2015 college football season, then good for them. But if JMU wants to consider our own academics, the academics of our conference brethren, and the long-term plan for the university (you know, the EDUCATIONAL institution we all attended), then I’m going to give them a little longer leash to explain JMU’s position and direction.
Okay, that wasn’t the end. One last thing: I friggin’ hate ODU now. I fake hated them before, but this is damn miserable and I hope they bankrupt their entire athletic department and they get their ass handed to them every time their women’s basketball team makes an overnight flight to San Antonio or Ruston, Louisiana (as Curt Dudley said, Kenny Brooks’ teams finally ran them right out of the league!). As always It’s also going to be this blog’s mission from now until this year’s game in the ‘Burg to make ODU’s fans’ trips for that tilt as miserable as humanly possible. Monarchs: GFY dbags!
Just when we started to believe that the CAA might somehow survive this summer intact, news broke that VCU is on its way to the Atlantic 10 in 2013. That figures. We write a post about the CAA weathering the storm, and then the boat starts rocking almost immediately. In this latest report, CBS Sports’ Brett McMurphy states that the announcement that VCU is leaving will be made on Tuesday, May 15. We’ve been down this road before, only to have reported announcement dates come and pass without as much as a peep. For whatever reason people seem to be taking this latest report as truth. Maybe it’s because we haven’t had any half-hearted or rushed denials from the CAA or VCU since the report broke. And we still have yet to see how ODU’s flirtation with C-USA plays out. Never a dull moment in the CAA.
When the original VCU to the A10 rumors broke, it seemed like a no-brainer to us. However, the longer things dragged on without the Rams leaving, the more we thought they’d stay. With the addition of Butler and now VCU, the A10 could have dramatically improved as a hoops league. Of course any conference is just one move away from being raided. With the rumor machine working over-drive on potential ACC and Big East changes, several A10 programs could be in the crosshairs in the near future. The CAA is anything but stable lately though, so apparently VCU believes the risk exceeds the reward. Financially, it’s certainly no sure thing. As Mike Litos explained, the financial upside to VCU’s leap to the A10 depends almost entirely on the Rams’ getting NCAA tournament bids. And as countless others have pointed out already, VCU won’t have home court advantage in the A10 tourney like they’ve had for the CAA tourney.
That’s all well and good. However, the real tasty nugget in McMurphy’s report as far as we’re concerned, was this little bit about George Mason’s decision to stick with the CAA.
On Friday, George Mason, which along with VCU and Butler had discussions with the Atlantic 10, announced it was staying in the CAA. However, sources told CBSSports.com at the present time the Atlantic 10 was looking to add only one more school and VCU got the nod over Mason.
Well now. That’s certainly a different spin than the one that Mason put on the news last Friday. As fans of a JMU hoops program that can’t sniff CAA Saturday tourney play lately, let alone draw interest from other leagues, we’re in no position to mock Mason. If we were more petty however, we might point out that Mason’s “decision” to remain in the CAA was not a decision at all. When Mason AD Tom O’Connor said “We felt it was in our best interests to stay,” he really meant it. Because they had no offers to go anywhere else. It would be a little bit like the producers of the forthcoming cinematic travesty Battleship, announcing that they had “decided” to remove the picture from Oscar consideration. Or if I announced that I’d “decided” not to sleep with Kate Upton. Or if Nickleback “decided” not to headline Coachella. Of course since we’re not that petty, we won’t point that out. But maybe you will.
…for now. With the news last Friday that George Mason has decided to stay in the CAA for now, the gloom-and-doom clouds we felt with the news that ODU has a Conference USA invite on the table the week before began to clear a bit. With VCU still weighing the A-10 and ODU a couple weeks from a decision, it’s entirely possible this is just the eye of the storm and we’re not actually in the clear, but gotta admit Mason acted downright rational and responsible in this case.
I’m certainly guilty of immediately thinking GMU and VCU would almost have to go A-10 when presented with an opportunity. As anyone who follows CAA hoops can tell you, it’s absolute bullshit that in the CAA, a conference with TWO Final Four appearances in the last six years, a team can win the regular season, go 16-2 in conference, lose a virtual road game in the conference tourney, and still be jilted come selection Sunday (see Drexel two months ago). Whereas the A-10 almost always pulls down three to four bids. But here’s the question we may have been missing: even at the FCS level, is it possible a conference with football in its portfolio is better than one w/out it? At least from a non-football members’ point of view? Most of us assumed the A-10 was in better position because of their standard multi-bid status, but the news we’ve been hearing lately is that financially they’re just not setup as well as the football conferences, possibly even including conferences like the CAA with their freshly inked NBCSports deal. And when that means abandoning a conference you founded and all the regional and traditional rivalries that go with it to absorb higher travel costs for everything (not just men’s hoops, but also women’s tennis), GMU seemed to make one of the first sensible decisions we’ve seen in that regard these past few months.
What does it mean? Who knows. VCU’s position is different and of course they’ve got an old rival in the University of Richmond in the A-10 already. And ODU is dealing with an entirely different decision altogether. Their stated goal is to move up to FBS, but they never knew an opportunity would come so quickly and is this really the right opportunity? Will they regret a few years from now if, as we’ve been discussing here, FCS falls apart entirely, with a few of the stronger teams/conferences, of which many CAA brethren might be grouped, becoming the bottom of FBS, and the rest fading back to something like D2 status?
And then there’s JMU. Still left holding the bag and seemingly at the mercy of the CAA’s fortunes. Largely due to the unfortunate fact of geography, but also hard to let our current administration off the hook entirely. But at least for the moment, Dukes should be thanking Patriots! Now that’s something you don’t hear everyday. Might even have to revise our position on Doc Nix.
Over 3,500 graduates joined the ranks of JMU alumni last Saturday. And to each of you, we say congratulations. It’s only been a few days, so we’re sure things haven’t really sunk in yet. You’re probably still bumming around with your friends, drinking heavily, and paying the tab with money dear old mom and dad put in your pocket. Over the past 4 (or 5) years, you were blessed to be a part of the pleasant little utopia in the Shenandoah Valley known as JMU. We were there once also and we loved it. Like you, we had grown accustomed to the rather comfortable little JMU lifestyle. We left campus anyway and marched out into world confident that JMU had prepared us for all the future could throw at us, convinced that the good times would never end. Only we were wrong. JMU did not prepare us for the real world. At all. And it didn’t prepare you for it either. It actually set you up to be disappointed. Very, very disappointed. And that’s because JMU is awesome and the real world sucks. In the real world you can’t just walk into a house, grab a beer, drink yourself silly, and stumble home with an attractive member of the opposite sex. That doesn’t happen. In the real world the drinks are expensive and most people are ugly.
By now you’re probably sick of old people giving you the terrible advice and pumping you full of sunshine. You should be sick of it because old people suck. Trust us. We are old people. And like all other old people, you will find us insufferable. Because we are. We are tired and worn out and we’ll try very hard to act young and hip when we meet you. It will come across as very sad. Because it is. And once we realize that you pity us, we will lash out and start raving about insignificant things like how you young people just don’t get it. Or we’ll lecture about how all those pictures on Facebook and Twitter are going to prevent you from getting a job. Which is ridiculous, because those pictures should help you get a job. Provided of course that you find out who else is interviewing for the same jobs as you and you tag them in every single incriminating photo you can find. It’s a tough job market. Dog eat dog.
And about those job things. Most of you probably don’t have one. Those of you that somehow did manage to secure an offer are about to be very disappointed. You are not going to be on the fast track working on important projects. You are going to do the same old boring sh*t everyone else does. And you’re going to do it the same way it’s always been done, because that’s how the world works. And you’ll do it every day. For 8 to 10 hours a day. For the next 45 years. You thought that having two classes on Fridays that one semester was bad? You’ll long for those days when you’re in the third hour of a 115 slide presentation on “synergies” being given by a guy in short sleeves and a knit tie. Oh, and that project that you work your ass off to complete because they tell you it’s “high visibility” and it will serve as a “launching pad” for success? They lied. Great job though. In exchange for all this, you might get a whole 2 weeks of vacation your first year. Which means that you’ll be the one stuck in the office by yourself between Christmas and New Years while everyone else takes off. Getting paid to sit around all day and do nothing for a week might sound OK. But once you finish reading the internet (yes, the whole damn thing) by the second day, you will come to experience boredom the likes of which you can’t imagine.
