…well, the 2015-16 year in JMU Athletics has finally reached us. And if you’ve stayed with our filler, mailing-it-in, often antagonistic or downright offensive, and tortured bored out of our minds selves this summer, well just bless your sweet little heart.
But here we go as the year kicks off with the Women’s Soccer team hosting a seasoning open mini-tourney in the ‘Burg. They host Georgetown at U-Park at 7 p.m. today (if you’re reading this Friday) and follow that up with Seton Hall on Sunday (W&M is also in town facing an opposite schedule but the Dukes won’t face the Tribe this weekend). Hope the ladies can get this year off to an auspices start!
We were #TeamTaylor way before it was cool!
We’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention our [still and forever] favorite squad (at least as long as Taylor West is in school) Field Hockey who scrimmages Syracuse in the hinterlands of Pennsyltucky today as well. With another year remaining for the Reitano/le Vatte/Hubert/Stijntjes core backing her up and hopefully some more speedy underclassmen, this team is primed for a HUGE year in CAA play and hopefully beyond.
Finally, we’re a little late to the game, but JMU’s own Strength of the Unit series is a great primer for football season. The newest installment, on the Receiving corps, is one of the best (and we’re excited about the WR position this year with a great combo of returning players and newcomers).
Two weeks from today, we’ll be feasting on previewing Football’s home opener and Beer of the Week. Until then, enjoy some great appetizers!
Matt DiBennedeto is your new favorite NASCAR driver. At least, he’ll be driving your favorite car in the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway on September 12. Because Dibennedeto’s car will be all decked out in purple and gold and sporting our very own Duke Dog on the hood. And it’s beautiful.
Dibennedeto is a Sprint Cup rookie driving the 83 car for BK Racing. The team is co-owned by Ron Devine, a JMU graduate from the class of 1978. Devine also served on the JMU Board of Visitors for eight years. In the official press release, Devine explained:
“James Madison University is a wonderful university that is nationally known. We are excited to be able to display the JMU logos on the national stage through NASCAR. As an alumnus, I was glad to provide this sponsorship for JMU and Athletics as a way to support its strategic plan, national branding efforts and overall university pride. I want to thank all of the JMU staff and especially the JMU Foundation for supporting this effort. Hopefully this will be the start of many efforts like this to come. Go Dukes!”
All that is true. It’s great exposure for JMU. Really though, we’re just happy we’ll get a chance to see Duke Dog go for a little cruise the lights at over 100 miles per hour. The race takes place the same night as the Dukes home game versus Lehigh, but we’d like to think the Duke Club has a nice spot on Godwin field set aside for the Duke Dog mobile at the remaining home games.
The 2015 NFL season starts again next month and fans are getting hyped for the new round of American football games. The NFL season culminates with the Super Bowl and next season’s Super Bowl is the 50th anniversary of the championship, so it’s one to watch.
With the first preseason match being played next week we’re getting close to the clash of the American football titans as they battle it out to get to the Super Bowl final.
The New York Jets are the bookies’ favourite to be knocked out of the initial geographical leagues without ever making it to the Super Bowl championships, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who have not had a great offseason. These teams are expected to be knocked out the quickest, coming dead last in the Super Bowl before it’s even begun. read more…
Seriously people, we’re getting down to single digits for some sports and for all of the conference disappointment we occasionally let rebuild in our minds over the summer, we are thrilled to be back to what really matters – it’s almost gameday baby! Though I’m not really sure how we could be any more excited than the players must be to see the new football locker room. Huge thank yous and shoutouts to the Alphas fundraising crew that’s been making this happen under the Withers regime. The minions are here to support you when the time is right.
Also, in JMUSB-relevant news, 10 days till Field Hockey! (Women’s Soccer has the first official game of the year this Friday, but as our three long-time readers know, it’s Field Hockey all day and #TeamTWest all the time).
Coach Withers and the Dukes are back at practicing getting ready for the season. While the players pretty much work year round, it was definitely a long offseason for fans. And as much as some of us love JMU football, it’s not like we’re there’s top notch, round the clock coverage. In fact, Dukes’ coverage is so lacking that you unfortunate souls have decided its actually worth your time to read this blog. So let’s quickly recap the major stories of the offseason before jumping into the real preseason discussion.
Where We Left You
The first year of the Everett Withers Era ended with a bitter home loss to Liberty in round 1 of the playoffs, but it was still a pretty great debut. The Dukes started off slow, but once Vad Lee and the offense got rolling the wins started piling up. The defense took most of the season to adjust to a 3-4, and still was far from lights out. The offense, behind a couple of hot shot co-offensive coordinators, was a bit of a juggernaut though.
About Those Hot-Shot Co-Offensive Coordinators
Gone and gone. The success Brad Davis and Drew Mehringer had coordinating the Dukes offense did not go unnoticed. As a result, both young coaches were snatched up by other programs. Davis left for East Carolina, where he’ll coach the offensive line. Mehringer returned to him home state of Texas to join the Houston Cougar coaching staff.
And That Defense With Growing Pains
The coordinator on that side of the ball, Brandon Staley, is gone too. He returned to John Carroll University in Ohio, where he coached prior to joining the JMU program.
Tell Me the Defense At Least Features Some More Experienced Players
Actually three players, including two very talented defensive starters, got kicked off the team.
This Isn’t Fun to Read
You ever heard the saying, “We don’t make the news, we just report it.”? Yeah. Well we don’t even report the news. We wait for others to report it and then we just aggregate it. Then maybe we’ll add some snarky joke. Anyway, don’t blame us.
Tell Us Something Good
Vad is back. And Vad is Rad.
More Good Stuff Please
While it sucks to lose coordinators on both sides of the ball, it’s also a sign that Withers has a good eye for talent. Seeing Davis and Mehringer go is particularly rough, but there’s no reason to believe that either are irreplaceable. In fact, there’s reason to be optimistic that the guys Withers’ hired or promoted to serve as coordinators. Steve Sisa will take control of the defense after coaching the safeties last season. Last year’s defense was slow to adjust to the new scheme. Maintaining some consistency by allowing Sisa to continue working with the same system, is better than starting all over again.
On the offensive side of the ball, Withers has tapped Brett Elliot and Zak Kuhr to serve as co-coordinators. Like Mehringer, Elliott comes to JMU young and hungry after a low level position at a P5 school (Mississippi State). Kuhr was in charge of JMU’s running backs last year. Under his leadership, the Dukes rushed for over 200 yards a game. With a more mature and comfortable Lee, the offense could be even better under Elliott and Kuhr than it was under Mehringer and Davis.
That’s the glass half-full version of the coaching situation. It might take a bit more spin to see the positive in 3 players getting kicked off the team, but it’s still possible. Jimmy Moreland and Raheem Stallings were impact players for the D. Withers talked a big game about accountability and players living up to his high standards. Not bending the rules for even the most talented players, shows how serious is and sets a good tone for the program. As we’ve seen with the basketball team, sometimes it’s better to just cut the cord and set a tone, than make exceptions for talent.
So Things Are Gonna Be Alright
We think so. The players seem to buy into what Withers is selling. And he and the coaches convinced some pretty damn good players to join the squad.
That’s Good. What Else?
We weren’t kidding about Vad being Rad.
Now We’re Talking
Plus, there’s Gage Steele, Taylor Reynolds, Ish Hyman, Brandon Ravenel, Khalid Abdullah, Deane Cheatham, Ascene Jacques, Austin Lane, and a whole bunch of big uglies. There is talent on this roster. After some less than thrilling offense in the final years of the previous regime, the Dukes are now playing a fun and exciting football. And the defense made strides last year and should be much more comfortable in the 3-4. There aren’t many easy outs in CAA Football (there are a few though…looking at you URI and Elon), but the Dukes definitely have the talent to win it.
Uniforms are a topic near and dear to our hearts. No detail is too small for us to discuss for hours over a few adult beverages. It turns out that at least 3 other people obsess over them like we do. Maybe more actually. Nick Phillips, Ryan Barto, and Sean Petrizzi broke down the new JMU football uniforms together and offered to share their thoughts with us on the blog. Let us know what you think in the comments.
Our Take: The 2015 JMU Football Uniforms
Let’s face it, the dog days of summer are upon us. Sure, the NL East race is starting to heat up and Ronda Rousey is hotter than ever (see what we did there?..), but we can all agree that the daily coverage over the PSI of a football has officially run its course. And even though Fall camps are finally cranking up and a different hype video set to the “300” movie soundtrack drops every day, we’re still a good month or so out from the college football season opener.
So when JMU’s new home uniforms were leaked on social media last week, it inevitably gave us football die-hards a talking point to get through another week. The three of us have discussed and here are our takeaways:
1. Consistency
With the new home purples, it is refreshing to see that JMU tried to stay consistent with the black jerseys that were such a huge hit when they debuted at Homecoming last year. You’ll notice that the “Madison” wordmark on the chest, the numbers font, and the block “M” shield on the collar are the same on both. And while we wish the shoulder sleeve stripes on each jersey were the same, we’re willing to let this slide.
Instagram image courtesy of @zachjmu
However, if you look closely (specifically at the collar) you’ll notice that the jerseys are actually two completely different Nike templates. The black jersey is Nike’s “Speed Machine” template. Featured by the Flywire collar, this jersey was debuted by Oregon in the 2011 BCS National Championship and can be seen on Sundays by the majority of teams in the NFL. The new purple JMU design is actually Nike’s “Mach Speed” design, which eliminated the Flywire collar and was featured last year by Ohio State, Alabama, FSU, and Oregon in the CFB Playoff games.
One of our major gripes with past years uniform sets is the fact that often times the Home, Away, and multiple alternate jerseys were all of different templates. We do acknowledge, however, that as a FCS school without the mega apparel contracts of FBS powerhouses, sometimes updating the team’s look means only adding one new jersey each year. Now, what remains to be seen is whether or not last year’s Away Whites and Alternate Golds will also get the Nike “Mach Speed” update.. We sure hope so.
We know our OCD is in full-effect here, but the attention to detail here is important when building the identity for a team’s brand.
2. Madison Overload
On one side, we like fact that the wordmark “Madison” is prominently stitched across the chest. Since the early 2000’s, the team has worn “Madison” across its chest, which has allowed for consistency and has been great for branding over the last decade and a half. However, based on the image that was leaked, it appears that “Madison” is also featured not only on one, but both pant legs. Does this make or break the entire get-up? No, but just because you can put large text down each pant leg doesn’t mean you should. We feel this screams “FCS” and resembles gaudy biker shorts more than football pants. Plus, for a school that very rarely refers to itself as “Madison,” it’s interesting that the team favored the three “Madison” wordmarks over the nowhere-to-be-found “JMU” logo. More on that later…
3. What’s with the block “M”?
The block “M” featured on the collar shield doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The shield itself is fine and mirrors the industry standard, but we are not Michigan. In none of the current JMU branding and logos is a block “M” ever featured, and this just seems to be another example of “just because you can doesn’t me you should.” This would have been a perfect spot to showcase the “JMU” logo or even the Duke Dog head logo (see TCU example).
4. Madison vs. JMU
Our university has a bit of an identity problem. As the athletic program has seemingly moved more towards the “JMU” wordmark logo, removing the Duke Dog from atop the letters, it is interesting that the school’s most prominent and top revenue grossing sport is so keen on pushing “Madison”. When someone asks where you attended college, 99% of people respond with, “JMU,” with the occasional “James Madison” if you live outside of the Mid-Atlantic.
From a branding aspect, we’ve always likened JMU to the LSUs, USCs, and TCUs of the world. How many times do you hear, “I went to Louisiana State University?” The truth is, we actually love the use of “Madison.” But since it carries little to no weight in the professional or athletic worlds, and none of the university’s branding (outside of the football uniforms) is geared towards using it, why would we push it? Before taking that next big leap to the big boys, it is obvious the university needs to tighten up its branding.
5. We get it.
Look, while we may favor the more traditional uniform looks, we fully understand why JMU has gone this direction with their uniforms. In order to appeal to the #Swag crowd and new recruits, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re staying current with the latest styles and trends. Shoot, some recruits will choose a school based solely on their apparel sponsor and school colors. Chrome helmets, Pro Combat, 455 different uniform combinations…we get it. And in all honesty, it’s nice to see JMU outfitted in the latest and greatest “Mach Speed” template this year (the first year it’s officially available to schools) because it proves how seriously this coaching staff is about changing the culture of our football program.
We’d like to here y’all’s thoughts. Do you favor the “Pro Combat” trends? Are we over-analyzing all this? Does anyone else even care?
Charles Haley became the first former JMU football player to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. The five time Pro-Bowler and owner of a record 5 Super Bowl rings did his school proud.
Haley was a terror on the field and for years was well known for his antics off it. It turned out however, that those antics came as a result of Haley’s battle with mental illness. It’s a topic he addressed head on during his speech. He explained:
My life spiraled out of control for years, for years, but today, guys, I am getting back into the locker room, to my teammates, and tell them guys the mistakes that I’ve made, and that the only way that you can grow is that you’ve got to ask for help.
I walked into the league a 22-year-old man with a 16-year-old inside of me screaming for help, and I would not ask for it. I would not ask for that help. But today, guys, I take my medicine every day, and I try to inspire others to do the same, and that’s because I finally listened and thank you.
Of course the speech wasn’t entirely about Haley’s mental health, but it was nice to see him speak so openly and honestly about something so personal. He also shared many stories and threw in a pretty good Jerry Jones impression for good measure. The speech drew rave reviews overall. It was a great moment for Haley and for the JMU Football program.
It’s all happening. JMU football is back in swing. Players reported back to campus today and the Road to Frisco begins tomorrow. That’s right, the first practice of the 2015 season is Monday. This means real games will be here soon. We’re excited a little bit. OK, a lot.
Well, we’re back with our first Old Guys Leave Roundup of news and notes for the new 2015-2016 year in JMU Athletics. All kinds of good stuff in here today.
First, JMU’s own Charles Haley is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tomorrow night in Canton, Ohio. Needless to say, JMU having someone in the HOF is just really ‘effin cool. The ceremony starts at 7 and the speechifying shortly afterwards. Given what appears from the outside to be Haley’s renewed interaction with JMU over the last couple years, we might even get a Dukes shoutout or two, a Buckhantz sighting, and some purple in the crowd. Or at least one of those! The official JMU Sports has been doing a great job with a three-part series on Haley’s career this week and you should check it out here.
Next, it was announced this week that JMU has added a home-and-home (meaning each team plays one game at home) series with Norfolk State in 2017 and 2018. Some people want to bitch about anything, and I’m certainly not immune from this nefarious syndrome, but we’re really pretty pleased with this news. We’d much rather be playing an in-state foe for JMU’s gimme games early in the season than the no-name NEC and OVC teams JMU’s wasting our time on this year. Plus it’s a cheap trip, it’s cool for Tidewater area Dukes, and we need these games regardless. So-called “guarantee games,” whether JMU is the presumed heavy or the designated patsy (cough, 21-16, cough), should exclusively be against local teams anyways unless there’s something cool about the trip (like SMU this year). Not to mention there’s nothing wrong with doing a solid and helping out at the gate for a fellow Virginia public that’s reallllllly struggling lately.
Finally, the news that really matters. New uniforms are back! Though JMU may never be able to replicate the insanity of that first black jersey/purple chrome helmet game last year, remember why it matters even if some of you old farts (oh wait, that’s us) don’t like all this newfangled nonsense. I for one actually really like a few of the elements on what we’ve seen this year and I of course want the purple helmets forever!
Oh, one more thing. 29 days till kickoff.
First, thanks to everyone who chimed in on our “greatest JMU QB ever” poll last week. Not exactly a surprise, but Rodney Landers was the runaway winner. Really we just can’t believe Cory was the only one to mention Maddox in the comments!
Hopefully the Mickster’s last schedule, pictured here, is the last of its kind.
What, you thought I was done? Dadgum it son, we’re gonna whoop up on cupcakes even if our crowd looks more like a high school game by the week!
Moving on, we’re both alternating vacations the next couple of weeks, and while we’ll try to dig deep and find motivation to preview a few CAA heavyweights, there’s no level of “putting on a good face” that allows us to dedicate ourselves to in-depth reporting on RhodeI or the Fighting Christians or the Great Danes. But fear not, it’s only 18 short days till Women’s Soccer welcomes Georgetown to the ‘Burg for the first real game of the 15-16 year in JMU sports! It’s actually only 12 days till that same team visits Mason in an exhibition game on the 15th. And even better, we’re now a scant 33 days – less than five weeks – until the football season kicks off at Bridgeforth Stadium on September 5th (though admittedly we’re still nine weeks away from an opponent anyone gives half a turd about).
