{"id":11482,"date":"2020-10-20T10:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T14:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11482"},"modified":"2020-10-20T12:01:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T16:01:08","slug":"potentially-reading-too-much-into-towson-opting-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11482","title":{"rendered":"Potentially Reading Too Much Into Towson Opting Out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">ANNOUNCEMENT: Towson University will not be playing an intercollegiate football schedule during the 2021 spring season.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1BIospXM5f\">https:\/\/t.co\/1BIospXM5f<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Towson Athletics (@TowsonTigers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TowsonTigers\/status\/1318205287036194816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Something big was going to have to happen to break us out of our Covid-induced blogging hibernation. Yesterday something big happened. And no, we&#8217;re not talking about Ben Dinucci becoming the first JMU quarterback to ever take a snap in an NFL game. (That was amazing though.) We&#8217;re talking about Towson football dropping the bomb that they&#8217;ve opted out of Spring football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a number of things that surprised us about the announcement. First of all, if we&#8217;ve learned anything from observing the way college administrators have operated in this pandemic, it&#8217;s that it (oddly) does not pay to be decisively early. We&#8217;ve spent most of the Fall watching athletic directors walk back decisions. Whether we&#8217;re talking about the B1G calling off football only to scramble to jury-rig a schedule, or W&amp;M eliminating and then reinstating entire teams, it seems like further analysis and a little patience can pay dividends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clearly these decisions are made in part to save face and grab dollars, but there&#8217;s also an argument to be made that some leagues threw in the towel before truly understanding their options. With Spring football still months away, it&#8217;s odd that Towson bailed yesterday. Things change daily with the pandemic. There&#8217;s a very real chance that the situation deteriorates and nobody can play in the Spring. But there&#8217;s also a chance that things will improve and playing sports becomes an easier proposition. Given that, it&#8217;s hard to understand why Towson pulled the plug already. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Towson&#8217;s head coach Rob Ambrose, &#8220;more than 75% of the team did not want to trade a full season next year for a six-game season this spring.&#8221; Kudos to Towson for giving the players a voice, but if that&#8217;s true, the players logic seems questionable at best. Thus far, the virtually all of FCS is planning to move forward with Spring football. If things proceed as planned, the Fall season will be abridged or delayed. It will have to be. Towson sitting out does nothing to change that. Maybe Towson is taking a calculated risk that other programs will follow the Tigers&#8217; lead and things snowball and so many teams quit Spring ball to the point where the majority of FCS teams are able to start on time next Fall. As things stand currently though, Towson just sacrificed Spring football to capitalize on an opportunity that does not exist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, JMU fans have long believed that Towson was more committed to football than the majority of other CAA schools. Nobody believed they were willing or able to commit the same level of resources to football as JMU, but most of us assumed they were a heck of a lot closer than some of the league&#8217;s straggler programs. Well, this decision certainly calls that into question. And it&#8217;s another sign that JMU and the CAA at large might not be on the same page. It&#8217;s been documented that JMU was one school advocating for a CAA Football Championship Game in the Spring, but several schools opposed it. We can debate whether or not JMU should have jumped to FBS years ago all we want. And we&#8217;ll probably never agree. But for fans who are paying attention, it seems pretty obvious that JMU and the CAA are nearing a breaking point. If some better alignment can&#8217;t be found, the two could be heading for a divorce down the road. <\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fjmusportsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D11482&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:80px;\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Something big was going to have to happen to break us out of our Covid-induced blogging hibernation. Yesterday something big happened. And no, we&#8217;re not talking about Ben Dinucci becoming the first JMU quarterback to ever take a snap in an NFL game. (That was amazing though.) We&#8217;re talking about Towson football dropping the bomb [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4455,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4455","url_meta":{"origin":11482,"position":0},"title":"Towson @ JMU Preview","date":"October 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"After the bye week, it's time to launch into meat of the CAA schedule as the defending conference champion Towson Tigers make their first visit to New Bridgeforth on Parent's Weekend. \u00a0And in case you didn't notice, Towson gave LSU all they could handle in Baton Rouge last week so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/sculpin.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1480,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=1480","url_meta":{"origin":11482,"position":1},"title":"The Dukes Take on Towson","date":"October 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU has a road game at Towson this weekend. Mickey and the 3-1 Dukes will look to get back on track after a disappointing last second loss to Delaware at home. Towson played relatively well last weekend, but faded down the stretch and lost to 8th ranked UMass 27-14. Unfortunately\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6266,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6266","url_meta":{"origin":11482,"position":2},"title":"Gameday Open Thread: JMU vs. Towson","date":"November 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here we are. It's the final football game of the 2013 season for the JMU Dukes. We can look back on the highs and lows some other time. For now, let's focus on beating Towson and keep rootin. The game will be televised from coast to coast on NBC Sports\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"JMU-Rhode Island FTB","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/jmu-16-jf.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7123,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7123","url_meta":{"origin":11482,"position":3},"title":"Prediction Contest: JMU vs. Towson","date":"October 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dukes welcome the Towson Tigers to Bridgeforth on Saturday for a CAA clash. Last year Towson made it all the way to the FCS Championship, where they fell to North Dakota State. This is not last year's Towson team however. Terrance West is gone and Towson is still trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"JMU-Towson Boscoe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/112109-jmu-towson-ftb1-pm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6269,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6269","url_meta":{"origin":11482,"position":4},"title":"Dukes Fall to Towson in Season Finale","date":"November 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU lost to Towson 28-17 yesterday. It was the final game of a disappointing 2013 season for JMU. The Dukes finished 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the CAA. If you're a glass half-full sort of person, you could rationalize the loss by saying that it came down to just a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"5235c9b06354d.image","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/5235c9b06354d.image_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4139,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4139","url_meta":{"origin":11482,"position":5},"title":"JMU Lands 4 on All-CAA Teams and is Picked to Finish 3rd in CAA","date":"July 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The 2012 CAA Football Media Day doesn't even start for a few hours, but someone had an itchy trigger finger and already posted the highlights last night.\u00a0The league's media directors and coaches have picked JMU to finish 3rd in the annual preseason poll. The Dukes were right behind Towson and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/65103892.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11482"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11489,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11482\/revisions\/11489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}