{"id":6273,"date":"2013-11-26T02:20:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T07:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6273"},"modified":"2013-11-26T08:17:34","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T13:17:34","slug":"mickey-matthews-fired-by-jmu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6273","title":{"rendered":"Mickey Matthews Fired by JMU"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning Athletic Director Jeff Bourne announced that Head Football Coach Mickey Matthews would not be retained by JMU and a “national search for a replacement” would begin “immediately.” \u00a0While the staunchest old-boys club MM defenders\u00a0may<\/em> quibble about the tone of the announcement given all that Mickey has meant to JMU, we were stunningly impressed by the decisiveness and direction of this move from JMU’s administration.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7134\"<\/a>First, a reminder: The decade and a half with Mickey have brought JMU football to its highest peaks ever. \u00a0A National Championship, six playoff appearances, BFS, 21-16, and pretty much everything from ’08 (Landers, Scottie at UR, hail mary at ‘Nova). \u00a0We’ve recruited better, been a conference and national player, and raised expectations to a level that ultimately, and correctly in our opinion, cost Mickey his job. \u00a0It should be stated without equivocation that whatever happens from here on out, with apologies to McMillan, MM is the godfather of this program and we’ll be absolutely looking forward to that day five or ten years from now when JMU brings him back for induction into the JMU Hall of Fame and unveils a visor-throwing statute of the man.<\/p>\n

Second, another reminder: A man lost his job today, his son may have lost his job today, and it’s entirely possible that most of the staff may have lost their jobs today. \u00a0When any town has a few dozen people, including extended friends and family, put out of work, it’s not exactly time to rejoice. \u00a0But when it happens in a small college town like Harrisonburg, even the most cynical and rabble-rousing of bloggers need to keep in mind this isn’t completely a Hallelujah moment.<\/p>\n

But…we can’t stress enough how impressed we were by the apparent gameplan and execution that seemed to go down on this from the administration. \u00a0With Bourne off chairing the FCS playoff selection committee this weekend we never thought we hear this quickly. \u00a0And best of all, given JMU’s penny-pinching history, we really weren’t sure we’d see this go down with MM having one year at $231k left on his deal. \u00a0This signals a big change at the highest levels. Rose wouldn’t have signed off on this, Alger clearly did, and that’s very exciting! \u00a0Also, if you’re into tea leaves, this of course looks more like the move of a school in need of fresh energy that’s about to make a big move as opposed to a school continuing to monitor and maintaining the status quo. \u00a0Same with the fact that Carr Sports Consulting, of the FBS report fame, will be assisting with the search for a new OBC. \u00a0Gotta think they cast a wider net and are able to pass along info (like conference plans) more privately than JMU can on their own.<\/p>\n

The only thing we’ll say about the conference situation today is that we confess we were overreacting, ok I was overreacting, to Bourne’s comments that “at this time, we’re looking for an FCS coach” and that “this is the best job in FCS.” \u00a0Those comments came long after the “we expect to be involved in ‘post-season play'” instead of of ‘playoffs’ and after we’d seen JMU carry out a flawless and no-wasted-time plan they clearly had made contingencies for in advance. \u00a0Overall, as much as we’ll miss the MM era, today couldn’t have been executed more perfectly from an overall JMU perspective. \u00a0After all, it’s seriously hard to believe that 48 hours after that Towson game and 8 days after missing the playoffs again that we’re completely excited again about JMU Football?! \u00a0That’s gotta be a good sign.<\/p>\n

Speculation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look, we don’t know anything, and other than maybe the Daily-News Record’s intrepid beat writer @MatthewStoss, we’re not sure anyone else does either. \u00a0But we do know a few things. \u00a0First, generally we’d MUCH, MUCH rather have a hungry, possibly younger, FBS coordinator type than ANY of the more local, obvious JMU targets, most of whom are retreads. \u00a0In most cases, we don’t want these guys because they have already proven incapable of adapting to the modern innovative game, much like the man we just let go. For example, beginning with names we least want to hear about that have already been mentioned and moving down, we don’t want to ever mention the following names on here again: Stinespring (ask any VT fan about\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>offense),\u00a0<\/strong>London (proven twice he can only win with other players while proving nothing else), Lazor (nice guy been on lots of incompetent staffs in college and pros), and Ambrose (Towson coach, good coach, seems to be a huge asshole that players don’t like). e<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Stoss’ confirmation of interest from University of Arizona Offensive Coordinator Rod Smith, a Franklin, West Virginia native make us happy. \u00a0Same with current Oakland Raiders QB coach and former Duke Jon DeFillipo, though we’re not sure his resume is quite polished enough.<\/p>\n

In general, even if we can’t quite “dream big” on what conference the Dukes may end up in, there’s no reason not to do so on the coaching search. \u00a0Yes, budget is always an issue, but more than anything we just don’t want something that sounds like it’s just Bourne and “folks he knows” in the discussions or just an old, regional name of note. \u00a0For that reason, we love the news from Stoss that Carr Sports Consulting is assisting with the search and hope it truly will take a look at LOTS of factors with a progressive viewpoint.<\/p>\n