{"id":6365,"date":"2013-12-22T22:51:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T03:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6365"},"modified":"2013-12-23T08:13:07","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T13:13:07","slug":"jmu-makes-a-great-statement-with-withers-hire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6365","title":{"rendered":"JMU Makes a GREAT Statement With Withers Hire"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve been following our schoolboy-giddy Tweets at all the last few days, you’ll know that we are thrilled with JMU’s hiring of Ohio St. Co-Defensive Coordinator\/Safeties Coach Everett Withers as the sixth head coach in Dukes history. Yes, there are always nits that can be picked if you work hard enough (including the awkward 24 hour signing\/courtship that ended in the media black hole of Friday evening, the fact Withers may very well have been fired by OSU along with the rest of the Buckeyes defensive staff after Tahj Boyd shreds them one more time in the Orange Bowl, and of course the fact he’s an App. St. Mountaineer), but you’ve got to be either really cynical or entirely unrealistic to explain any position that doesn’t involve thinking JMU hit a home run with Coach E. \u00a0Seriously, James Madison just hired Ohio State’s Co-DC. Just think about that for a second. \u00a0Ohio St., a school many of us love to take shots at, but one of the absolute big boys of FBS. \u00a0Also a guy who UNC fans really appreciate for salvaging their season and their dignity in the wake of Butch Davis’ leaving in disgrace. \u00a0A guy who’s reputation seems to be built on recruiting and having players respect him. A guy with serious NFL experience and a guy who played for Mack Brown during his playing days in Boone.<\/p>\n

Most important of all, Everett Withers is NOT a Spotswood Country Club backroom hire. \u00a0In other words, this didn’t come from the obvious old-school 1-AA thinking that many of us expected from JMU. \u00a0Look, we were vocally anti-Stinespring because VT fans hate him and he’d been demoted twice, but outside of him, we probably would’ve spun the other known candidates (Barlow, DeFilippo, even lil’ Beamer) positively. \u00a0Our loose personal connections to DeFilippo certainly would’ve had us excited and none of those coaches would’ve been “awful” hires. \u00a0But the truth is, as always, we’re just two dumb fans, and despite our interest in college football betting<\/a>, we have no idea which of these guys would’ve been successful if given the opportunity. We don’t even know for sure that Coach Withers will be any better off than even Stinespring (who is a JMU alum after all so he can’t be all bad). \u00a0What we do know for sure is that this hire was made differently. THIS hire, at THIS time, was just too important to continue sending the same business-as-usual-monitoring-the-situation message that we’ve all grown so weary of, and this is not that. \u00a0What we do know for sure is that there was a process and that the process appears to have been handled in such a way that there weren’t a million leaks leading to bad rumors and good candidates jumping ship. \u00a0We can surmise that the use of Carr Sports Consulting helped cast a wider net and allowed for quietly made calls to coaches outside of the obvious. \u00a0We know for sure that Coach E has been an FBS, BCS for that matter, head coach before. \u00a0He was hired and worked for Urban Meyer at Ohio St. \u00a0Read that one again. \u00a0Say what you will, but THAT ain’t small time.<\/p>\n

\"withers-james-madison\"<\/a>We’ll have plenty of time in the coming weeks and months to dive into what the contract details mean about JMU’s future as those details surface, but one thing’s for sure: this hire speaks unbelievably loudly and crystal clearly about JMU’s vision for itself. \u00a0Bourne and company can do the “this was an FCS hire” dance till their feet hurt, but FCS teams that are content with the status quo don’t hire Ohio St.’s Co-Defensive Coordinator at a rate that blows away what their 15-year-National-Championship-winning coach was just bought out of. \u00a0And you can bet that any conference with JMU on their radar knows that.<\/p>\n

One last thought that we haven’t heard discussed this weekend. \u00a0For what it’s worth, JMU players and former players seem to be generally pleased. \u00a0While some of the other candidates may have had stronger ties to Virginia football and recruiting, they also had a few enemies out there because of that. \u00a0By going outside the Commonwealth’s more obvious candidates, JMU got someone that, for the time being, truly provides a fresh start with very little in the way of preconceived notions. \u00a0We like that too.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, now that we’ve finished the champagne, time to watch Coach E assemble a staff and hit the hustings on the recruiting trail after he finishes up his business in a little game known as the Orange Bowl<\/a>. \u00a0Also, only one more game for men’s hoops before Andre Nation returns to the court for the bulk of conference play!<\/p>\n