{"id":6653,"date":"2014-04-18T00:18:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T04:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6653"},"modified":"2014-04-18T13:06:31","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T17:06:31","slug":"friday-ramblings-political-speak-and-blocking-birdsong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6653","title":{"rendered":"Friday Ramblings: Political Speak and Blocking Birdsong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tumblr_n1cz7ztzu41t3i36po1_500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. After months (years?) of fans begging JMU to provide some sort of communication about conference realignment and a potential FBS move, the school finally released a statement from President Alger this week. Said statement was met with a certain degree of frustration. And it was made public the very same day that Karl Benson, the Sun Belt Commissioner, spoke to reporters about JMU and said “it appears they made a decision to stay FCS.”<\/a> Taken as a package, the two pieces of “news” sort of sent a vocal portion of the fan base over the edge. And I honestly have no idea why.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t read the entire statement<\/a>, I’d encourage you to do so. The part that seems to have caused the most visceral reaction is related to Alger’s explanation of his vision for JMU, his confirmation of the school’s core values, and how they relate to a potential conference move. \u00a0Alger states:<\/p>\n

JMU will not pursue or accept an invitation from a conference that does not meet our criteria.\u00a0 If we do receive an offer consistent with our established values, we are prepared to review it and make a recommendation to the Board of Visitors.\u00a0 This process is ongoing and will require continued support on the part of the university, students, faculty, staff, coaches, alumni, and fans. \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, duh. The President of the university doesn’t want to make a move to a conference that isn’t aligned with the greater interests of school. That’s not news. That’s\u00a0nothing more than political boilerplate.\u00a0Contrary to what many of us think, the school doesn’t revolve around athletics. The administration probably isn’t going to delay the release of Alger’s new Madison Plan to sync it up with a potential conference move. While none of us know if a move might be happening, was ever close to happening, or will actually happen down the road, very few of us ever expected anything to happen prior to the spring sports wrapping up.\u00a0This was nothing more than paying the obligatory lip service to athletics while revealing absolutely nothing new. Or binding. Or even interesting to be frank.<\/p>\n

Now it’s a little easier to understand how seeing it in writing that JMU has decided to stay in the FCS would set folks off. But it was Karl Benson saying that. If we want to get nit-picky, he also said “appears”, which implies that he is offering his assessment of the situation not relaying an actual report from JMU. Plus, it was Karl Benson. Michael Silve he is not. Benson and his league haven’t exactly been huge winners in the conference realignment shuffle.<\/p>\n

One of the worst kept secrets in college sports has been the Sun Belt’s interest in JMU. And JMU has never really reciprocated the interest. So maybe Benson is just doing his job and attempting to spin the fact that he can’t convince JMU to join up. Or maybe Jeff Bourne, President Alger, and the JMU administration did tell him that they decided JMU is going to remain in the FCS. Somehow I doubt they’d be so direct with Benson and then\u00a0continue to be so vague with the JMU community. If that’s what they decided, they’d have no reason not to own it.<\/p>\n

So that’s how I see it. I understand how fans who were convinced JMU was definitely moving might be losing confidence. Unlike some folks though, I’ve never believed a move was imminent. But I’ve always thought a move was possible. Provided of course that JMU had an invitation from a league that was a good fit. And\u00a0maybe I’m naive, but I actually believe that Bourne, Alger, et al are still actively working to analyze the situation and figure out the best way forward. If there’s an opportunity to join a league prior to June 1 and it’s a fit, they’ll pull the trigger. If not, we’ll deal with it then. Maybe the appropriate reaction at that time will be to get the pitchforks and torches (maybe not though…it’s just sports). But we might be jumping the gun this week.<\/p>\n

Blocking Birdsong<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Birdsong says Everett Withers, after they both agreed MB wouldn’t transfer to a CAA school, now is blocking UNCC, ODU, Lib. & App St<\/p>\n

\u2014 Matthew Stoss (@MatthewStoss) April 17, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This news broke earlier today. Everett Withers isn’t the first coach to block a player from transferring to a number of schools and he surely won’t be the last. We don’t know Wither’s reasoning and it’s unlikely we ever will. But this seems unfair and unnecessary. Withers brought in his guy to run his system. Birdsong saw the writing on the wall and decided he’d rather go try to play somewhere else. As far as we know, he hasn’t said a bad word publicly about JMU, Withers, or anyone associated with JMU football. He seems to just be moving on. So just let him go.<\/p>\n

Again, this isn’t a knock on Withers. I’m sure he’s got his reasons and maybe they’re perfectly logical. In this sort of situation though, the deck seems horribly stacked against the student athlete. And if Withers and JMU aren’t going to explain their reasoning, the risk of losing in the court of public opinion by blocking Birdsong, might be greater than the risk of losing on the field to UNCC with the Ginger Giant behind center down the road.<\/p>\n