About two days ago, though, I was still hearing them. In my experience, these rumors sweep over social media like wildfire, and are extinguished by the wet reality of truth in a matter of days. So to be hearing them a full week later was... notable.
Then, this afternoon, after a long day of pretending to build an online portfolio and mooching food off of relatives, my former Breeze Sports co-editor Wayne Epps Jr. directed me to this page on the CSN message boards. The ethos doesn't exactly jump off the page at you, but the fact that this potentially informed person was echoing other things I heard was enough to make me sit up off the couch, pause my second Skyrim play-through, and make a few phone calls. The Stormcloak Rebellion can wait.
Before I did anything, I confirmed some information I've been sitting on for a while, as long as did some research into some other topics. They are as follows:
- The Carr Report is completed, and has been for some time.
Many of you have heard about a feasibility report headed to the JMU Board of Visitors that will supposedly recommend or advise against a move for the Dukes to the Football Bowl Subdivision. What you might not know is that this report has been complete for several weeks. While a few members of the Athletic Department have seen bits and pieces, the only person that I know of who has seen the report in its entirety is athletic director Jeff Bourne, and he will be the one to present the report to the BoV next Friday, October 4. It is that same Friday that JMU supposedly will announce its move to the C-USA, if you buy into the rumors which are currently circulating.
- JMU has an open-ended offer from the Sun Belt that can be accepted at any time.
Details may have changed since I last heard about this, but the gist of it is that the Sun Belt is interested enough in JMU that they have extended an offer to the athletic department that can be accepted at any points. They feel very strongly that JMU can significantly raise the profile of their conference and are showing their faith with a convenient, if desperate, offer. JMU hasn't accepted this offer as of yet, and I would think that, if they were to, they would at least wait until the Carr Report comes down. However, I have a hunch JMU has its sites set higher than the Sun Belt.
- ODU is actively campaigning for JMU to join Conference USA.
I don't like how it looks -- like big brother ODU, who has played football for all of three years and four weeks, is pulling us up to their esteemed level, and oh thank you, blessed sons of Norfolk, for doing us such a favor in our time of need! But at a certain point, I'm guessing Leonardo DiCaprio would have let anyone, even his worst enemy, throw him a lifejacket.. if it meant he could keep making out with Kate Winslet. (Kate Winslet, in this case, is a bigger TV deal.) Both AD Wood Selig and head football coach Bobby Wilder have been on the record in the media, trying to pressure their new conference into adding JMU. It's hard to ignore their logic: JMU makes for natural rivals with Marshall, ODU, and ECU. And Charlotte, if they ever get any good. Based on last Saturday, that rivalry might be a ways off, though.
- Conference USA officials have experimented with a 16-team conference model, and have made trips to JMU in the recent months.
I'm still working on nailing down exactly when officials were on campus, but I do have credible information that they were here and came away impressed with the facilities. And why wouldn't they be? A brand new athletics park, an engaged campus, a premier FCS football stadium, and let's not forget the sexy, ninth-ranked DC market to slip their grubby little hands into.
So what does all that add up to? Well here's what it likely doesn't mean: an imminent decision to move to Conference USA. After a long talk with one notable source in the Athletic Department, it would be wholly irresponsible for the BoV to hear the Carr Report and vote on a cataclysmic Athletics move all in the same day. Furthermore, the BoV hasn't scheduled a vote on anything in the near future, and the University can't announce a move without approval from the board.
But the most damning reason why you shouldn't expect any big JMU news next week is because they're too invested in their own success. As much as JMU may need to move up to stay viable in the long term as an athletic program, it almost certainly won't force its own teams into an ineligible season when its Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, and Softball teams have legitimate chances to win their conference.
That doesn't mean you won't see a move up this year. JMU has until June 1 to announce any intentions to swap conferences, which leaves a nice 2-4 week period after all the conference tournaments where JMU can announce any C-USA plans, for next year, penalty free. Even if the decision comes internally by next Friday, I expect no official announcements will come in the immediate future. Given that the suddenly resurgent men's basketball team has a chance to defend its title and return to the NCAA tournament, it's hard to imagine the school throwing that opportunity away.
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