Sunday Showcase: No Thanks, Sun Belt

(The following is part of a summer mini-series that will showcase old Breeze columns regarding JMU football that are still relevant. The series will reach its apex in mid-August, when I release my 2013 JMU football primer, forecasting the successes and failures of the 2013 team and commenting on the state and direction of the program.)


The Name: No Thanks, Sun Belt

The Date: April 4, 2013

The Idea: Conference realignment is an undeniable, unignorable problem that must be addressed, lest JMU fall into the bowels of irrelevance that FCS football seems destined for. As more and more championship subdivision powerhouses make the jump up, is the southern-centered Sun Belt really the right move for a burgeoning program in Harrisonburg, Virginia?

The Unedited, Original Version:


Let's play a word association game. When I say Sun Belt, you think of ... what?


I think of seventh grade history with Mr. Douglas. The Bible Belt. According to the lazy college student's bible (aka Wikipedia), the Bible Belt is "an informal term for a region in the south-eastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average."

So it makes sense, then, that the Sun Belt Athletic Conference has a pair of schools in Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Unfortunately for the Sun Belt, that's about all that the conference has, as six member institutions (Denver, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas and Western Kentucky) have left or announced that they will soon leave since the beginning of 2012.

But the Sun Belt has a plan. The conference will restock on Football Championship Subdivision powerhouses, loading up on meaty carbs like Georgia Southern and (Cr)App State. Whoops, how'd that parenthetical sneak in there? I suppose old habits die hard.

And, as reported by SB Nation, the embattled Football Bowl Subdivision conference has JMU next in line for an invite, should the Sun Belt suffer another departure.

Woah, now. Home girl say what? JMU is going to be in a conference with Idaho and New Mexico State? I've got some concerns.

JMU fans everywhere are losing their minds with excitement, demanding that JMU Athletics join hand in hand with the Sun Belt and sing Kumbaya. The Colonial Athletic Association is crumbling into that little ball of lint you found in your pocket during your cousin's wedding last summer, and JMU, sooner or later, is going to need a lifeboat off the Titanic.

Could this be a message from God, to JMU, to join the Sun Belt? We are, don't forget, talking about the Bible Belt.

Unfortunately, it is my firm theological belief that, even in Ordinary Time, God doesn't care where JMU plays its football. While the Sun Belt holds an uber-sexy annual matchup with Appalachian State (go Google "Rodney Landers," kids) and a move to FBS could instantly renew the potential juggernaut that is the Old Dominion-JMU Royal Rumble, it's probably not the right conference for JMU academically, culturally or geographically.

For example, the vast majority of JMU alumni live north of the North Carolina-Virginia border up into New England. Why would we play in a football conference that exists almost solely south of that border?

JMU's peer institutions are schools like William & Mary and Drexel. Should we replace them with Texas-Arlington and South Alabama?

That's all prologue to the shitstorm of Title IX implications a move to FBS would cause JMU. We'd need to add 22 new football scholarships alone, which would require 40 or 50 new scholarships for female athletes in turn. JMU would need to explore adding more sports into the mix, just at the theoretical baseline of playing in an FBS conference.

Unless Johnny Alger and Jeffrey Bourne plan to go Bonnie and Clyde on the Harrisonburg Savings and Loan -- I guess you can decide which one gets to be Bonnie -- I'm not sure where JMU can come up with this money. Don't forget, that's all on top of financing new building renovations, combatting tuition hikes and addressing the ignored-for-far-too-long salary issues of professors across the board.

I'm not saying JMU should sit on its laurels and do nothing but watch conference realignment pass it by. If anything, this administration's perceived apathy and disinterest in realignment is what has fans so worked up about a potential move in the first place.

What I am calling on all fans to do, whether you are a wide-eyed freshman or a seasoned 25-year alumnus, is not to speak out of ignorance. JMU finds itself in a tenuous situation; at some point in the near future, JMU athletics must land somewhere, or at least drastically shift the perception of the CAA as a dying brand by adding strong (read: not the College of Charleston) members to the conference.

But none of that makes it acceptable to buck at the first carrot dangled in front of this administration's faces. My rule of thumb: If it sounds like a gay man's fashion accessory, it's probably not the most viable of conference choices for JMU.

JMU has months, maybe even a couple years, to hammer out a financial action plan of how to handle a jump to the FBS level. Whether it's in the Sun Belt or a more apt location (like potentially the Mid-American conference), these challenges must be recognized and appropriately game-planned for.

At some point FBS football is going to come calling. As a community, we can't say "no" forever.





The Reception: While I did get plenty of laughs at the "gay man's fashion accessory" and the "Bonnie and Clyde" jokes, this column did not play well with a lot of alumni. Somehow, lots of JMU graduates got ahold of this column and didn't seem very fond of it. Some of the public responses:


"This reads like a message board rant. Let's not masquerade as a sports writer with unreadable opinion pieces like this. " -Richard Sines, Charleston, SC

"Speak for yourself. Most Alumni want this move. We are the ones that fund this University...   You've got it all wrong young college student. You take the better job, and then leave that job when the MAC comes calling." -Christopher McGowan, JMU alum

"Not to burst your lofty bubble, but from way out here on the west coast, we lob Virginia along with the rest of the 'Bible Belt.' Can you say Lynchburg?... GO SPARTANS!" -Chuck Gruber, San Jose State

"Hey Duke Fans! You all belong in the ACC.... for obvious reasons... natural fit... AND, with Maryland leaving, the DC Market is devoid (or soon will be), devoid of of [sic] an ACC Team. Its all about the money." Jeff Butchko, JMU alum/Clemson fan



Of course, I can't respond to anyone who ever gives me feedback. And I certainly wouldn't stoop to the level of entertaining some of these ridiculous responses...

Oh, who the fuck are we kidding? Yes I will.


-Chuck: Lynchburg hasn't been relevant since Jerry Falwell was alive. Stick to procuring 19th century French Merlots for the private selection of the winery that I'm sure that you own. Or better yet, continue to support that great University of yours. Is a San Diego State grad really the one to be giving advice on how to be relevant in sports?


-Jeff: while I admire the optimism, how many times has your mom had to tell you to stop drinking and posting things on the Internet? Do it again, and she's probably going to take away your computer privileges.

-Christopher: I agree completely with you, sir. Let's just say, to hell with it, jump to the Sun Belt, and then jump somewhere else when we get a better opportunity! I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. It's a rather genius plan, because we don't need to spend any time worrying about geographic or cultural fits, whether or not it's the right plan short or long-term for the university. Let's just do it! And figure out the consequences later.

And the student-athletes? Well, who gives half a shit about them, right? I mean, they are just dumb jocks, after all, so just throw them around like they're chess pieces. Send the women's soccer team on a plane to Idaho for three days. Some day, the cost of all those $50,000 trips might be a tax write-off. And the kids will miss class, sure, but they don't need degrees anyway, right? They'll make millions on the professional women's soccer circuit, which is why you always see so many female athletes with zero career ambition. And they can make that class time up when they're ineligible to compete in postseason tournaments. Twice.


-And Richard, oh Richard: it reads like a sports opinion piece, because it is a sports opinion piece. If you'd taken 8 seconds to look into my background as a writer, you'd have realized that I write sports opinion pieces. Not only that, but plenty of people seem to like my tone and carefully formed opinions, including some people over at the Society of Professional Journalists. They gave me this tiny little award that says I may actually know what I'm doing. But hey, let's not masquerade as anyone with any sort of conceivable intelligence, right?


Man, I really shouldn't let that stuff build up for 4 months at a time. It appears I can be somewhat ugly, and perhaps even sarcastic, when provoked.

I do want to recognize one gentleman by the name of Bill McDonnell who called me out on something important. I refer to the Sun Belt as the "first carrot" being dangled in front of our collective faces, which was a sloppy mistake of mine. In truth, at the time this was published, I technically had no idea whether it was the first, second, or 19th carrot dangled in front of JMU. In early April, the JMU/Sun Belt news reverberated loudly through the Valley, and with frighteningly mixed results. (It seems the only thing JMU fans can agree upon is that we can't agree on much of anything.) But if there were other offers, they were quiet. The Sun Belt talks were the only ones loudly made public-- but that doesn't mean they were the only ones in existence.

Where Bill is a bit mistaken is that he operates under the impression that JMU "had many opportunities to move up to FBS over the years and chose not to make the leap. Our administration and athletic director should have been planning for this move many years ago but have done nothing except sit back and let other lesser universities move ahead of us." This, as I have learned, is not true.


The Relevance Today: Realignment hits at the heart of nearly every issue JMU faces in 2013. What Bill and many, many other fans fail to realize is that athletics decision-making is not a static process that occurs in a vacuum. There are plenty of factors, and even more people, outside of athletics that must be considered.

But if you look hard enough, there is a line of events and circumstances that traces back to the group's consistent reasoning for every decision made in the realignment era. This, I know.

But what is that reasoning? And is it still relevant? That is what I hope to delve into next weekend with the conclusion of this mini-series. I'll be making some JMU football predictions for this season, even with one less appendix on the team than this time seven days ago. More importantly, I will reveal some information I have uncovered over the past 4 months that may shed some light on past decisions and could even forecast future ones.

Man, that was some heavy stuff. Is it tailgating season yet? I long for the season where day-drinking is socially acceptable in any parking lot. Someone throw me a beer.

Sunday Showcase: Football Postscript, 2012 (November 29, 2012)

(The following is part of a summer mini-series that will showcase old Breeze columns regarding JMU football that are still relevant. The series will reach its apex in mid-August, when I release my 2013 JMU football primer, forecasting the successes and failures of the 2013 team and commenting on the state and direction of the program.)


The Name: JMU Football Postscript

The Date: November 29, 2012

The Idea: With a potential automatic bid to the FCS playoffs on the line, JMU shit the bed in the second half against ODU and finished 7-4... again. Four years after a national semifinals, fans have only witnessed one playoff appearance. The Class of 2013 will have never have seen a home playoff game. Is it time for a harsh evaluation of JMU's beloved football team on an organization-wide level?

The Unedited, Original Version:

As I sat watching this week’s Monday Night Football game between the Eagles and the Panthers with a few friends from Philadelphia, I started taking mental notes as to why the Eagles are so very bad this year. But there’s so many things inexplicably wrong with this team, it’s hard to find a good starting point.

Injuries to the offense have hampered the Eagles’ runningback LeSean McCoy and quarterback Michael Vick. Even when he is fully healthy, Vick – a signal caller who is as athletically gifted as they come – struggles to make pre-snap reads and seemingly routine throws. He often seems ill-suited to be running an offense at this level.

On defense, a star-studded cast of playmakers underperforms as key personnel aren’t living up to preseason hype. The secondary struggles to cover people effectively, and a supposedly elite pass rush fails to pressure the opposing quarterback nearly every weekend.

Clock management is a constant source of frustration for fans, some of whom are calling for their head ball coach to be fired. Andy Reid is a great guy with a winning record and a history of success in Philadelphia; it seems impossible that such a beloved man who has become the face of an organization could actually be fired.

Hey JMU fans … does this sound eerily familiar?

Everything I’ve just listed is 100 percent true of the National Football League’s most perplexing team, but it also reads a bit like an anatomy of JMU football in 2012. Why is it that a team with literally everything at its disposal can’t even make the playoffs, albeit in the country’s toughest conference? Thousands of fans asked themselves this on a chilly drive home from Harrisonburg two weekends ago, and most are still ruminating on the subject now.

As fans, we have a pathological need for answers that quench our disappointment. Unfortunately, it’s in the fabric of sports that we rarely, if ever, receive them.

Plenty went wrong in the confines of Bridgeforth Stadium this year that has nothing to do with JMU or head coach Mickey Matthews. Injuries up front eroded a pass rush that could have been extraordinary. In my discussions of JMU football with former players and fans, a few keen observers have highlighted the departure of Strength and Conditioning coach Jim Durning as a behind-the-scenes factor in the program’s performance.

The meteoric rise of Old Dominion’s football program has hurt the Dukes in the loss column as well as the recruiting field.

The schedule, while fan-friendly, did very little to beef up the program’s out-of-conference resume, an important factor when the Football Championship Subdivision playoff committee is deciding which girls to ask to the prom.

But Matthews and his staff cannot be absolved of all responsibility. The lack of a forward passing game at JMU has become so publicly mocked, it’s nearly cliché. Calling plays out of the shotgun in short yardage situations has become an inexplicable regularity. The defense, for all its talent, simply couldn’t cover anyone, and incomplete passes were often a result of happenstance rather than actual defensive prowess.

Most damningly, the offense failed to develop an identity as quarterbacks were shuffled and reshuffled like so many decks of cards. Mix in the option, the wildcat, zone-reads, trick plays and numerous other play calls, and it’s unclear as to whether JMU oversees a football program or a Bertie Botts Every Flavored Bean factory.

As a result, JMU message boards are full of young alumni, living in their Northern Virginia lofts, parading on about how Mickey Matthews should be fired as soon as yesterday. They should get back to their cubicle and concentrate on their spreadsheets, because inducing a coaching panic is the last thing the program needs right now.

While the expectations weren’t met and the class of 2013 will graduate without ever seeing a home playoff game, Coach Matthews deserves the trust of this fan base. I’m not a believer in national championships buying free rides, but there just isn’t enough here to trade Coach Matthews for someone who will only see JMU as a stepping stone.

In return, I don’t want to ever hear the words “a lot of teams would kill to be 7-4.” I’ve heard this from coaches, players and fans alike, and it must stop now. While it’s true that Northwestern Wyoming Polytechnical Center would kill for a 7-4 season, we’re not just any team.

JMU is a premiere organization in FCS football, and it’s high time we started acting like it.

 

 

 

 

The Reception: All over the place, as was expected. Like any good base, JMU fans shine resplendent with apathetics and diehards, critics and unconditionalists. Some fans were (and still are) dying to see someone not named Mickey Matthews calling the plays; whether or not this upcoming season will satiate their appetites for pass plays remains to be seen. Some fans believe it to be purely happenstance that JMU hasn't been truly good since 2008. However you see it, there's certainly enough blame to around, from one Linwood Rose all the way down to freshman backup safeties.

Let's all just agree that, if you live in a DC loft, you probably suck.

 

 

The Relevance Today: I've seen Coach Matthews two or three times this summer, and each time it's been at a bar next to my townhouse. We exchange pleasantries each time, and while I certainly won't begrudge ole Mick a beer or three, I hope he realizes how serious the fan base is getting about his job status. I stand by my statement that trading Mickey in for some successful up & comer like, say, Towson's Rob Ambrose, is a waste of nearly everyone's time. While I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Mr. Ambrose last season, and he's a great, well-spoken, and immensely likable fellow... well, if Rob Ambrose is still at Towson in eight years, I'll cheer for Pitt. It's like that, America.

But just because Mickey's staying power is valuable to me doesn't mean he's invincible. Last year's injuries along the defensive line made it clearer than ever to me that JMU needs a stronger S&C program, as I mentioned in the original piece. An alumnus of the 2004 national championship team has made that much clear over on jmusb, and he's hardly the only person to mention that as a former strength that has become a weakness. Pun 100% intended. 

Kidding aside, if JMU didn't have a bona fide Buck Buchanan award contender sitting in the middle of the linebacking corp, who knows what havoc might have been wrought upon the purple-and-gold-clad last season.

And the offense simply must find new ways to be dynamic this season. There's just no way around it. I think Michael Birdsong will be airing it out more this season. JMU will once again have potential superstar Andre Coble back in the mix after he missed last season due to academic ineligibility, but with the departure of centerpiece Brian Barlow, who knows how this group of receivers will fare? A new OC and quarterback might change things, but only if Mickey is willing to loosen up his vicegrip on controlling the offense, and the program as a whole is unafraid to pursue bold play-calling, such as the first half of the ODU game last November.

JMU has the stature, recruiting, personnel, and ability to contend for a national championship, this year and every year. The only question that remains is whether they put it all together, or let it fall apart again.

Well, I suppose there's that tiny question of whether or not JMU will, you know, ditch the CAA for FBS football, forever changing the entire landscape of collegiate athletics as the next big domino to fall in the cascading torrent that is conference realignment. But hey: that's what next Sunday is for, right?