Can JMU take UConn's place in the AAC?

[bonarae]

The Dukes seem to be interested in moving up; we have seen it time and again...

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...ing-up-to-fbs/

[Professor Chaos]

I thought I had heard at some point that the state of Virginia requires FBS schools to fund their athletic department with X% or less coming from student fees and JMU was way over that right now with their FCS/CAA budget. I suppose there's "creative accounting" ways around that but if that's the case it seems like it would make an FBS move to the highest non-P5 conference pretty tough with the likely budget increase that would come with it.

I hope they stay regardless but it's a great opportunity for a big jump all in one move if they can pull it off.

[Pinnum]

I thought I had heard at some point that the state of Virginia requires FBS schools to fund their athletic department with X% or less coming from student fees and JMU was way over that right now with their FCS/CAA budget.

You're correct. https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/leg...1+ful+CHAP0704

This is the whole reason JMU isn't willing to consider the Sun Belt of CUSA. They are only willing to go FBS if they can get to a conference with higher revenue and one that will get them games against bigger brands. They believe that they can make up for the revenue drop in student fees if they are in the right conference but can't do it by simply moving to any FBS conference.

[clenz]

You're correct. https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/leg...1+ful+CHAP0704

This is the whole reason JMU isn't willing to consider the Sun Belt of CUSA. They are only willing to go FBS if they can get to a conference with higher revenue and one that will get them games against bigger brands. They believe that they can make up for the revenue drop in student fees if they are in the right conference but can't do it by simply moving to any FBS conference.

Catch 22

You don't get an invite to one of those conferences without being a proven FBS athletic department that can prove it doesn't need to rape student fees to be able to make such a move work.



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[grayghost06]

Catch 22

You don't get an invite to one of those conferences without being a proven FBS athletic department that can prove it doesn't need to rape student fees to be able to make such a move work.


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So let me ask you this. Do you find no fault whatsoever in charging more for less, as long as the students aren't being charged a fee to support the Athletic Dept? The college landscape, especially at the FCS level, is littered with lower rated schools who charge substantially more than JMU and deliver far less for the entirety of the college experience. That's the crime from where I'm sitting. That is ok with you? We are not even above the mean within our own state in terms of total cost of attendance. Different laws and accounting procedures across the country dictate how money is apportioned. If it weren't a line item the way we currently do it, it would be "factored" in by some other creative accounting manner...just like other schools do it.

[DFW HOYA]

The college landscape, especially at the FCS level, is littered with lower rated schools who charge substantially more than JMU and deliver far less for the entirety of the college experience. That's the crime from where I'm sitting.

Every school is different. How does one compare the "entirety of the college experience" at JMU to that of William & Mary or Hampton, much less comparing to Princeton or Incarnate Word or Butler or Western Carolina? For example, JMU only offers six men's sports. Is that a better experience than a school that offers twice as many? No easy answers.

For a school with as many resources as it does, JMU seems tentative on next steps. A 2016 article says as such: "Outside of student fees and conference distributions, our opportunities for generating revenue are somewhat limited."

https://jmusports.com/news/2016/9/2/...administration

[clenz]

So let me ask you this. Do you find no fault whatsoever in charging more for less, as long as the students aren't being charged a fee to support the Athletic Dept? The college landscape, especially at the FCS level, is littered with lower rated schools who charge substantially more than JMU and deliver far less for the entirety of the college experience. That's the crime from where I'm sitting. That is ok with you? We are not even above the mean within our own state in terms of total cost of attendance. Different laws and accounting procedures across the country dictate how money is apportioned. If it weren't a line item the way we currently do it, it would be "factored" in by some other creative accounting manner...just like other schools do it.

80% of your athletic department is funded by student fees - that's a **** of a lot more than an accounting game.

An accounting game is what UNI is forced to play. UNI needs to "borrow" 4 million from the general fund to subsidize the athletic department. That money goes to scholarships which is a check written right back to the university general fund. Meanwhile accounting, business, education, etc... scholarships don't have to follow that same rule.

40 million in student fees being routed to the athletic department isn't an accounting games.


You can point fingers and go "Look at what this school does. They do X so us doing Y doesn't matter". Doesn't change the fact that a top 6 level FBS conference isn't going to invite a school that gets 80-90% of it's budget from student fees while the school claims it will use less student fees if the conference invites it with no proof of that happening

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

While I would love for a Mid-Atlantic/Northeast school to replace UConn, I highly doubt JMU is truly a legit candidate to be that school.

First, their men's basketball program is simply not up to snuff. I remember a few years ago when they made the "first 4" and won with a young team. It appeared they were about ready to take off as perhaps the premier program in the CAA. Needless to say, that remains the Dukes the only tournament performance over the last 25 years. Their arena would probably be big enough, a tick over 6k, but would likely need some serious renovations. Overall, the program top to bottom would need major changes. I'm not sure the school has the resources to pull it off.

Their women's bball team is pretty good. Five tournament appearances this decade and several other trips to the WNIT. They would likely come in and immediately finish in the upper half of the league imo.

Football is the most interesting. I think they school/donors have the resources to make JMU a pretty competitive program in the AAC almost from the start. However, without another serious round of renovations for Bridgeforth facilities would be hurdle a major hurdle in rather short order imo. It's a really nice stadium by FCS standards but it was clearly done the cheap. Navy, ECU and Temple fans will not be impressed. I'm also not sure if they'd lose a bit of their niche as a dominant CAA school/elite FCS program in the region?

The Commonwealth of Virginia already seems a bit oversaturated with FBS programs as it is.

[OhioHen]

ECU fans will not be impressed.

ECU "fans" can't be bothered to enter their own stadium, why would they even notice Bridgeforth? "Pirate Nation" doesn't exactly travel well.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

ECU "fans" can't be bothered to enter their own stadium, why would they even notice Bridgeforth? "Pirate Nation" doesn't exactly travel well.

They travel really well and show up in mass (by G5 standards) at Dowdy-Ficklen when the Pirates are doing well. Their recent downturn has really hurt the the AAC as a whole imo. When I was down there for a Thursday night game in 2015 their was still some good juice in the program/stadium. I firmly believe Houston will get that ball rolling again in rather short order. I'm old enough to remember the 1991 Jeff Blake season and the ensuing run under Steve Logan.

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Is JMU not getting a massive overhaul/new arena for like next year?

That's awesome! Seems like the perfect venue!