JMU to offer COA for all sports starting in 2019

[Journalist]

We are not getting the guys we used to get. Every decent high school hooper plays AAU so there are no more hidden gems. Kids want to win, & I'm not talking national titles, but they want to play for squads that have winning records that beat other teams on their level. When you play 10 money games & go .500 in conference, your record is going to suck. No one wants to be a part of that every season. Some of us are going to have to face facts. If we don't support our program with dollars, they will forever suck. You don't have to have a huge arena (gonzaga's new arena seats 6k, butler seats 9k), but you do need butts in the seats to 1. financially support the program 2. make it financially possible to host guarantee games & 3. to create a home court advantage.

I completely agree

 

[In_The_662]

We are not getting the guys we used to get. Every decent high school hooper plays AAU so there are no more hidden gems. Kids want to win, & I'm not talking national titles, but they want to play for squads that have winning records that beat other teams on their level. When you play 10 money games & go .500 in conference, your record is going to suck. No one wants to be a part of that every season. Some of us are going to have to face facts. If we don't support our program with dollars, they will forever suck. You don't have to have a huge arena (gonzaga's new arena seats 6k, butler seats 9k), but you do need butts in the seats to 1. financially support the program 2. make it financially possible to host guarantee games & 3. to create a home court advantage.

It's hard to do that when some of us don't play games that count on our home court until January (we know Valley is one of those schools)

Believe it or not, we actually got Creighton and MTSU to come to Valley/Greenville under 10 years ago

 

[bjnt922]

That would make for one big 36 team conference that have groups. Also you would have to elevate and drop universities not teams. Which causes hellava scheduling problems. Just think Ala St and PV would move up to conference USA because of Cup scores and Charlotte and UTSA have to move to the SWAC.

Other sports are governed by different rules than football. So I don’t see why all of a universities sports would have to be demoted under a promotion/relegation system because one of them finished last.

 

[JAG89]

What are we collectively doing to make use of the abundance of the vast oceans?

As an HBCU alum, you are probably entering into uncharted territory. IMO, we need to get out of our comfort zones and make use of every available resource we can find at the D1 level. We definitely need to find ways to become more competitive, but moving down to D2 is not the thing to do. I'm sure individuals from HBCUs that were once D2 not long ago probably don't see it as much of a big deal, but HBCUs that have been at the FCS level for a long time would probably regret moving down to the D2 level, such as erasing years of traditions for HBCUs on the FCS level. IMO, schools like NCCU have adjusted well, while schools like WSSU continue to fuss and cuss because they can no longer play those in-state rivalry games at the D2 level.

 

[2kool]

As an HBCU alum, you are probably entering into uncharted territory. IMO, we need to get out of our comfort zones and make use of every available resource we can ind at the D1 level. We definitely need to find ways to become more competitive, but moving down to D2 is not the thing to do. I'm sure individuals from HBCUs that were once D2 not long ago probably don't see it as much of a big deal, but HBCUs that have been at the FCS level for a long time would probably regret moving down to the D2 level, such as erasing years of traditions for HBCUs on the FCS level.

Let me say this... the only reason why I've softened on the D2 idea is because hardly any schools in the conference are really competing outside of the SWAC. However, Im not in favor of one school moving down if the rest are not. I would rather stay put and take advantage of where we all are...but aside from Grambling in football, TXSU/SU in basketball and Bama State in everything else, we all need to be pushing our university leaders to improve programs.

 

[major095]

It's hard to do that when some of us don't play games that count on our home court until January (we know Valley is one of those schools)

Believe it or not, we actually got Creighton and MTSU to come to Valley/Greenville under 10 years ago

with that brand new pretty arena there is no reason you should continue to do that. how can you sell season tickets when you don't play any home games? students have to get out of the room and alumni out of the house. UAPB keeps a crowd, at least according to box scores, and I love that about them.