(03-28-2020 01:00 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(03-28-2020 09:58 AM)Purple Wrote:  

(03-27-2020 05:43 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(03-26-2020 07:17 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(03-26-2020 06:41 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  This may make it a little more obvious to those that haven’t looked into JMU’s spending.

JMU ‘s athletic spending has increased 8% in the last 4 years fueled almost exclusively by a 12% increase in student fee revenue. It doesn’t matter how many line item accounting excuses you make, spending is up 8%.
How much do you think men’s basketball spending has increased? Well, it hasn’t. In fact it has Decreased 12% in the last four years (I backed out Brady’s severance because that would make the gap look artificially larger).

BTW, for reference, spending has increased in Olympic sports by 14% in those same 4 years.

2020 was supposed to be a pinnacle year for JMU basketball, but Alger and Bourne have been asleep at the wheel for several years.
Does anyone feel like they have prepared and planned for this monumental year like competent leaders do? Is there any penalty for them?

And why was 2020 supposed to be a “pinnacle year” for JMU basketball?
You conveniently are arguing out of both sides of an illogical stance.

On the one hand you want to claim it’s a “pinnacle year” (because of the new arena...which Alger, CK and JB helped bring online), and yet, on the other hand you want to argue Alger, CK and JB are not competent leaders and should be punished because in your mind they haven’t “prepared and planned for this monumental year.” What evidence do you present that Alger and company haven’t prepared or planned?

The very people you’re criticizing helped bring the new arena online. This development did not happen by happy accident. It took skill and planning out the wazzoo to make this happen on JMU’s campus. But you want us to believe that now, because they canned a bad coach and didn’t hire Rick Pitino, or some similar pie-in-the-sky HC, they are unprepared to open the new arena.

Sorry. I’m not buying your take on where JMU is in prepping to start a new era in MBB. Not by a long shot. I’m cautiously optimistic that the new HC is the right guy, and the closer we get to the new season all of your negativity about “prepping and planning” will be revealed as seriously silly talk.

You can be optimistic if you feel that is reasonable. However, you have to admit the program is at the bottom of its existence coming off of 4 straight losing years culminating in a last place 9-21(2-16) season. We couldn’t be in a worse starting position if we tried. Wouldn’t it be wise having strong momentum heading into such a critical year?

Building a $100 million SEac level arena = great! I agree.
Failing to properly fund the basketball program, specifically coaching salary = terrible.

My take is that the head coach is way more important than the building. If you feel the building is more important than the coach you are allowed to have that opinion.

Personally, I would rather JMU had stuck with the original plan from 2011 to spend $5 - $10 million sprucing up the Convo and buying a modern videoboard. Then using money to pay a coach $1 million/year to get the best.

How about we set a nice gentlemanly wager on attendance in year one of the AUBC once the schedule is finalized. UVA will sell out for sure. All the rest of the home games will determine did JMU completely screw up the inaugural year of a Taj Mahal arena. So the bet might even help determine if this is all is silly talk. Maybe another gentlemanly wager on the JMU’s record since it is possible the won-loss record won’t correspond directly with the attendance.
You only get one grand opening year and the new car smell wears off pretty darn quick. If we are shooting to bring back the electric zoo and actual fans sitting in their paid seats by year 2 or 3 of the new arena, then I call that gross negligence.

This has nothing to do with if we think Byington can be successful eventually.

I agree. We could have spent that money more wisely, in my opinion. Now, we have a "Taj Mahal" arena, as you call it, and a bargain-basement coach. The Taj Mahal is worthless without a winning team.

I wish we had advertised that our BBHC was a million-dollar a year job. Then, the quality of our candidate pool would have been much deeper. If, after the interviewing process, Byington came out on top, hire him! If he could beat out the caliber of that pack, he deserves his million dollars a year.

Eh, know you were being a bit rhetorical, but “beating out” whoever would have responded for bigger pay doesn’t automatically make MB’s current value double what we offered, which is already a substantial increase for him. Would have liked to see us swing a bit higher, but there’s no guarantee we would have had a Pitino or JT III interviewing at that price.

Let’s all hope the admin got lucky this time and in 3 or 4 years we are debating whether to offer MB that level of money to stay.

Yep, let's just wish Coach B the best. If he hits it out of the park next year, I'm sure the admin will take care of him anyway.