(09-05-2015 04:59 PM)CISDuke2014 Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 04:02 PM)NovaDuke Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 02:42 PM)CISDuke2014 Wrote:  I just saw President Alger on campus while wearing my shirt stopped and talked to him. Asked him what our goals were and got the same line of when the right opportunity presents itself. I've seen one other wearing a jmu2fbs shirt today as well.

You asked "what are our athletic goals?"
and Alger said..."when the right opportunity presents itself"

That is not answering the question.

This admin refuses to simply say "we want 1A"...a slippery bunch

The specific question were the long term goals specifically to advance the JMU brand and if that included 1-A FBS football. It was a long winded response but the basis was when the RIGHT opportunity presents itself.

CIS- Glad to hear you spoke with him! The more people that bug him about it the better. Looking forward to sharing some beverages at the Albany game!

As I posted on another thread, we had some decent visits to the site but not much in the way of enrollment or pledges. Granted we "launched" last minute and in the shadow of the season opener and the honoring of Alison and Adam but that's okay. Better to ease into a launch in case anything goes wrong but everything seems to be working well except the visitor counter (which I'm working on).

We need to plan an outreach effort for the next game. Glad others have promoted on social media as well but we need to step up that effort to get the big-time Twitter account holders to help out this week (and not during game day when it seems the message was lost among the excitement).

Other ideas?

I looked yesterday and today and the pledge amount increased about $85k so I'd say that's pretty good progress. We'll just keep pushing it through every medium we can. I am confident the dollars are out there. I have several friends I need to get in touch with about it who I'm sure will pledge and I'm sure many others do also.

(09-06-2015 11:45 AM)PurpleStreamers Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 04:59 PM)CISDuke2014 Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 04:02 PM)NovaDuke Wrote:  

(09-05-2015 02:42 PM)CISDuke2014 Wrote:  I just saw President Alger on campus while wearing my shirt stopped and talked to him. Asked him what our goals were and got the same line of when the right opportunity presents itself. I've seen one other wearing a jmu2fbs shirt today as well.

You asked "what are our athletic goals?"
and Alger said..."when the right opportunity presents itself"

That is not answering the question.

This admin refuses to simply say "we want 1A"...a slippery bunch

The specific question were the long term goals specifically to advance the JMU brand and if that included 1-A FBS football. It was a long winded response but the basis was when the RIGHT opportunity presents itself.

CIS- Glad to hear you spoke with him! The more people that bug him about it the better. Looking forward to sharing some beverages at the Albany game!

I actually wasn't going to approach him I was giving a tour to a friend of mine's younger sister who's thinking of JMU. But she wanted to meet him so it gave me cover. I may be able to make Albany now and if I do I'd love to take you up on the offer!

What's the total pledge amount?

(09-06-2015 01:19 PM)HolyCityDuke Wrote:  What's the total pledge amount?

Shame on you HCD, bookmark it!

https://jmu2fbs.com/

Until we can automate this it will be a manual update, mostly nightly when there's been a change.

What's the amount projected to get the guy all the way down the field and run over Alger and King at the goal line? I'm sure the high dollar donors won't bother because they think it's beneath them and nobody is going to engrave their name on something so this is really just the regular type of folks adding into the pot.

Nice site! The only thing that I may debate you on is if/when JMU goes FBS do you really think UVA or Va Tech will play at Bridgeforth? I'm not we'll see this in our lifetimes. As has been stated before ODU is in Norfolk which is a recruiting hot bed so I can see why teams are willing to play them at home. I'm not sure UVA or Tech will cross the mountain or come North on 81 to play JMU when we are at the FBS level. I could see some Mac teams or maybe a team like an ODU, App State what have you scheduling us for home and homes I just can't see too many elite conference teams coming to Harrisonburg.

(09-07-2015 09:06 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  Nice site! The only thing that I may debate you on is if/when JMU goes FBS do you really think UVA or Va Tech will play at Bridgeforth? I'm not we'll see this in our lifetimes. As has been stated before ODU is in Norfolk which is a recruiting hot bed so I can see why teams are willing to play them at home. I'm not sure UVA or Tech will cross the mountain or come North on 81 to play JMU when we are at the FBS level. I could see some Mac teams or maybe a team like an ODU, App State what have you scheduling us for home and homes I just can't see too many elite conference teams coming to Harrisonburg.

Definitely not in the first 10 years and only a very slim chance in the first 20. Eventually, yes, they'll come, but it will take some patience on our part. NC State is about the most regional public I think we can bring to the 'Burg. Duke, yes. Wake, yes. Vandy, yes. I think we could get Pitt. P5 schools will be limited to the privates for the most part.

(09-06-2015 05:17 PM)DoubleDDuke Wrote:  What's the amount projected to get the guy all the way down the field and run over Alger and King at the goal line? I'm sure the high dollar donors won't bother because they think it's beneath them and nobody is going to engrave their name on something so this is really just the regular type of folks adding into the pot.

The goal line is at $5 million. Each line is $250k.

We need to get some pledge drives going centered around "matching" pledges by big donors. They should leverage those as incentive for us little guys to give. For example "if we raise $100k in pledges over a 24 hour period Daddy Warbucks will match the $100k".

(09-07-2015 10:39 AM)2Buck Wrote:  

(09-06-2015 05:17 PM)DoubleDDuke Wrote:  What's the amount projected to get the guy all the way down the field and run over Alger and King at the goal line? I'm sure the high dollar donors won't bother because they think it's beneath them and nobody is going to engrave their name on something so this is really just the regular type of folks adding into the pot.

The goal line is at $5 million. Each line is $250k.

We need to get some pledge drives going centered around "matching" pledges by big donors. They should leverage those as incentive for us little guys to give. For example "if we raise $100k in pledges over a 24 hour period Daddy Warbucks will match the $100k".

Showker family? Maybe the Forbes, I know they love JMU but idk if they have done much for the athletics side. Maybe get a group of our NFLers together as a group to match.

JMU doesn't really do enough to gather and promote metrics about just how close we are to DC and a huge alumni base. We could get major programs to Harrisonburg. We are only 2 hours from DC, less from Northern VA. Look how many fans drive much further to Blacksburg for games. If they'd just do a study they could overcome the "small school/small market" perception but they just sit back and do nothing.

Some of you, just like the admin, are selling us short. For a large public university (which the vast majority of FBS schools are) we have an incredible environment, culture, campus, academics, and experience that is WASTED on FCS.

JMU is either about as close or closer to major cities than the schools below or else not in the middle of a tiny state like others. I know some of these schools are new to FBS but some have home/home with P5's coming up. Here are some major programs they've hosted in the past.

App St from Charlotte
Georgia Southern from Atlanta
Western Kentucky from Louisville (Kentucky, Navy, Army)
Marshall far from any major city (Purdue)
Boise St far from any major city (Washington, Ole Miss, TCU)
Buffalo far from any major city (Baylor, Pitt)
UL Monroe from New Orleans (Wake Forest, Arkansas, Baylor)
UL Lafayette from New Orleans (OK State, Kansas State)

I've been beating that drum forever, 2Buck. When it comes to the whole market discussion, it seems ridiculous to me. JMU has a large presence not only in the DC/NOVA area but also in Richmond. Saying we have no market would be like saying Penn State has no market but guess where a large majority of their grads end up? Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. I guess after their performance on Saturday it's not the best example but I've always found it ridiculous that people would bring up markets as any argument against JMU. Like anyone in Charlotte gives a crap about Charlotte football.

I don't doubt they could host P5 or lesser programs from BCS conferences (unrelated to JMU) I just question whether UVA or Va Tech would ever travel to JMU- there would be too much to lose and nothing to gain from it until JMU proved themselves to be a perenially strong program in FBS. I guess you could say anything is possible- UVA traveled over the mountain to play at the Convo in hoops but that is one of 13 OOC games and a 30 + game schedule in basketball as compared with 1 of what 3 or 4 OOC games in a 10-12 game schedule? I'm totally behind the move to FBS and agree that people underestimate JMU- we are a sleeping giant in terms of potential.

I think it would depend on what you'd be willing to give them back. If we were an FBS program, the best you'd be likely to get with either UVA or VT would be a 2 for 1. That'd be fine by me. I can drive to Blacksburg or Charlottesville. In FCS, I don't think we can get a game with either of them right now even on the road. UVA absolutely refuses to play JMU and after what happened at Tech a few years ago, they won't either.

Whatever conference it is, I'm sure ODU would love to play. It makes sense for both schools and it's really just a shame that we're so poorly run that it doesn't happen. Hopefully this campaign can do enough to make that a reality quickly.

We can get VA Tech, UVA, UNC, and UVA for 1 home game and 2 away games. We would also be able to get Duke, Wake, ECU, Cinci, and a host of others to come to BFS.

(09-07-2015 12:33 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  I don't doubt they could host P5 or lesser programs from BCS conferences (unrelated to JMU) I just question whether UVA or Va Tech would ever travel to JMU- there would be too much to lose and nothing to gain from it until JMU proved themselves to be a perenially strong program in FBS. I guess you could say anything is possible- UVA traveled over the mountain to play at the Convo in hoops but that is one of 13 OOC games and a 30 + game schedule in basketball as compared with 1 of what 3 or 4 OOC games in a 10-12 game schedule? I'm totally behind the move to FBS and agree that people underestimate JMU- we are a sleeping giant in terms of potential.

I agree it would be tough to get UVA and Tech, especially at first. But look at the teams they've played at over the last 10 years. I'd have to think their fans would be dying to play us because of all our history and familiarity. The climate would be electric and they'd view it as an chance for older brother to spit down the mouth of younger brother, at least until younger brother grows up and show them what for! Plus, with the pressures for P5 to drop FCS teams we could fill in that slot as a 2 for 1.

---Va Tech---
Marshall
ECU x4

---UVA---
BYU
Indiana
Southern Miss
UConn
Wyoming
Middle Tennesee
ECU

Pledge Update

Over the weekend we had over 400 unique visitors to the website and $87,000 in new pledges. Great start, let's keep the ball rolling! Everything from large pledges to small, it's all going to help.

Man, speaking of Alger, I saw him at the game wearing a suit that was insanely big. Like, I could have fit into it.

(09-08-2015 08:48 AM)DirtyDukes Wrote:  Man, speaking of Alger, I saw him at the game wearing a suit that was insanely big. Like, I could have fit into it.

He needs some style help.