I attended this virtual happy hour. Cliff Wood did an excellent job as host. It was a question and answer session for our new head coach. I haven’t seen Byington coach but man oh man, I like this guy. He hit it out of the park today.

Byington has a plan and I believe he also has the ability to execute that plan. I am going to go out on a limb here but my gut tells me this guy might be the best hire our administration has ever made. Houston was great in front of a microphone. This guy is too. His personality fits really well at JMU and he knows how to sell JMU. His answers were thoughtful and came across as sincere. He has a subtle intensity and toughness. THIS GUY LIKES TO COMPETE! He displayed humor, confidence and humility. Byington understands the game and what it takes to win.

GSU had 7-8 consecutive losing seasons before he arrived there. His teams won 20 games each of his last three seasons there.

I am so excited for JMU basketball this year and going forward. I believe we have finally found the coach that can get it done at JMU. He won’t be at JMU long.

(06-04-2020 10:15 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  I attended this virtual happy hour. Cliff Wood did an excellent job as host. It was a question and answer session for our new head coach. I haven’t seen Byington coach but man oh man, I like this guy. He hit it out of the park today.

Byington has a plan and I believe he also has the ability to execute that plan. I am going to go out on a limb here but my gut tells me this guy might be the best hire our administration has ever made. Houston was great in front of a microphone. This guy is too. His personality fits really well at JMU and he knows how to sell JMU. His answers were thoughtful and came across as sincere. He has a subtle intensity and toughness. THIS GUY LIKES TO COMPETE! He displayed humor, confidence and humility. Byington understands the game and what it takes to win.

GSU had 7-8 consecutive losing seasons before he arrived there. His teams won 20 games each of his last three seasons there.

I am so excited for JMU basketball this year and going forward. I believe we have finally found the coach that can get it done at JMU. He won’t be at JMU long.

Wow, this got me fired up. Is there a recording available anywhere?

The most recent Coach B virtual meeting with Duke Club is up on Facebook. It’s a really good watch/listen.

A couple of observations:

related to recruiting- obviously He can’t talk about recruits but he did mention recruiting someone in NY who plays on Dana Dingles (former Umass star) AAU team. Any ideas who this may be?

Related to scheduling he referenced 4 quad one games - that is either top 60 on the road or top 40 at home. JMU had one last year (at UVA). He also mentioned games against Acc (2) Sec and American.

The UVA (home), Ga Tech (road) and Florida (road) have been announced. Also JMU plays at Ecu I believe who is American but wouldn’t fit the bill of Tier 1 - neither would ODU or Mason at home. Is the 4th a yet to leak additional game vs an American school ? I wonder who would fit the tier 1 profile as top 60 (more likely) or top 40 ? Would probably have to be an east coast American who returns some guys- pure speculation but Memphis or Temple? Maybe Cincy? Again just a guess on my part because prior staffs would have bragged about Ecu being American as a highlight on the schedule and I’m Thinking Coach B Probably wouldn’t try to sell that- very doubtful they would be top 60 to start the season.

Things are always optimistic at the beginning!

That being said I definitely like his vibe. Seems to be using analytics without coming across as a complete nerd about it. Also has a good sense of humor.

He has faced a rebuild like this before. He took over a 280th type program and moved them into the top 130s. The facilities at G Southern seem much worse than what hes walking into so he should have a chance to do better at JMU if things go right. It is going to take time even if hes off the charts good.

Winning is more important than style of play but it does seem like he was able to turn around G South while also implementing an uptempo/faster brand of play. They were 14th/41st his last two years in adjusted tempo. Key of course is playing some defense while playing at a faster pace. Coach Byington's teams at Georgia Southern almost always appeared to be geared towards forcing turnovers. I am not sure if he's doing this with full court pressure or just aggressiveness in the half court. They are overplaying to some degree though because they tend to give up a high % of FG's from 2 point land. This tends to happen when you pressure, so hopefully you get some turnovers/easy buckets. Last couple editions of JMU has not been good at causing turnovers. Some of this was a result of lack of depth / inability to foul so they played to protect players. Will be a change I'm assuming for whoever is left behind.

Ignoring style bringing in talent is as important as anything. Seems like he has some juice in the transfers coming and hopefully some of the frosh end up contributing. As the program improves and campus life returns to normal I would think the type of freshman coach could bring will also improve.

(06-04-2020 10:15 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  I attended this virtual happy hour. Cliff Wood did an excellent job as host. It was a question and answer session for our new head coach. I haven’t seen Byington coach but man oh man, I like this guy. He hit it out of the park today.

Byington has a plan and I believe he also has the ability to execute that plan. I am going to go out on a limb here but my gut tells me this guy might be the best hire our administration has ever made. Houston was great in front of a microphone. This guy is too. His personality fits really well at JMU and he knows how to sell JMU. His answers were thoughtful and came across as sincere. He has a subtle intensity and toughness. THIS GUY LIKES TO COMPETE! He displayed humor, confidence and humility. Byington understands the game and what it takes to win.

GSU had 7-8 consecutive losing seasons before he arrived there. His teams won 20 games each of his last three seasons there.

I am so excited for JMU basketball this year and going forward. I believe we have finally found the coach that can get it done at JMU. He won’t be at JMU long.

I agree. In a few years, he is going to be offered seven figures a year. I hope we match it and can keep him.