Bourne Dialogue – Raising the Bar - James Madison University Athletics

JMU Nation,

Over the last three years combined, the Dukes are emerging victorious two out of every three times they enter competition (65 percent). No school in the CAA or in Virginia can match that.

Add two national championships, three national title game appearances, 13 CAA Championships, 15 CAA regular season titles, 24 NCAA appearances and two ESPN College GameDay telecasts from the Quad and it's been a special run for James Madison Athletics.

Our success has been unparalleled among our peers, but where does an athletic department go from here? It would be easy to rest on our laurels – rinse and repeat.

Not at James Madison. We're raising the bar.

We are steadfastly committed to offering the best student-athlete experience in the NCAA. Success is ultimately the by-product of that emphasis, but it begins with the people, the culture, a department-wide commitment and the infrastructure in place here at JMU. I wanted to share a few examples of how we are raising the bar in JMU Athletics as the new year kicks off with women's soccer Thursday night.

Cost of Attendance

The NCAA began allowing institutions to provide a cost of attendance stipend to scholarship student-athletes in 2015. While schools from the autonomous five conferences implemented it immediately, most other Division I institutions took a more cautious approach. At JMU, we began stipends in the fall of 2017 for men's and women's basketball. Late this spring, we made the decision to begin providing cost of attendance for all incoming and returning scholarship student-athletes across all sports beginning in the fall of 2019. As our coaches began offering this to prospective student-athletes this summer, we have already seen that cost of attendance can make the difference in an athlete realizing that JMU will provide them with the best experience for their future.

I am excited that we have been able to prioritize this initiative moving forward so our coaches can offer a comprehensive financial package to make the decision-making process easier for our prospective student-athletes. In addition to this initiative, JMU also provides sport programs that are fully staffed across the board, a commitment to the allowable NCAA scholarship maximums per sport and support staffs that place the physical and mental well-being of our student-athletes as a true priority. Few institutions can boast the total commitment we afford to every student-athlete in each of our sport programs at James Madison.

Facilities

Facilities will always be a focal point on our campus. We are closing in on completion of a new indoor performance structure on the upper tier of our Sentara Park complex. Currently, there is no ideal space for our outdoor sports to train under poor weather conditions. This can disrupt preparation for competition and create frequent challenges for scheduling all of our teams in various spaces. The JMU Athletics Training Center at Sentara Park will be used by all sport programs and will benefit all student-athletes. This project comes on the heels of the installation of an indoor tennis structure that opened in January, 2018.

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I can't recall a summer like this one with overall construction projects on our campus. For Athletics, the Union Bank and Trust Center is full steam ahead with significant ground movement over the summer and the outline of a seating bowl emerging. Other campus projects will benefit JMU Athletics in various ways as the new D-Hall will attract incoming student-athletes and ensure proper nutrition for our current student-athletes. The new College of Business project will enhance academic opportunities for many of our student-athletes. The new "F" parking lot on what was previously Godwin Field was constructed to address much-needed parking in the middle of campus for everyday use, but it will also improve parking operations at JMU football games. The new residence hall and land bridge project will interconnect East Campus and improve access to the Convocation Center and later the Union Bank and Trust Center.

We are currently working with Moseley Architects, who recently completed the university master plan, to update the JMU Athletics master plan. I look forward to sharing the results later this academic year. There are exciting opportunities in front of us to continue enhancing our facilities portfolio. The master plan is not a guarantee of what will happen in our future, but it is essential for planning and maximizing our potential.

Behind the Scenes

No house can stand without a solid foundation. The infrastructure is paramount to what we have achieved at James Madison. Our strategic approach to student-athlete care and welfare has been enhanced with the addition of more full-time sports medicine professionals to ensure the proper care for every individual.

Our emerging student-athlete leadership program is paying dividends already in terms of job searches, internships and mentorship arrangements. Our Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) has become more engaged than ever, and we are excited that field hockey's Alicia Cooperman will be the CAA's national SAAC representative for the NCAA.

Our strategic plan finalized in 2015 outlined academic standards for our programs. I am pleased to share that for the first time, every JMU Athletics program achieved the department's standard of 960 on the NCAA's academic progress rating (APR) score with the majority of our teams improving their score from the previous year. Our other academic measures are also performing well as our Graduation Success Rate (GSR) is 88 percent and the department-wide cumulative grade point average hit 3.00, the benchmark outlined in our strategic plan. These numbers can be compared to the institution's overall marks of 86 percent GSR and 2.964 GPA. I'd like to congratulate our student-athlete services staff for their efforts in making these scores possible. These numbers further substantiate the quality education that is part of the student-athlete experience at James Madison.

Fundraising

As shared by the Duke Club this week, our fundraising efforts are increasing as our fan base grows and our success builds. For fiscal year 2018, we collected $2.63 million for the Duke Club annual fund and $4.45 million in total giving to JMU Athletics. These numbers boost our efforts and allow us to offer the model student-athlete experience at James Madison. That said, there is still more work in front of us to cover the cost of scholarships, new initiatives like cost of attendance and various facility projects. We call upon all of JMU Nation to join us in Raising the Bar when it comes to investing in our programs.

Ticket Sales

No doubt the buzz around JMU football is trending up, which is materializing in the form of ticket sales. For the first time since the expansion of Bridgeforth Stadium in 2011, all premium seating options have been sold out before our home opener. That includes all 1,000 club seats and all 15 private suites. In addition, we have already surpassed last year's season ticket total and currently sit less than 400 away from our record of 7,500 from the first season in Bridgeforth. It's not too late to ensure your spot in Bridgeforth for the 2018 season. Credit to our external operations areas for their work on these achievements.

Television

Yesterday, we announced the most comprehensive television and digital broadcast package for JMU football in program history. We are committed to making sure our fans can keep up with our programs, whether that be broadcast television or continued enhancements to our digital streaming strategies.

On-Field Success

As I review rosters for 2018-19 and look at our coaching and support staffs, I can't help but feel incredibly optimistic about the potential for success that sits in front of us. So much talent returns from successful teams last year and so many teams seem poised to be even better than a year ago.

In addition, our recent successes create a byproduct in terms of the ability to attract elite-level incoming student-athletes. We're going toe-to-toe with the best athletics programs in the country. Look at the lacrosse national championship. Our Dukes faced the top programs in the sport and emerged on top of the heap, including an impressive 6-0 mark against ACC programs.

The brand of JMU Athletics is on the rise. As I travel the country, increasingly more people identify James Madison and recognize the tremendous achievements of our programs. Each of you are part of that as you wear your purple and gold, proudly speak of your affinity for the university and share in our success. Join us whenever you can, home or away, and support our student-athletes to even greater success in 2018-19 as we continue raising the bar!

Go Dukes!
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