Barber: A Poolside Chat with JMU Director of Athletics Matt Roan

By Mike Barber
JMUSports.com Correspondent

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – JMU Director of Athletics Matt Roan understands the mission.

Roan knows he took over the Dukes athletic department at a high-water mark in its history, with unprecedented success across many of its programs.

Roan's task is to keep the train rolling.

During a 20-minute, poolside interview at the football team's West Palm Beach hotel this week, Roan talked about that challenge, the changing landscape of college athletics, the alignment he feels with Bob Chesney and basketball coach Preston Spradlin, and the challenge of keeping good coaches.

Mike Barber: You've been on the job for right at eight months now. Has it been what you expected, if you can expect things at all in the current college landscape?

Matt Roan: "I think you anticipate. You don't expect anymore. But JMU has been everything that I could have ever hoped for and expected and more. The personal and professional alignment, the opportunity to come back to my native state, to be a couple hours up the road from my parents, and family, and friends, but I think even more, professionally, to be able to be a part of, not just an ascending, thriving athletics department, but even more an ascending, thriving institution and community. I just could not be more ecstatic to be here and to celebrate, really, the end of that calendar year here in Boca is not the worst thing in the world as well."

Barber: What stood out to you immediately after taking over at JMU?

Roan: "I think the things that I knew were that my predecessor had done a phenomenal job that exists here and certainly the interim president that I get to work for was a big piece of that, as well. The resources that we have in terms of operating budgets, facilities, the points of emphasis – like sports medicine – that touch our athletes where they are, I knew that that was going to be tremendous. I knew that the passion of the fan base was going to be tremendous. JMU Nation cares. And we embrace that. The fact that they want us to win every single game. They want us to build great buildings. Those things lined up."

Barber: You mention the fans' expectations. Do you like that pressure?

Roan: "I think pressure is an opportunity. There are a lot of people would switch places with Coach Chesney and myself, Coach Spradlin and myself, you name it. People have expectations and there is pressure. The pressure is that you want to perform. There are a lot of people who would trade places with each one of us because they're somewhere where there's either resentment or maybe the most dangerous is apathy, that nobody cares. The fact that we have so many people who care so much, that's what drives you. That's what motivates you. I promise you, we want to win. These players that are in the pool right here, they want to win every single time they compete."

Barber: What's the key to keeping JMU football successful and continuing to grow it?

Roan: "I admire coaches. I admire administrators who are super successful. I think in this modern era of college athletics you can't say that anybody has been more successful than Nick Saban. What Coach Saban said is, 'Getting to the top of the mountain is one thing. And that's hard enough. But staying on top of the mountain is even harder.' And I think, in a lot of ways, when you look at FCS and the sudden success of the transition to FBS, our challenge is sustaining success and taking that next step forward. Again, we have a lot of things that are in place. For me, it's very important that our coaches and staff feel appreciated. That we have continuity. We have consistency. Not just our head coaches but our coordinators, our assistants, the people who support the program every single day. Trying to benchmark ourselves, not only against our Sun Belt peers, but our aspirational peers, to say, 'Here's where we are. And here's where we need to be.'"

Barber: Increasingly, coaches are concerned that – in this new NIL and transfer portal space – there are agents taking bigger cuts than they even cut at the pro level. There are agents pushing kids to leave programs they're happy at to get new deals, so the agents get a cut. How big a concern is that for you?

Roan: "I think the solutions are out there in professional sports leagues. The solutions are in unions. The solutions are in collective bargaining. But at the same time, with those things, there's employee status. I don't think that's something that we want, and I don't think that would be necessarily good for college athletics. Hopefully, we can find some sort of middle ground there. I do think there are far too many horror stories of what you described. Agents and marketing managers, whatever you want to call them, that are taking 22% more than the 3% an NFL agent can take. You're right, shopping student athletes around. Not necessarily looking out for what's in the best interest of that young man or young woman but looking out for what's in the best interest of them. There are a lot of challenges that we face. I have a high level of optimism and confidence that we can figure out the solutions to those challenges."

Barber: You inherited a first-year football coach. Were you initially worried about that and how has that relationship grown?

Roan: "Jeff Bourne did a lot of great things, and I think one of the more notable things he did was hire good coaches who had track records of success, who were proven head coaches at different levels, and chose to come to JMU the same way we all choose to come to JMU, and that's to be a part of something that's excellent, that's bigger and better than where we were. There was really no hesitation for me. I had watched Bob, as an FCS AD for the past seven years prior to getting here, had watched the success that he had at Holy Cross and knew that he was a really good coach. When that hire was made, I remember thinking, 'He'll be really successful there.' And I think the same is true of Preston Spradlin. When I see that hire made, just a few weeks before I got hired, I knew, that guy, there's no doubt in my mind he was going to be super successful. And I saw him from 90 minutes away at Eastern Kentucky to Morehead State. I think for me, it's personal philosophy. Hiring a coach is not about my success. Having good coaches is about what is best for our institution. And Bob Chesney is the best coach for this institution. He pours into the players. He develops relationships. He prioritizes the notion of transformation over transaction. He's a proven winner. He surrounds himself with a good staff and he's willing to lead."

Barber: VCU basketball is an example of a program that, because of its success, kept having to hire new coaches. Is JMU football in that cycle or can there be a path to having some more stability?

Roan: "I do think that you can keep them. But I'd always rather have coaches be poached than have to push them. When you're being poached, it means you're being successful. If you're having to push them, it means that you're not. We want our coaches to be sought out, because that means the product on the field and what we're doing off the field are worth pursuing by other people. We have to do our part. We have to make sure that, if we want to be – year in and year out – the best in the Sun Belt, then we need to compensate at the top of the Sun Belt Conference. If we want to contend for that Group of Five playoff spot, then we need to make sure that we're benchmarking and comparing ourselves to those schools that are competing for those opportunities as well. You have to make coaches feel appreciated. You make them realize what our vision will be and that they want to be a part of that. I don't think this is a mid-major place. I don't think you can label JMU. You just make sure they know we want to be premier; we want to be elite and compete at the very highest levels. And that we're going to give them the resources to be able to do that."

Barber: The Dukes have the chance Wednesday to win the program's first-ever bowl game. In your first year, what would that mean to you?

Roan: "It would mean a tremendous deal. I think our fans deserve it. They expect it. So we're going into this game with every expectation that, we expect to win that game. A bowl win is meaningful. You've been around bowl games for a long time, and they should be meaningful, right? They're not an exhibition. They are a reward, but you're given a finite amount of opportunities to compete in college football and you want to win every single one. When you have a chance to play against a team that played for a Conference USA championship last week and you get to do it in sunny South Florida, you've got to put every effort into that. I think the bowl is another first. This place, institutionally, athletically, is ascending and I absolutely believe that the best is still to come."

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