A new era for JMU Athletics

it is an unusual time um I I've used the phrase probably a hundred times or more than I want to count um there's more change more rapidly than ever before College athletics is always evolving but but there's just more change more rapidly than maybe ever before right welcome to being the change the official podcast of James Madison University brought to you by Madison magazine each episode brings to you stories of how members of the JMU Community combine intellect with action to live lives of purpose and meaning that's being the [Music] change what's up JMU Andy Pine here welcome to being the change I'm here with the new athletic director Matt ran who joined the university in April hey Matt Andy how you how are you it's uh it's nice to join you on this and I appreciate you guys inviting me on well we're so glad to have you and um Matt arrives at quite a momentous time in James Madison University athletics history um but um just so that you know who Matt is Matt's a Virginia native he comes to us from Eastern Kentucky uh University where he was ad uh he also played football uh at Virginia Tech um back in the a and you a tight end I was you're perfect tight end size I uh I used to be I'm I'm a little bit bigger than a tight end now so we got to work on that um and I I had a chance to catch up with you for a moment before a leadership meeting the other day and you're moving your family to the area and you've got four School AG kids that's quite a trick to move four School a kids I do and I'm incredibly fortunate uh so my wife mallerie uh she is the one that makes our family go and I think at that point Andy I had told you that I was in the process of trying to move them and I'm glad to report that since that time uh I have moved them uh so we closed on our house here in in Rockingham County earlier in July and uh all six of us are now Under One Roof uh we're Under One Roof with a lot of boxes but we're we're filtering through that slowly but surely uh but yeah I'm my best version when my family's here so I'm excited to have them here and how old are your kids so I have uh two daughters that are 14 and 12 uh two sons that are 10 and seven so uh a rising freshman a rising seventh grader a rising fifth grader and a rising second grader so if we're not at a JMU game or on campus we're we're somewhere with them well that's a that's a lot of transition for those kids I hope they're doing well they are uh incredibly resilient um I I again I could not be more proud to be their dad uh to watch them uh support me and my dreams uh and and my aspirations uh and you know to put a brave face on I know you know below the surface there's probably emotion that's there and and relationships that they'll Miss but uh to hear them even just last night talk about how glad they are to be in Virginia uh to be excited about starting school and developing new relationships and friendships uh I'm really really proud to be there dad well to you being the change listeners you could probably already hear it in Matt's voice but I I got to tell you this guy fits in at JMU like you wouldn't believe at the Atlantic Union Bank Center um press conference where you're introduced you got up and spoke and I swear I thought you were an alumnus um you fit into JMU so well um how do you feel about fitting in here I I think it's an easy place to to fit into right I because you want to you want to be respectful of of what makes a place so great and and I think a lot of what makes this place so great is just the quality of people right and having grown up in this state um I think I I understand JMU I understand what it is as an institution I understand where it sits here uh in the heart of the valley and uh this is home um you know for me and and that's a tagline that that I know other places uh will use but uh this place it's important to me it matters to me and uh to have the opportunity to represent it uh to return to my roots uh and to have the opportunity to to to your point earlier um this momentous uh kind of time in our history uh but with still so much potential and I think an upward trajectory to align my personal and professional interest I I just could not be more excited well you know I'm I'm in Alum from the early and mid 80s uh and you probably uh know that we were doing pretty well in in sports in the early 80s we uh we were we we met North Carolina um in the in the NCAA basketball championship when when uh Jordan and worthy were on the team I've heard of those guys yeah yeah me too we uh we beat UVA in football in ' 82 uh we went to the College World Series and uh Roger Clemens pitched against us so there's there's a group of us who have tasted a lot of uh success in the past and it keeps happening um it just keeps happening and it seems even though we've gone through so many changes um especially this last year it's it's a cultural thing as much as it is a talent thing no I I I always think that you know people win um you know right and and you want to recruit outstanding student athletes and and we have those here you want to try to hire and retain the best coaches and support staff that you can and and we have done that um it's getting hard and harder to retain but that's a story for another day um but when you talk about people too I think you you can't dismiss the notion of jmun nation right people want to come and play in venues where there are you know 30,000 people and there are packed crowds and and you know incredible home environments but beyond the people um I'm a firm believer that you win with people first the tools that you give those people and the processes that you follow and and when you talk about the tools um Success is Not an Accident uh it doesn't happen you know just because it is the product of uh incredible alignment that's existed whether it was Mr Bourne uh president king um you know president aler the board you know so many people just that alignment top to bottom of of everybody pulling the rope in the same direction and making uh key decisions and and aligning um you know priorities again and and and making Investments whether it be facilities the the the tools that we give the the programs how they operate how they travel how we feed how we dress them how we do all those sorts of things and so when all of those things can happen uh success is a byproduct and we're in a time of some uh bit of uncertainty given not only uh Mr borne retiring and you coming on but um losing a couple coaches and finding a couple great new ones um what is your message to uh the the entire program about this sort of uncertainty I um you know I'll I'll speak to to the people in that and then kind of the uncertainty I think that we we find ourselves in but uh yeah you you had an two outstanding head coaches and and Mark Bingington and Kurt cetti um there's a reason that Indiana wanted them and there's a reason that Vanderbilt wanted them and uh they made the moves that they thought were the right decisions for their family and and you applaud them and you wish them well but um Mr Bourne had an incredible track record and uh I I commend him for this is anytime you go through a search you want to try to eliminate as many uncertainties as you possibly can and and when you look at his track record of of hiring he's hired coaches who have won championships at other places and uh you know I have admired Bob Chesney for a long time being at EKU um and playing FCS football and before that at Nicholls um I've known about Holy Holy Cross and and watching him do what he did there um when he was hired here back in December I thought Bob ches is going to be an outstanding coach at JMU I had a much closer um Viewpoint of of Preston sprad and him being at Morehead obviously again being at EKU hour hour and a half is what separated our two campuses we played against them a lot he was a rival I didn't like him uh now he's a friend and and we're really good friends so um when he was hired I thought again Jeff Bourne has knocked it out of the park with that hire and then obviously having the opportunity to join that I think all three of us have a lot in common um you know our our our career arcs our our back story are are not dissimilar and um I think again that speaks to JMU tends to hire for people who fit it and who you know fit into the culture as opposed to trying to reinvent it but College athletics is uh when you talk about uncertainty it is an unusual time um I I've used the phrase probably a hundred times or more than I want to count um there's more change more rapidly than ever before College athletics is always evolving but but there's just more change more rapidly than maybe ever before and my message to our coaches is you know we're going to continue to be creative and Innovative and and push the needle and and we do have that alignment that support that gives me confidence that as we move forward but you know there will be tough decisions that we'll have to make in order to continue to have the success that we've grown accustomed to but um I believe that we have the people here that can can do just that you know Shane mlin at The Daily News Record uh did a piece on you recently uh and said that quoted you as saying that you wanted to continue with the everything school um for those of our listeners who might not have noticed but uh organically we were called the everything School in social media uh during the football season when we started to have some real success in getting that national attention and people were asking is J mu just a football school and the response that our fans uh said in in in the comments was no Jamie is an everything's cool and you said you wanted to continue that what did you mean by that I um I think there's two ways there maybe two lenses that I look through uh with respect to that and I think you know one of those as I've talked with Kevin Warner inside of our building uh when we talk about our brand and our identity um we sponsor 18 programs I want all 18 uh to have the opportunity to be as good as they possibly can and so again right now we fully fund those programs with scholarships we give them again the the budgets and the tools that they need they compete and are developing every single day in great facilities U and so I think we have taken a look at we don't want to just be school X you know we want to be an everything school and I think that that that speaks to 18 programs uh resourcing them in a way where we expect championships um and now again to the point of NCAA changes and National changes um does it make does it make that a little bit more difficult sure right um you know scholarship roster limits all those sorts of things are going up and so it's more expensive to try to be in everything School but the other lens that I will look through it uh with is beyond Athletics uh and you talk about JMU institutionally right just the academic profile um the relationship that we have with the city of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County when you go to downtown when you see uh clubs and Greek life and all those sorts of things there is something for everybody here and so that to me speaks to everything school that's a differentiator for us when when University of Tennessee wants to say they're the everything school they're just speaking to Athletics I think when the University of Texas says they are the everything school they are just speaking to Athletics I think for us the everything school is Athletics and so much more that's kind of how I took it when when I saw it for the first time and you know our team was the one that put together the everything School poster right um that went out uh toward the end of last year and we for those of you that didn't see the poster there's pictures of every aspect of the life at at James Madison University not just Athletics right and so I'm in total agreement with you Matt that that's what we're after we're on the same page yeah and you speaking of all 18 Sports um our winning record last year for all 18 programs was over 600 uh and that's the best in Virginia isn't it it's um it's right there um and you know it's something I think that's uh something to celebrate right you got to be incredibly proud about that um you know if you 600 and you play Major League Baseball they call you a Hall of Famer one day so that's right uh the law averages says that you shouldn't be that high but uh for us the 18 that we have um everybody is doing well um it's I I heard the phrase the other day that we don't not they weren't talking about us but they were talking about another organization they said you know we don't dally do anything great we do everything good we do everything good and we do a lot great too so um it's it's exciting to be a part of well and I saw also that um this spring semester um 2024 there was close to like 250 260 of the student athletes were either on a Dean's List or on the president's list for grades that's got to matter absolutely and and you know we were in an admin uh administrative team meeting this morning and uh you know we're starting to talk about strategic planning and and what does a two-year goal setting look like and and when you go through those processes you want to say what are we doing well that we have to continue what are we not doing well that we need to stop and then obviously what are the new things and right um as I asked the question just this morning of what do we do well that we must continue to do um it's this notion and this priority of you know Athletics and academic success don't have to be exclusive um you know we Embrace who we are um the rigor of this education the the reputation of this education in this place uh we want to make sure that we're prioritizing both of those Excellence pieces simultaneously and that kind of ties into the everything School idea does it does one of the things also that that that I see as different from a lot of schools that are at our level of success is that the Athletics program and the student athletes are over there somewhere and really on our campus they're the the student athletes are part of Campus I'm a firm believer in that and and I think we're all shaped by our experiences um our our backgrounds and you know maybe I have the the the advantage of of believing in that notion because of the places that I've been is the point that was I was trying to make there but again I use that exact phrase or this exact phrase this morning is that when we talk about what do we do well that we have to continue doing I want JMU Athletics to be a part of the institution not a part from the institution uh and and we don't operate on an island right we we build Bridges we we exist an investment on the part of the institution in athletics is an investment to uh Advance the brand uh to to you know this notion of the front porch but it's the shaa spotlight on the amazing faculty uh the outstanding staff but the teaching the research the learning that happens inside of our classrooms every single day that's what an investment in athletics is is a is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on that well you know uh my team is the the one that manages uh you know all of our digital marketing and all that and we we monitor uh what kind of activity there's there is going on and during college game day um it was the uh I think our the number of searches on Google for JMU was up 1,000% uh and so what it does is it brings eyeballs here and then when they see what's here it's like oh my goodness check this out yeah it's uh yeah it's it's it's the opportunity to to introduce them to to what JMU is uh and then once you introduce them to it they they're Blown Away with just how special of a place it actually is that's true well um I don't know if if our listeners have heard the news but um recently Jen Phillips um who's Jie's uh director for student athlete development uh was appointed to some really important um uh uh councils uh with the NCAA as things are changing like crazy um and it's it seems to me that having Jen at that table uh or those tables uh is going to be really important no it is Jen was was recently appointed to the ncaa's division one Council um and again when you talk about all the change as rapid as it's it's happened um you you understand that a lot of that change happens right there in that group and and in that room and uh first and foremost I'll say I think that speaks to Jen uh as a professional her reputation uh the way her colleagues and her peers uh view her uh she doesn't just represent our institution but she represents the Sunbelt conference and so she is um that was decided that that she would be the perfect representative for that and I I could not disagree and I think she'll be great and I think again that speaks to to her abilities and and her reputation but we have the opportunity you know her being in the room um to to certainly know you know where the conversation is going and and understanding kind of where the tides or the Sands are shifting and um you know just having her you know working alongside of us every single day uh having you know being a part of that National conversation um it makes the NCAA better because of the voice that she brings but it certainly makes us better than the fact that were in the in the know and um you know part of what's going on there well and we bring a an everything School perspective to the conversation which I think is important for the NCAA to include yeah and I think you know she yeah exactly right she expresses you know our values and what's important to JMU while she's in that room and and what's important to JMU obviously has to be important to the conference as well because that's the the the represent representation that she's offering and providing there but um yeah she she's going to be a great ad to that group you know one of the of the things that's changed a lot over the years and I I graduated in the mid 80s um is The Fan Experience has completely uh revolutionized what Athletics Intercollegiate Athletics mean at JMU and I was very good friends with Jeff Bourne and and know how much he was devoted to The Fan Experience um tell us some of your philosophy on what kind of experience you want the fans to have going forward yeah I I you know experience for me is is a part of the natural life cycle of a fan if you will and um the way I've kind of categorized it in my mind is um we have a Communications team a sports information team a creative content team that their goal is to engage and to share information right to introduce uh going back to that notion once you've once you've engaged I think the the next step is that experience right you bring people into your venues and whether that's a season ticket holder a single game holder uh you want to make sure um I I like to use because we're on a college campus I I like to use the word experience more than entertainment but but the reality is is that you're trying to entertain you're trying to Captivate for in the case of a football game 60 Minutes of play time but um from there you you hope that that experience piece turns into people wanting to invest and a single game purchaser becoming a season ticket purchaser and season ticket purchaser becoming somebody who you know leads in the Duke club and and then from there I think the byproduct again is winning and so the life cycle would be be engage experience invest participate and and then win kind of four steps and all four of those things are are critically important and um as I've had the opportunity this summer to to really learn uh and I'm coming in at a great time where there are no games to attend and so I get to ask the question of what are our Traditions uh what are the things that we do uh you know day in Day Out game in game out uh how are how can I help make it better right is it an allocation of resources is it is it thinking of things a little bit differently but uh Jeff pogace Melissa Wyant Ty Phillips um you know the people who you know program our games Jake Long Necker I mean so many people who who program our games who who who think of ideas to to keep our fans engaged who make sure that our facilities look great and who provide leadership um that's that's a focus for us and it will be a focus for a long time to make sure that our fans feel appreciated that we're always looking for ways to improve that well and those are names that not everybody might be familiar with but those are folks that have been here a while and there's some there's some consistency there and and those are incredibly talented people and and we're so fortunate to have all of them you know and I those are just a few names that I mentioned but our you know we have great student athletes we have great coaches but I'm incredibly fortunate to work with an outstanding staff every single day who I get to talk about JMU Athletics it's the reason that you invited me on this podcast but what I'm talking about is the the amazing work that they do every day yeah it's it's uh it's it's wonderful to um to experience their great work um as as a [Music] fan well going into um the fall um what is something that you want the fans to uh to understand about your your first season as uh as ad I uh that I get credit for all the wins and the losses go to somebody El no I'm just kidding but um you know for me it's and I hope that they have uh picked up on this is is I am the conduit to people's passion um when when people speak and and they come to our games and and they voice their opinions uh those those are things that I'm always going to be receptive to right it's um our fans have this is their athletics department this is their program this is their University and so I want to hear you know ways that we can make it better but uh throughout all the change um nationally um you know I hope that our fans will will understand that every single day that we're working to to make things better um you know we value their opinion uh the more that we can be positive the more that we can get each one of us to get one more person on board right there strength Incredible strength in numbers and um just that we're in this thing together and and as much as I want to accomplish great things uh nobody has ever accomplished anything special and worthwhile by themselves and so it takes our leadership team uh it takes the institution obviously the administrative team our coaches our staff our student athletes but it also o takes our fan base as well our alums the people who pour into this place who are so generous with their time and their resources uh as great as we've been uh I still believe that there's a lot of air above us and together we can accomplish great things well that really aligns with our being the change theme of this podcast Matt Matt Ron the new athletic director at JMU thank you so much for joining us here at being the change I appreciate you having me it's been a pleasure and we'll have you back I hope look forward to it all right JMU uh listen next time we'll be talking about something else related to being the change at JMU if you have any ideas about wanting to be on the podcast uh remember you can send it to being thechange at jmu.edu and we'll see you next time thanks for listening tune in next time to hear another story of how members of the James Madison University Community are being the change dive deeper and consume countless other stories at jmu.edu Madison magazine go Dukes the being the change podcast was conceived by Jim heffernon editor of Madison magazine and Me Andy perine head of J marketing thanks to Jenna pul and the team at Rose Library Studios where the show is recorded by Steve adderton the guy who also captures those amazing campus drone shots you see on Instagram original music and episode production by Neil perin all of us involved in creating 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