The same thing happened when Old Dominion and George Mason departed in 2013. East Carolina, Richmond and American were barred from championship participation after announcing they were leaving in 2001. This is, in fact a clause JMU had supported-or certainly not publicly opposed-when it had been invoked in the past. “This is a clause that JMU was aware of.” “Part of my job is to uphold what our bylaws say,” D’Antonio says. Commissioner Joe D’Antonio-known as “Joey D,” a guy who is known to visit campuses and practice with the league champions in several sports-cites the league bylaws and points out that James Madison knew full well what it was getting into. “They don’t prepare you for this.”Īt the league office in Richmond, some 130 miles away, they’re not happy about being portrayed as the heartless villains. “These are some of the hardest conversations,” he says.
The Eagles had advanced to the final four of the Sun Belt tournament when their season was shut down. Men’s basketball coach Mark Byington went down this road more than 18 months ago when he was the coach at Georgia Southern.
Trying to console, trying to find solutions, trying to readjust goals and rekindle motivations. The reality is that JMU coaches find themselves repeating the same words they used when the pandemic shut down sports in the spring of 2020.
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