Original Story



James Madison University

The Academics
Location: Harrisonburg, VA
Type of School: Public
Total Student Population: 18,454
Undergrads: 16,916
Demographics: 40% male; 60% female
Sex Ratio: 5% Asian; 4% Black; 2% Hispanic; 87% White; 1% International
%age of Natives: 71% are Virginians
Ranking: 4th among Southern Regional Masters' Universities (same category as Appy)
AVG SAT of admitted kids: 1160
Endowment: $39.2 million

CURRENT CONFERENCES: Colonial (ALL SPORTS)
Football stadium capacity: 15,778
Men's Basketball capacity: 7,612
Women's Basketball capacity: 7,612
Most notable money sport: Football

James Madison University is a large regional university in Virginia and like the previously mentioned Appy, it has a decent reputation academically within VA, WV, DC, and MD. Like many regional "masters universities", JMU is pretty limited at the graduate level, beyond teacher education and music which is probably the school's forte. Virginia has one of the best public university systems in the country after California, since we have two schools in the Top 40 (UVA and W&M). North Carolina has a case too. If JMU's student body were compared against most states' flagship public universities, and had a full research part to their school, wow, JMU would be the best public university in the state. Unfortunately, we have UVA and W&M, and even VT, so JMU gets the pejorative moniker "Just Missed UVA".

Why JMU should get in the ACC
It is in ACC country, its undergrad student body is bigger than UVA's, and has decent sized facilities. The basketball arena is a bit small at 7,612, but still not pathetically small. The football stadium currently holds only 15,778 people, but they are in the process of a large expansion underway to get it to 25,000 or so after the first phase to build an upper deck. Another upper deck will be built which will likely make JMU finally say, "okay, we're going FBS now" though their administration hasn't said it yet. Capacity could be at 40,000+. Here's a video and links of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxibToE1S7A
http://www.whsv.com/sports/headlines/53256212.html
http://augustafreepress.com/2008/01/25/is-bridgeforth-expansion-part-of-long-range-i-a-plans-for-jmu/

The football team is an FCS power, winning the 2004-2005 Division I Championship and making the playoffs from 2005-2008 as well.

In men's basketball, they are not one of the better programs in the CAA. In women's basketball, which is more of a CAA forte, JMU has had some pretty good teams last couple years being ranked at some points, esp. when current WNBA player Tamera Young was there.

Why not
Okay, JMU isn't ECU bad, but they already have one program barely in as a 2nd Tier national university in FSU. JMU's undergrads as a whole may have better numbers than FSU, but it still isn't as good as most of the ACC's universities. Second, the lack of a larger basketball arena is concerning, but the academics is the biggest concern here because their very low endowment and lack of graduate programs make them essentially just a 16,000 member liberal arts college, and most undergrads don't do hard core research which is where the big $$ comes from.

JMU Alumni:
Tamera Young (2008) - Guard for the Chicago Sky (was drafted 8th by ATL in the 08 WNBA Draft)


Scott Norwood (1985) - former kicker for the Buffalo Bills, notorious for the Wide Right kick vs. the NY Giants in the Super Bowl in the 1990-1991 season


Your take
JMU's football stadium expansion makes them definitely look like they want to be an FBS program. They will get the funds to expand the stadium faster than a speeding bullet if the ACC gave it to them. It is definitely worth looking into to see if JMU wants to go farther, and with their school moving to the ACC, it could help them improve more academically since more kids will learn about their school and want to go there.