And a very pleasant ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another episode of JMU sound off I am Jonathan mcar excited for a great disc Russ tonight we’ve got three great guests we’ve got Mike UA who’s going to share his experience as a former player Under head coach Bob
Chesney at a Suson College we also have Mark bot who is a former James Madison wide receiver and the current tight ends coach at Air Force to give us a little preview of what fans of Jame you can expect to see from Air Force and what is
Going to be like for him to coach against his former team and then we have a man that needs no introduction at least to any us associate with JMU sound off Mike battle former football player at JMU and a man who has worn many hats in helping to advance this athletics
Department Department into the future so really excited for that discussion and as always before we bring on our other hosts we want to give a shout out to our sponsors at the Millar Collective big week for the collective as well as Skyline Financial Partners we’ll talk
About the collective in a second but as always to learn more about Skyline Financial Partners Skyline financial partners.com and with that bring in our co-hosts for this evening Taylor Atkins Michael Evangelista and Steve Brown um right off the bat Taylor I have to thank you because you uh allowed uh me to be
Able to go to my daughter’s ballet performance this week because you shared uh the division 3 National Championship with my dad um got him the tickets and enjoyed Courtland Red Dragons winning the D3 National Championship just uh shout out to my dad I know he’s listening that was a big moment for him
He said it it was just a smidge lower in importance to the Islanders winning their fourth Stanley Cup so that um Rose to a pretty pretty big night out in Salem Virginia at the Stag bll so Taylor um want to bring you in uh want to acknowledge um in our news and notes
Section what kind of week it was for the Mont Pilar Collective we put a lot of um emphasis this week on social media around the idea of helping to unlock some challenge gifts the welcome Bob chzn fund uh trying to achieve the goal of $150,000 to support our nil
Collective we put the challenge out there to you all with Harry O Kelly as well as Jaylen green to reach 25,000 before the bowl game we accomplished that in a big way $2,686 raised from our donor base that unlocked a $10,000 uh challenge gift from an anonymous donor so over $35,000
Raised because you uh the viewers and the fans of JMU football um Taylor we talk a lot about the collective and its importance that’s a pretty big milestone for for our fan base as we try to reach our ultimate goal of that 150,000 yeah it’s it’s amazing to me I
Mean even going back to 2004 when it was a mascot competition right for for the jam Duke dog just how much the JMU fan base rallies around um they vote they give they support um it’s pretty impressive just I mean I’m sure other fan bases and other
Schools are just as good in some aspects but man we we are so good at coming together around a cause and that’s why I’m really excited about Coach chzn being here and uh what our fan base is going to be able to do in terms of giving him resources and those resources
Come in so many different forms but really just the support the advocacy making a your presence known social media in person and I think we have a great opportunity to re-engage uh some alumni and continue to grow the fan base to see what Jam has become awesome and
For fans who have not made a donation yet moner collective.com again our ultimate goal is 150,000 so if you hadn’t made a gift um please make a gift today if you can and stay tuned over the days and weeks to come there’s going to be some additional um news and and
Content and things around this campaign um again this helps student athletes associated with JMU football it also helps put coach Chesney in this new staff uh in the best possible position to help retain Talent uh that is on the roster for jamu football uh and help
This brand as we move into the spring uh and towards next season um other news that came out this week we heard today uh information about head co uh current interim head coach Damen robowski uh is going to be retained as a part of Bob chzn staff as well as Eddie Whitley um
Big news I think for the amazing job that they have been doing um helping to steer this program towards the bowl game uh we also got news uh that there were three other coaches named this week Dean Kennedy will be the offensive coordinator under coach Chesney um Drew
Kan is going to be doing SP special teams and Anthony dichael an unnamed on the field role um we’re still waiting for the official announcements from JMU about those hires uh but Michael uh your kind of thoughts about the uh the retain retention of our current coaches that
Are going to be on the staff uh and the news of the three coaches will be coming down from Holy Cross as uh chese starts to build together what looks like a really strong staff here for JM football yeah ecstatic to hear that robowski and Whitley are coming back um not only do
The players love them they want to Rally around them um but they have strong recruiting ties within the area you know Whitley played a Virginia Tech he knows Virginia North Carolina mid midatlantic well same as robowski um and also He’s our he coaches our o line right so talk about stability
Like the foundation of your team particularly on offense right like he’s a stable Force for the program um and really excited about some of the new assistant from Holy Cross um Dean Kennedy if you do a quick Google search afca 35 under 35 explosive offense kind of very quarterback option esque last
Year with Matthew sluka but they’ve very um variable or they’ve definitely tailored the offense based on who’s there and the Personnel but really excited to see what he can do over here at JMU um and then also the new special team coach I think Drew Canon like if
You look at Holy Cross every year that um chzn and Canada have been there together they’ve been number one on special teams in terms of block kicks kick returns Etc that goes all throughout their entire career if you look at D2 D3 special teams has been a
Big emphasis for them in their coaching philosophy we’ll talk a little bit more about that later um and demichel um I think he was a recruiting Co coordinator um at Holy Cross and really important to note they’ve recruit nationally I in my conversation with Coach chzn earlier this week you know they they
Particularly they have more Southern players than JMU right so looking at places where they have um already relationships and ties and being able to recruit from different patches all over the country really excited to see the impact these coaches are able to make awesome and Steve uh just to bring you
Into the discussion uh this a big week for Jamie football our first ever bowl game and this will serve as a nice segue into our first guest but um just kind of your feel feelings going into a game against the service Academy on ABC um lots of news around this program at the
Moment but an opportunity for with all the noise that’s been going on around the the hiring search we get to focus on a football game this week uh with all the transfer portal news and stuff to to have an opponent uh and to do it on National stage against an opponent that
We all know and all respect so uh much in terms of the Air Force Academy um your thoughts just on the week ahead uh the guy guys are dialed in they’ve had two really good weeks of practice um they’re getting ready to head down to Texas and they’ll have practice down
There um really looking forward to them playing the Air Force um love the whole thing with the Air Force Academy I uh did a survival school at the Air Force Academy out there when I was in high school and um almost went to the Air Force Academy so um that’s back in the
Day guys when everybody had to play a sport and I think they probably had 130 guys on the football team because everybody had to play um so it was you know it I’m really looking forward to it my son-in-law just got out of the Air
Force um so he will be uh I think rooting against JMU so he will not be allowed uh to be anywhere near anybody in our household uh if that’s what he’s going to do um and he probably won’t be able to eat we will not allow him to eat
Dinner that night either so um but it’s uh we’re I’m looking forward to it the guys are looking forward to I’ve talked to a couple of the players they’re extremely excited they’re extremely focused um they have had a very good spirited practice with Coach Robo and
The co and the team and the coaches that are there um and they’re extremely happy um with Coach chzn uh to a person that I’ve talked to um and you’ve heard some of the guys that have said things you know on social media or said things but
At the end of the day they’re very happy with the way that this has kind of happened and the way that they’ve been blending and working together and I I just I love to hear that you can hear it in their voices um and they are completely dialed in and focused solely
Um on the Air Force Academy saying I know the Air Force Academy is focus solely on them and and Coach will tell us here in a minute awesome that’s a perfect segue and and one thing we’ve done on this platform since we started is to um give voice to the JMU football
Alumni who are out in um various roles in their Community whether they’re they’re in the coaching field or or doing uh great things in business uh but we have the opportunity tonight uh with this match up against Air Force to highlight um a hot young coach in the
United States who’s doing some great things in the coaching scene um Mark bote who is a former wide receiver for James Madison and and coach B thanks for taking uh a few minutes out of your time uh to join us in this discussion for those who are not familiar with your
Background we want to give you an opportunity right off the bat to to maybe shine light on your JMU playing career um give people who are watching this podcast tonight a little bit insight into your JMU story um and in background as what you would like to
Play for the Dukes uh thanks for having me on first of all um yeah I came to JMU in the fall of 97 um in that class uh recruited by Coach Alex Wood um he was there for my first two years and then Coach Mickey Matthews came our junior year in
1999 and subsequently we um ended up winning a conference that year and then that was it was the 810 back then so we won the 810 and 99 went to the playoffs um eventually lost to Troy State um who is now at Troy University um I finished
Playing in 2000 was my senior year my senior season uh unfortunately I uh didn’t take advantage of uh my opportunities there and didn’t finish school at first um I went off and played Arena ball for a couple years uh then I got an opportunity to come back and I
Came back fall of 07 uh and finished in ‘ 08 but in that spring of ‘ 08 I um I went and kind of volunteered with the football team helping out coaching that’s kind of what got me into coaching awesome and yeah Taylor you go
No well uh one thank you for coming on tonight I know I was a little late getting to the the pre-production meeting where we all got to introduce ourselves but really appreciate you coming on tonight um give us a little bit of background into I know Air Force
Has gone to this bowl in the past um and has been successful Air Force was a very hot team early this year I would say among the G5 programs they were probably the most talked about G5 program early in the season and um just give JMU fans a
Little bit of insight into you geographically Air Force being so far away give them some insight into what to expect from uh from airs force that maybe Jame fans wouldn’t know having not watched a lot of games and um also the opportunity to play your your former
Alma moer yeah um as far as uh what we kind of bring to the table you got guys that are really hard noosed and and kind of Play Whistle to whistle I that’s you know and play for each other right that’s the biggest thing I think that I
Guess separates us from other people is how hard the young men play and how much they play for each other and just kind of chop away no matter what the situation of the game may be um as far as playing against my alma moer uh this happens to be the fifth
Time I’ve played against JMU um two times when I was a coach at Old Dominion in both 2011 and 2012 and then again two times when I was an assistant coach at University of Richmond uh 2017 and 2018 uh right now I’m two and two so this is
Gonna be interesting but I mean uh for me I’m always where my feet are um at the end of the day it’s kind of like going against your brother because um all you know JMU is family for me so it’s like competing against my brother but even when you’re competing against
Your brother you still want to win so you always on yourself um the interesting about it is we found out that we were playing JMU and I was actually with Delvin Joyce Curtis Keaton and Derek pack we were all kind of sitting around together and I got the
Text in our groups that uh chat saying that we got JMU on the schedule so that was pretty cool that’s awesome shout out to Delvin Joyce we’ve caught up with him at a couple of games this year I know he’s watched us given us a lot of
Encouragement and support so I I I’m sure he’s either watching now or we’ll listen to this later on this week but uh really appreciate all the kind words from him over the season yeah I was going to say shout out to Delvin because I think he’s the one that you know Drew
Us together Mark so once again appreciate you hopping on um I’m glad you said it first I was gonna say I noticed that you were on the staff at ODU in 2011 2012 and those two crucial games that uh let’s say impacted J Nation for an entire decade until we got
A Revenge last year and this year um talk to us a little bit like you know you you you you’re you graduated from JMU um during the Alex W or or during the Mickey Matthews era you see James Madison win a National Championship you
See us win another one go up to FBS go to Sun Belt have go 19 and four in the first FBS Seasons what has been what does that look like for you like what have you like how does that feel being Al Lum and like where do you think Sky’s a limit for
JMU oh I think it’s been awesome man it’s been awesome to sit back and watch as an alumni as a football player you know I’ve rooted for JMU and every game other the ones I played against them so I mean it’s just been it’s you’re proud
To see where the program is gone you think about you know where you guys were as a program when you were there and kind of the steps that they’ve taken and and just excited about what’s to come and yeah I do think the sky’s a limit I
Think from a you know a location facilities uh brand of football all that I don’t think there’s anything that you know into the future that they couldn’t do if they wanted to yeah if coach if you would if you could speak to the the part about you
Talked about the hard no part about Air Force and I think what a lot of our folks don’t understand maybe they do but I I doubt it is is the whole issue of how you do play for each other when you’re at a service Academy um that everything surrounding their training is
For each other and if you could just speak to that because it’s different than when the football team at JMU or ODU or Alabama say you know we’re playing for each other it’s a Brotherhood if you could just speak to the there’s a difference um at Air Force
Than there is with if you could just speak to that I think it’d be helpful for our fans to to really understand it yeah I think the difference lies in that just the whole school the culture around the whole school is about that and not just an athletic team you know what I
Mean um when you’re looking at it there’s only about 4,000 students uh on campus at a time and everybody is there is on the same goal right you may have different disciplines that you go to that people are looking to do but you’re there to train to become an officer in
The United States Air Force to be in a leadership position in the Air Force you know what I mean in the military so the goal is about service to others throughout the whole Academy and not just per se on your team so that just bleeds into what you’re doing on your
Team and then how does that tie back to your experience at JMU I mean when you were connected with Delvin and and the others on the team I know it’s a little bit different but we always think the Bond is is stronger at JMU than it is at
Other places not I’m not saying that it’s stronger than it is at Air Force but we definitely believe it’s stronger than ODU in Richmond I can tell you that so can you just can can you speak to that for you know how it was with you
And Delvin and Curtis and those guys oh I mean the guys I play with our bond is extremely strong man we still a bunch of us still keep in contact and talk and laugh and and have a good time um there’s nothing like being a part of
Those teams for me you know the times both you know on the field that you’re doing things with guys and then in the locker room I know a lot of times people go you know what are some things you miss about playing and just the interactions and the things that you you
Know I mean go through in the locker room the the the funny things that happen the different things that you’ll still talk about 20 years later about what happened and what somebody said or you know things like that are are things that kind of bond you together you spend
So much time together um those guys become like your brothers coach PA I I early in my career I I spent some time at the Pentagon did a lot of work with the Air Force actually and and had an opportunity to go out to the Air Force Academy and and
Spent a couple days there and one thing that came through in that is just the immense sense of Pride that that Community has for the Air Force as well as the alumni have for for that Institution I I just want to in this world of nil and and the crazy changes
To College athletics what’s it like from your perspective to recruit for an Academy like the Air Force and and and the pride that comes from from representing and and all the history and and the you know the Mystique and and that comes along with with representing
A brand uh that is as historic and Powerful as Air Force yeah I think it’s I think we have our own little niche in this world of U nli you know I mean um I’m sorry nil I always get those kind of mixed up nil because um the young men
That you’re recruiting um is more than just a football decision and I know everywhere says that and everything but a lot of times when you’re going to um other universities you’re thinking about the athletic or the sports you’re playing first well here the people you’re recruiting you’re understanding
That this thing kind of starts when they get done you know what I mean and so it’s about what their service is going to be their understanding that they’re going to serve their country and you know the job field and the career that they’re going to have outside of
Football I think makes that a a lot different here and as far as you talk about the pride that they have of what they’re going to do to be able to serve their country uh having that understanding at 17 or 18 years old that’s a special young man that you get
A chance to deal with most of the time awesome well I we think this is a really cool opportunity talking about the Brotherhood to bring on another member of that JMU Fraternity in Mike battle um as a transition of bringing him on as a guest Mike I I know I think
You have a question for um coach beot to try to kind of tie in your uh two playing careers I think it’s an interesting element to always have a former player ask a former player a question well yeah Mark I really appreciate you spending time with us today uh it’s it’s interesting because
You talked about that connection that Brotherhood that existed with those same kids who play both for for uh for Mickey as well as for Alex and how this is transcended for you um I think that’s very cool and I’m glad you shared that with us my question was based on on your
Experience at the Armed Forces Bowl talk about that a little bit what is that bowl like we’re novices we’re coming at this for the first time uh talk about the bowl a little bit what is interesting and fun about um I just think you know part of this the whole
Week the different things you get to do during the week um you know the different get togethers and uh like the meet and greets and I know we played like a little Family Feud deal last year uh against each other and that was kind
Of fun I had some of the players up on each side kind of doing that so that that gets interesting and fun and just you know being able to represent obviously being a service Academy represent in and Armed Forces Bowl like you know a service bowl is kind of cool
But to just play in the postseason you know I know this is Jamie’s first time in the postseason as a FBS team uh getting that experience and seeing all that I think that’s something that’s really cool and then you’re playing for something you know that Trophy goes in
Your trophy case at the end of the day so you get a chance to play for something too that’s outstanding thank you awesome premium all right well uh coach we’ll let you go because we know you got to get a flight uh prepare ready for tomorrow with your team um just on
Behalf of everybody who associate with Jam you sound off we’ll wish you guys all the best um this week and all the best in the game um thank you for what you do to Advocate on behalf of these future officers for the Air Force and um please thank everyone associated with
Your team um both for their current service and their future service because I think that’s what makes our first bowl game special is it’s against a program that we can all cheer for um in the Air Force Academy so all the best to you and
All the best to you in your college um coaching career as it moves forward as well uh and hope to continue to see you down the road thanks for having me appreciate it very much and you guys continue to do great things awesome thanks coach and with that we’ll keep it
Right here with our second guest for tonight’s episode Mike battle um we’re all familiar with you but as always our first question to any guest is associated with JM use uh give us a little bit about your JMU story to those who may not be familiar um with your
Story as a player and then what you’ve done for this University and what you continue to do um to advocate for the advancement of the athletic department well thanks I I appreciate it and this has been an an unbelievable experience for me it has had a a significant impact
On my life um in everything that I’ve done I I started out um as a linebacker and tight end at little Mata high school there are a few Maka guys who went to JMU and uh was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to participate in Virginia High School league All-Star
Game had a variety of different offers from schools to uh to go uh and interestingly enough I got a a a call from uh the head coach at North Carolina who was interested in me he called our head coach and said Hey listen would would Mike be interested in coming to uh
UNCC and has Mike signed with Virginia Tech and he said no Mike hadn’t signed with tech and yeah I think he would be interested I played in the All-Star Game and never heard another word back from uh UNC I committed to JMU well to Madison
College as it was moving up uh and I committed strictly because the president at Madison or JMU called me directly to recruit me when I went off to the allstar game I found out why UNCC did not call me back they needed me as a linebacker and they were waiting for
Another guy to commit and he was the guy who ended up playing defensive end uh on my on the defense that I played in the All-Star Game guy by the name of Lawrence Taylor and uh they figured out they didn’t really need me once they got
LT uh lock down so I came to Madison strictly because this college President recruited me he had an interesting approach to it he said listen if you come here and help me move this program forward I’m GNA take care of you I said oh okay that’s great I hear that a lot I
Did come I went through undergraduate at JMU I then proceeded to go into graduate school there and I got a call right before I graduated from grad school and it was from Ron Carrier the president of jam he came to he called me up and said
Mike do you have a blue suit white shirt and a red tie I said yes sir do you have a a um do you have anything that talks about your background yes sir I showed up at his office and out he walked and right behind him was a senior vice president at
IBM and from that day forward I spent the next 10 years with IBM uh because J Ron Carrier made a commitment to me and followed through and that has been my experience with JMU and everything that I’ve been involved in so so far I’ve had the opportunity to participate the
College of Business I’ve served on the board of visitors for uh eight years uh two terms I’ve had the chance to participate as a board of visitors uh running the athletic committee where I was involved in hiring Everett Withers Mike Houston and Kurt Signet so I’ve had
A great opportunity to do what Ron Carrier did for me and that’s give back and engage the university so I’ve had a great opportunity as a as a result of my commitment to uh JMU so Dr carrier yell at you like he did me when he was talking to me about
An interview and he said make sure you shine your damn shoes Steve so yeah he was good I mean I that see that story I mean I think what the other thing that will be helpful and I’ll ask you about this is you’ve been giving back for years um for what Dr carrier
Did for you um and speak a little bit to the Brotherhood um with the players and former players um you’re one of the you know ogs with the alpha dogs but really let’s just talk about you know what it is between the players and how the former players help them and the network
That you guys have put together to really help those guys once it’s time to hang those cleats up because there will be a time and then you have to do something else so just talk a little bit about the networking that you guys do and how you help those players yeah I I
Tell you Steve it it is extraordinarily meaningful and impactful for all of us we’ve had the pleasure of being able to represent the university wear the uniform sweat and bleed just like every kid who’s uh every student athlete who’s followed us and we have maintained a connection to all of these student
Athletes and what we call our Brotherhood whenever somebody needs something they call they call an as you call it an OG they call somebody who played uh the year before and they get the call answer we have been able to build this connection because of the shared experience uh and it is
Invaluable I’m working with young men that play 20 years after I did and talking about careers and helping them along their journey and I’m not the only one it’s everybody who has played who’s put on that uniform at jamu it’s very unique it’s that connection of the Brotherhood that I think makes this
University different and and very special is because you’ve made that commitment uh to being a part of something bigger than yourself I keep trying I tell the guys that I mentor and they call me up to talk about jobs careers you know family life a variety
Of things and this happens to a variety of us I talked to them about just how this experience is invaluable you do not need to be an experiential learner because you have the value of the wisdom of this Brotherhood these guys that have been through this have suffered like you have
And who’ve come out the other end you need to take advantage of that experience and so I’ve been sharing that with a lot of young men who’ve gone through this program I hope that people understand we spend time together when we have highs and when we have lows and
Many of us have been together for over 40 years so this is something that’s truly unique and and I’m very passionate about it and I hope that all the younger guys get it it’s more than material it is real and it’s something that’s a lifelong journey can you tell folks I mean you
And I know but you what coach McMillan was like because to me and I I met him numerous times I mean he used to run me off the field when we were playing uh softball um but he was very nice but I did whatever he said he reminds me of
Bob chzn in a lot of different ways and if you can just kind of speak to it’s to me we’re we’ve come full circle in a lot of ways where we he he wasn’t as new age as Bob is but he was also older um but
If you can just speak to that because to me what I heard him say and I was in a lot of practices even in when I was in school he has that whole piece of I’m making you into the well-rounded man it’s not just a football player I’m here
For you for life and I remember you guys talking about that I talk to him every week at every game um I made a point to talk to him at every game I formed a relationship with him 40 years ago um after the UVA game and we had it until
The day died and I think if you can just kind of talk about that because it’s an important piece that links people I know we’ve got n money and we’ve got you know let’s go do this let’s go do that but from my standpoint if you can just give
A little insight into into coach McMillan and how that whole piece shaped you yeah it’s it’s interesting Steve Coach Mack was all about making better men I mean this is an era where we didn’t have all of this sort of transactional relationships with nil money and all of those kind of things
Really it was much more focused on how do we build the best young men possible so that they make a contribution once they leave this institution and and Coach McMillan and I’ve seen a lot of this in the way that coach chzn has has presented himself it’s more about
Creating a relationship with you as a person not you as a commodity as a tool a lot of what’s going on with College athletics right now and all of this nil and the money flowing hey if I were 20 years old I’d look at that too but I’ve
Got the benefit of experience having worked with folks like coach McMillan to understand that there’s something much more powerful and more important than that something that you want to leave with your children and their children something that’s more tangible than the hundreds of thousands of dollars that people will earn and
Spend in their lifetime it’s more about what how we can help you be the best man possible and Coach Max taught some really hard lessons I remember when he um asked me if I would transition over from linebacker to tight end in Spring ball give it a try and I did I was
Starting linebacker and then he asked me to play tight end I went over there I did great I you know frankly I did pretty good in Spring ball and he said you’re my starting tight in going into the fall what do you think about that and I said’
I’d rather hit than be hit and he saidwell mikee you can come back as my tight end and I’ll pay for school or you can come back as a linebacker and you can pay for school this is a man who never spoke ill never truly raised his voice went
Straight gangster on me right there and he was teaching me a lesson that lesson is you aren’t gonna get everything that you want but you need to do what we need from you and that made a a that has helped me as a business leader it’s
Helped me as a father it’s helped me to become something that I I ordinarily wouldn’t have that opportunity if I hadn’t had the pleasure of playing the privilege frankly of playing for chalice McMillan Mike I think we need to clip that entire talk that you just gave and and
And send it to every recruit looking to come to JMU and even the guys on the team now and um as I mentioned to coach Bott you know uh I missed the preow meeting so I didn’t get a chance to say hello but it’s good to see you again to
See you we we we met many years ago and I was working in the Duke club and uh have always enjoyed the chance to catch up with you when I’ve come to campus but um my question is going to transition a little away from uh the microcosm of JMU
Football and you added so much context in your introduction uh how you’ve served in so many leadership positions at JMU but you’ve also worked worked in the private sector but you’ve also been a student athlete and so you have a a such a unique and rare perspective which
Is why not only do I is that why JMU is putting you in so many of these leadership positions within the school but that I’m thankful that someone that can bring in decades of what it means to be at JMU into these uh these searches
And so I kind of want to look forward um as we’re looking to replace to some degree the the unre I mean I I think that highly of Jeff Bourne but um talk about a little some of the conversations uh that are maybe H being had in terms of um summarizing
What is the pitch when you’re trying to sell JMU as a university as an athletic program and what’s kind of the 10,000 foot view of what this next athletic director is going to need to um really understand about really everything you just talked about as it relates to
Football well as as I look at this progression from what I think is arguably one of the best athletic directors in the country and that’s Jeff Bourne as I look at what we’re trying to how we’re trying to replace that role um we’ve got to continue to do what I go
Back to Ron Carrier Ron Carrier when we played West Virginia at FedEx Field um I sat in a box and I was my first year on the board of visitors and Ron grabbed me and he said Mike there are two things you got to understand number one you know I’m the
President ameritus and the president ameritus needs a raise and number two is if this program is not moving forward then it’s dying you have to focus on moving this to the next level now we did that we moved this to FBS and now we are looking at what’s next
And I think that the next athletic director has to build on top of what Jeff has done Jeff and the administration that Charlie Kings the John alers those folks have done an amazing job and made some very tough decisions now we need to build on top of
That I personally would walk into a discussion with somebody who’s looking for this job and say power five how do we get there how do we keep moving forward we can’t be satisfied with where we are we have to continue to move and the legacy of the people who commit
Themselves to support that is going to be substantial this team this year and these guys who stick around they’re going to be Legends in this institution I want an athletic director who is focused on how do I create a platform for a legendary outcome for this uh for this institution across not only
Football but all of our Sports we’re doing great things across the board made some great Investments and we need leadership that is always forward focused and that’s what I’m looking for what I hope we we we can find as a new athletic director uh to build on Jeff’s
Legacy I love that I think we need to we need to take that tagline we can’t be satisfied and put it on like a t-shirt going forward you know because I totally believe in uh Mike once again thank you for for joining us today I know you and I have
Had a number of interactions and conversations over the years and I love hearing about your story this evening because it provides a lot of color and context on like the culture of success the culture of excellence and winning that we all know today and we definitely love sharing on social media and sharing
About the history of JMU looking to the Future what do you believe that coach chzn brings to the table that will help Propel JMU forward I think what I what I have understood about Coach chesne his brand let’s call it that his brand is relationship based building the best
Program possible and building it with a connection to the souls that are involved in getting there that’s important it’s not just a financial transaction it is about the connection to these young men men these parents send these kids or allow these kids to sign and come to school here not just
Simply because all of them you know everybody wants to play in the league but the reality is you’ve got to be able to build a solid foundation as a young man to become a professional a father all of those those roles that are ahead of them and I think coach chzn can bring
Bring all of that out in this program as well as a lot of excitement in terms of our next step in evolution of our uh of the way we attack the sunb Bel conference so I’m excited to see that props to coach Signet and what he was
Able to do here now it’s the next thing and it’s got to be better so that’s what I’m I’m excited about uh in terms of Bob Chesney’s impact on this program uh oh sorry uh producer is helping with my daughter at the moment I what I was
Goingon to say is that when we started this program um again a big purpose and goal of it was to not only to try to drive this out of the lake Department Drive awareness of it drive brand understanding but was to also have these types of conversations to get into The
Human Side of jamu I just want to say on a personal note um thanks for continuing to tell the stories of chalice Mill and I had the pleasure of of taking some coaching classes with Coach McMillan and just um as good of a coach as he was he
Was 10 times better of a human being um and the more we can tell his story and share uh the impact that he had on this program it just uh it always makes me smile because I will never forget the classes and the lessons I learned and
Hearing that he impacted so many other people uh during his time at JMU it’s just special and I know he’s looking down on all of this and Rob’s enjoying this conversation uh maybe more than anyone possible in the J World so and again thank you from from everybody as a
Jam fan and from this and just what you continue to do to advance this athletic department in the future uh and for bringing it back to family because I think that’s an important thing that we need to continue to bring up in this era of of nil and transfer portal movement
Is that there really is something special here at Jam uh and that’s kind of the perfect segue into our next guest who’s going to talk about um how Bob chzn uh really values family as a part of his approach in the coaching game which I think separates him from from
Maybe some of the other candidates are in the landscape so um thanks again Mike for taking some time out uh to join us and we look forward to Future conversations awesome go dukes and with that we are going to bring on our next guest who is a unique perspective as
Somebody who you know we’ve heard a lot about Coach chesse we’ve seen interviews we’ve seen media but very few people have had the opportunity to share their story of what it’s like to play for coach chzn and that’s why we wanted to have on our next guest guest who is in
The broadcasting and sports media World covering South Carolina Athletics at the moment but somebody in an earlier time in his life uh strapped on the pads Mike UA thanks for taking time out of your Sunday night from from bantering back and forth with South Carolina fans which
Sounds like is a a 247 exercise for you so um Mike one one thing and why I was really excited to bring you on is there’s been a ton of coverage and when you see these types of coaching changes there’s usually another side to the higher where you see Cascade of fans who
Will you know put a laundry list of things out there about the coach that they don’t like or you know that there’s bitterness when a coach makes a decision to to come from JMU one thing I’ve seen in in every one of our social threads and and comments things about the hire
On SoundOff is we’ve had Holy Cross fans reaching out to us sending us messages telling us you hit a home run this guy’s special he’s unique we’ve seen other former players saying the same thing we’ve seen administrators I I just personally and I’m not you know just putting this from the perspective of
Purple colored lenses I’ve never seen anything like it so give us a little insight in your your time with Coach chesse as a player at Ascension and what do you think is driving just just this positive outpouring of support for a man who’s um you know no no longer at Holy
Cross and no longer at assumption but these it really seems to be carrying with him a fan base that’s going to be watching and rooting for him to succeed at JMU well first off I appreciate you guys having me on I think back to when coach chzn came in my senior year at
Assumption I was receiving messages from some of my high school buddies who played from at the division 3 level at salv Regina and they said you’re going to love this this guy because when you’re going through a coaching change especially when you’re going into your senior year you don’t know who the heck
This guy is especially playing at that level right you’re not able to read the clippings as much in comparison to when they climb up to a level like JMU so I say that because we had really no idea about this guy other than what some players that from high school or
Teammates or whatever were telling us about him it was evident quickly that this guy was going to Skyrocket in college football simply because he is the most prepared man I’ve ever been around and I’ve been very fortunate to cover some very talented coaches and detailed Orient coaches I’ve been able
To go behind the scenes and see a lot of it chzn is incredible um the way that he prepares the way that he is he when he comes into a program and you saw it in some of the videos that came out when he first met with the team he makes it
Clear that it’s not his team I mean that same exact speech I remember when when he came to assumption and said it to us and we’re just thinking all right he’s just saying this to us like no he really wants it to be a player-led program and I think more than anything especially
Now in the era that we’re living in with the transfer portal nil that is so freaking important that is so important to be able to have and again it’s some of these things that we hear we talk about but it’s another thing to actually do it and I think too when you’re
Talking about the importance of where we are with college football player retention right that’s something that gets so overlooked we talk about the transer board we talk about high school recruiting player retention being able to have a player-led coach a guy that believes and wants you guys to be able
To run the program the way you want it to be and not being a used car salesman in the recruiting process I think that is going to help JMU out tremendously because you have a guy like Bob Chesney well Mike thank you for coming on tonight and um I Echo everything that
John said because when I saw the uh reports coming out about coach chzn and you you’re try you’re kind of drinking from a fire hose at that point learning all that you can about him his past programs it really was almost um I don’t
Want to use the word too good to be true because that makes it sound like there’s something fake or insincere what it was was there was so much positive and it was the positives that you want to see in a football coach and that things that were being reported on that aren’t
Usually what’s being reported on when it comes to a head coach you know it’s usually about the wins and losses who have they put in the NFL like all all the bells and whistles but this was the players coach um you know they had that article uh I believe it was at
Assumption if you correct me if I’m wrong where uh they took the two captains when he first got there and he said hey after this drill getting to fight um well actually before I before I get to my f my question I do actually want to address that you were a senior
On that team it sounds like correct that was actually that was actually one of the stories I shared with one of the local newspaper guys about that so can you before I ask the question I want to can you dive into that story a little
Bit Yeah so to provide a little bit more context to it so what chzn would do and and this you know they do stuff like this in the NFL but it was just very unique in terms of just being able to get his message across during preseason
Camp during fall Camp the night before he was always going to try to have a message that he wanted to be able to in instill to his players and the message was that night was that we were just awful in terms of some of the penalties right just like dumb penalties
So he showed us where ranked in the conference where that would put us in terms of FBS obviously we’re at the D2 level but FBS and where that would rank you know just amongst everybody and we were towards the bottom the bottom line is don’t don’t shoot yourself in the
Foot and if you look at chzn teams they’ve been very disciplined now obviously there’s always going to be outliers but that’s one thing too that I would tell JMU fans is that you have a guy that comes in there again detailed oriented you’re not going to have the self-inflicted penalties the stuff that
Drives you fraking nuts when you’re going on a nice drive like they they try to limit that but they but they practice it and I know that sounds silly but we come out the next day it was the first day of full pads we’re doing Oklahoma
Drills and he staged a fight none of us knew other than the two captains because he talked about the night before how do you guys going to react how are you going to react to it and I kid you’re not I remember shoot I remember uh maybe
A year or two prior we we had Oklahoma drills and I am not making this up one of my buddies he got in into it with the player and the helmet came flying off and our teammate threw it over into the softball field so I I don’t think that
Would have went well with chzn if that happened then but the point being is he was and then he’ stopped the practice like this is what we talked about last night I wanted to see how you guys were going to respond right so again some people and they might think that’s
Cheesy but there is something to be said about every little detail I mean shoot not to get too sidetracked but even against Boston College last year with Holy Cross there was a huge weather delay and they didn’t go out there for like another hour I know this sounds
Dumb someone could bring this up with chzn they actually practice stuff like that where they will actually just stop practice completely and they’re just stuck in a locker room in a small area visitors locker room and then they have to be able to come out you know 30 45
Minutes later and just respond like this is stuff that some people just they Overlook and again that’s not to say no team in the country is doing stuff like that I mean I’m a son of a Col of a high school football coach for 40 years you
Know I’m not naive you know oh he pumps in music for practice everyone freaking does that but I’m just saying is he’s really thinking about the little things that a lot of other coaches Overlook or they’ll say oh yeah we’ll pay attention to but they really don’t focus on it the
Same way that he does well that story is just incredible because you know it’s when they’re reporting on how detail oriented anex NOS he is when you actually put stories behind those reports to actually describe what they mean I think that’s so important so that’s neat to hear um but I was having
A conversation earlier today so in this era this new era that everyone’s trying trying to go through and everyone’s trying to figure out of Nils and transfer portals and and teams are having such a heavy turnover it’s almost as if the the head coach and the coaching staff becomes even more
Valuable and important because that is one of the consistence that’s kind of continue to be there year-over-year and so as we have a lot of chatter across social media people are you know they’re wanting to know what are we doing with the transfers what are we doing with
Recruits what are we doing with the current players if I I’m not asking you to put words coach Chesney’s mouth but if you could kind of summarize what you kind of think some of those one-on-one conversations are being had whether it’s with the recruit whether it’s with
Someone in the transfer portal or with someone either on the team thinking about transferring or just someone on the team that says look I’m not looking to transfer but I just want to know what my role is going to be on this team so how is coach chzn having those
One-in-one uh conversations and how is he approaching it I don’t know how he’s getting any sleep that’s the first thing I think of because you think about everything that that you have to do as a guy that was just named head coach last week right you have the official introductory press conference last
Tuesday so I say that because now you have to assemble a coaching staff you have to figure out which coaches you’re going to be able to bring back which guys aren’t going to be back you got to figure out players who are who’s staying who’s leaving who’s entering the portal
Who can you try to bring back then you also got to be able to put together a recruiting class for early national Signing Day which is coming up on Wednesday never mind the fact that the program is getting ready to play in their first Bowl game in program history
So you have all these things going on and for chzn I know one thing is he’s constantly watching the film on what’s gone on and I’m sure he did that throughout the recruiting uh throughout the job interview process knowing him so he already has an idea of which players
Can do what in the system that he wants to implement so I think being able to be prepared helps him be able to speed up that process just a little bit and being able to have extra time because again there’s really no extra time right now when you have early national Signing Day
On Wednesday I think it’s going to allow him to just go into those meetings and have a better idea about what these players are all about having conversations with some of the coaches that are currently on staff to have an idea all right guys that are you know on
Their way out potentially you know who do you think we should make sure that we don’t lose here so I can only imagine how difficult that is but knan jzn he is someone that is not the type of person that’s just going to say all right I’m
Going to do it my way he’ll constantly reach out and I’m sure 1,00% he has been talking non-stop to the coaches on that current staff right now picking their brains to be able to get some advice he’s not the type of guy that’s just GNA
Go in there and say all right it’s gonna be my way or the highway like he’s going to look at it and he wants to be able to figure out especially at a program that has had success especially this past year but historically he’s going to go
In there and want to figure out what do we need to make sure that we don’t lose to make sure that we continue to head in the right direction the direction that this fan base truly wants this program to head in no doubt and Mike this is this is so
Awesome like you know we have to remind Jam Nation we hired you know coach chesy in six days and it felt like an eternity right to get him in the seat and now he’s been in seat for a week so many things happening going all at once like
You had mentioned so your Insight is tremendous um going on the field right when we think about the brand of James Madison from FCS and even FBS now the Sun Belt it’s a program that wins on the line of scrimmage you know this last year our second year in the sun Bel we
You know we set a record with 45 sacks we had the leading sack leader in the country um or talking about our ability to convert on fourth and one and wear down opponents up front talk to us talk to the fans about like what is coach Chesney’s philosophy going down to X’s
Nose and what he’s looking for in a defensive line and what’s he’s looking for in a wide receiver he had an All-American quarterback in sluka last year but talked a little bit about it like what he believes in and what does he believe that good looks like on the
Field well I mean he brought in the 425 my senior year and I mean pretty much every team in the country is running a 425 now just because of the evolution of the tight end position and how you need to be able to have someone that
Obviously has the size to be able to match up with a guy like that but you also need to have someone that has the speed so you know but but he’s very multiple in terms of what he’ll do defensively he’ll mix it up sometimes they’ll have a three-man front sometimes
They’ll have a 4-3 out there so what he does is he takes advantage of the talents the skill sets of the guys on the roster again you know he’s always been a 425 guy but at the same time too going back to what I was mentioning before he’s not gonna have too much
Pride to say all right hey we have to always do it this way if they have the bodies especially right now in a time period where you’re going into a program that the majority of your of your players for next year won’t be guys that you recruited you know I’ve always made
This analogy um you know when Chan Beamer arrived at South Carolina you can’t go into the kitchen and want to cook a steak if you only have you know some fro loops and you know some milk you gotta be able to to to make what you got right you gotta
Be able to work with what you got so I think what you’ll see with chzn over time is you’ll start to see them evolve into what he truly wants them to be but I think you’ll start to see the type of players that’s that jmu’s been able to
Recruit the last couple years you’re going to start to see chzn mold to their strengths and I think that certainly helps again in a time period where JMU has been playing incredible football over the last couple years and you look at obviously what chzn has done historically he’s gone to programs where
They weren’t good and he had to turn them around and it took maybe about two three years to really get things going now he’s at a place that has all the pieces that he needs to be able to have be to be successful never mind the
Resources I mean my goodness it was my first time at JMU last week and I was very very impressed so I say that because talent-wise he’s the type of guy that finds that finds the player I mean again he’s gonna be able to bring in some dogs but he’s really good with
Finding that player that no one’s looking at you know I mentioned Deontay Hardy he brought him into assumption no one was looking at Deontay Hardy oh he was too undersized well Deontay Hardy also set the record at assumption and not just assumption but while at assumption for the all division record
For most kickoff and punt return touchdown I think he has 14 still a division still college football record to this day he also was able to bring in Cole Tracy Cole Tracy set the record for the most kick uh field goals made he end up transferring to LSU his senior year
His Grand senior year so I bring these things up because he just has this Knack of uh the Long Snapper for assumption he end up going toh play with the Buccaneers won Super Bowl with the Buccaneers he’s still with them Zack trener so I bring these things up
Because he just has the ability to bring out the most out of players and then obvious said holy CL cross what he was able to do there was incredible you know and obviously I have a deeper connection to being at assumption but last year I
Was working for CBS I was doing two jobs it was a part-time situation and I went up and I was working for CBS covering the Patriots Red Sox Bruins all that but I also had a chance to cover Holy Cross during their undefeated season and just
The way the players react to him very similar to what I saw at assumption so a lot of the things I’m saying right now because I’m sure some people are going to be like well he hasn’t played for the guy in about a decade or what things change I understand that but again
Seeing the way these guys were reacting to chzn I felt like man I felt like I just went in a time machine and went back just because again the way that he was able to get the players to Rally around him 100% I I’m like geeking out a
Little bit and getting excited you know for those that are listening to the sound off my passion is on recruiting and I I love talk about recruiting I’ve been cover for a long time um JMU we’ve had a history of taking preferred Walk-Ons FCS preferred Walk-Ons that are
Now you know first team second Team all sunb so I love the idea of Finding Diamonds in the Rough finding folks that no one else was looking at and molding them into all-time break record-breaking players which is seems like is what chzn is has been able to do um I’ve been able
To watch some tape right I watched the Boston College game I’ve watched um a little bit of like the South Dakota State game as well these ches teams they play like their heads on fire right they might not have the biggest and fastest particularly on defense but everyone’s
Running to the ball 100 per. um in particular when I was looking up coach ch’s background every the first year I feel when he got into a program that does not have a history of winning they LED in some special teams category whether it’s block kicks block punts
Kick returns you name it talk a little bit about you know you mentioned Shane Beamer talk a little bit about his philosophy and like how he puts an emphasis on special teams and how that helps him win moving forward he cares deeply about special teams I don’t know the two Specialists for JMU
The other day but we were walking out after his press conference and he’s headed on over to get his head shot on the opposite side of the stadium and we’re walking across the field that’s where we took that photo and he saw a football on the ground and I knew
Instantly what he was going to do he was gonna go punt it and he punted it back to those guys and Chesney has a nice freaking Punt and I kick the kicker just looking at him like okay Coach like you know he had in dress shoes too and every
So I say that because he he enjoys it he’s always been you know I be again being around Beamer he reminds me a lot of just the way that he approaches special teams you know we would spend a lot of time in in on special teams in practice and I’m not
Trying to scare people and say oh man they’re not going to focus on offense or defense because as soon as you say that there’s always that one one or two wise guy that will say that but the point being is it’s not just okay yeah yeah we’re going to care about special teams
No they care about it and the reason why they care about it is because it’s helped them win tremendously wherever they’ve gone I mentioned de Deontay Hardy and the records they were able to set at assumption you look at what they were able to do in terms of the number
Of block kicks at Holy Cross and a lot of that too give credit to Drew Cannon they truly care about what they do from a special team standpoint and you know I’m very fortunate I was able to uh to block a kick for chzn my senior year and
A lot of it again going back to just being detailed oriented and the thing that he teaches you to look for that you might not be paying close attention to you know so I think there is something truly TR truly to be said about a coach
That cares about special teams in an era where it feels like more coaches are like well you know special teams are starting to slowly go away right you know we could fear catch a ball you know at the 10 yard line will come out to the
25 it’s like no no he still puts a lot of emphasis on it because it’s truly made a difference again I mentioned Cole Tracy a great example and Cole has been a awesome person to talk about chesne since he left because he went and played for LSU the year right before they won
The national championship and as Cole has said multiple times he’s like I went to LSU yeah I was nervous I didn’t know but then I also took a step back after I’m like man chzn practices were even more intense like the way that chzn prepares you and that’s coming from a
Kicker and I know some people make oh it’s a but again he is just so detailed oriented and it goes through everything going also back to the fact that he treats special teams being an important third of the game so I mean I appreciate you doing this because this gives everybody a good
Insight into into who we have and it’s the most excited I’ve been in a long time um and I no disrespect to the other coaches we’ve had whatsoever um but he’s different I I think I can feel it I can see it um and so I’ve got a couple
Questions for you I guess the first one is what is what has coach chzn done for you since football how’s he stayed in your life how’s he helped shape what you’ve been doing after football because to me that’s almost as important as it is what he’s doing for you when you’re
Playing for him one of my favorite stories to year about coach chzn and it goes back to what we were talking about with special teams I always knew I wanted to get into broadcasting once I got into college I was very fortunate been doing TV for
About eight 10 years now at this point but going back to that point it was 2013 I had an opportunity to go interview one of the catchers for the Red Sox his name was Jared Salto malakia and this was during the World Series it was like in
Between like games I don’t know one and two or whatever so he heard about that you know we were just like in passing I told him like earlier in the day and I said yeah I had an opportunity to go interview him later tonight like at a uh
Sporting Goods store but he’s like he mik we got practice tonight and he’s like well what time is it and I told him I didn’t know this until we got out there he flipped practice completely because at that point I was getting B I was getting banged up a lot I had so
Many injuries I always had to work my way up through the depth chart so special teams was really my thing he put special teams the first three periods it was special teams it was something I think it was Indie period and then special teams right after and then he’s
Like all right go get your go get your butt to Boston so I share that because you hear coaches say things of like you know oh yeah you know I’m always going to be for my my guys anything can do to help him you know that’s one thing when
I went through things in my personal life some Lowe’s I mean he’s always the first person that will pick up so um very grateful for him there’s a reason why when I went back for a wedding two months ago there’s a reason why one of our teammates invited Chesney’s wife to
Come because Bob couldn’t go because people just truly like this man he does so much for his players he truly cares and he wants to help you after you leave you know he hear so much about that and again I I think people really need to appreciate having a coach like that in
This era more than ever is because and as I talked with him I said player retention is going to be so crucial for a school like JMU very talented program mid- major nil even a school like South Carolina doesn’t have the same type of nil in comparisons to some of the
Schools out there the texases of the world or whatever so you need to be able to do everything you can as a coach to really sell a player on your program each and every year as dumb as that might sound to some fans and I get it
Because I’m right there with you this is the new world of college football we liveing and to have a guy that’s like that and can really sell it and not isn’t some used car salesman I mean yeah a couple guys will enter the portal every year so be it that’s college
Football it’s going to happen everywhere across college football but to be able to retain the majority of your roster you need a guy that can really just not just sell it but he can back it up in everything he does and he’s the perfect man for an era like this
I mean to me his nickname should be glue because I think he’s going to be the glue that keeps these guys together and it looks like that’s what he did at assumption and that’s what he’s done at Holy Cross um let me ask you a good a
Fun question what gets under his skin he seems like some of the like the nicest guy but I know when I see the nicest guys like this that are this hardworking and this sticky I call him sticky because he wants to keep people together there’s something that really pisses him
Off or gets under his skin what what is that I mean we joke with and I’m you know being in the TV business and get I I have the hair I mean I’m new to the beard game right now this is temporary so if you have any advice for a beard
Rookie let me know but um you know we we’ always bust his chops because he looks so young I mean he’s in his mid 40s but we always would bust his trops about having the nice haircut and everything call you know like a little pretty boy and everything like that so I
I think you know just busting his chops you know I think stuff like that um trying to be careful here I don’t I don’t want to get myself in trouble with Coach Chesney I mean he’ll find a way to come down to South Carolina and beat me
Um no but I think you know I think I think stuff like that you know in terms of just you know um just having fun with the guys and it goes back right it goes back to being able to still relate to your players you know again being in in
His mid-40s he’s constantly staying updated on music and whatever the case may be I think it was um uhli pliles I can’t even pronounce the freaking guy’s name it was a rapper that came out when he got the job to JMU and everyone’s like how the heck does he know about Bob
Chzn because again he puts the effort in the little things that might not seem like it’s important because he knows it’s important to his players so um I definitely butcher that name someone’s listening saying this guy’s a but that’s all right but the point being is
He does those little things too so um oh boy I don’t know if I should really push this one out he was on uh G phone call he was on a reality Cowboy show early on in his like early 20s like called Cowboy you and we
Found that when he came in because again you don’t have any information and it’s uh division two so there’s no like you know people aren’t going to be having TV shows and literally as I said that I got a text message from one of my teammates who’s watching saying he’s gonna kill
You um yeah so I don’t he was he was on a show to to be a cowboy I don’t know uh yeah so I don’t know I don’t know if that’s I don’t know if that’s one of the stories he likes talking about so that might be another thing that can get
Under his skin I’m gonna call him John Travolta I say I think you just I think you just gave the J marketing department uh some some great work and great content to use this week so at the very least having some fun with Coach thanks for that you breaking news here on sound
Up but but Mike uh we’ll let you go because we know uh we we’ve take gone of over a little bit more time than we expected tonight but I think you’re just the Testament to everything we’ve heard in this process the fact that uh it’s
Been a number of years now since you co played for Coach Jessy but you’re still willing to to speak so passionately about the impact that he had on you and and the impact he’s had on so many of your fellow teammates and um I just have
A feeling that this is going to be a special time for JMU and and what I love about all the conversations again that we’ve heard about Coach Jessy is how genuine it is about the people’s side of things uh and in an era of college football where a lot of us me included
This week have have kind of struggled with some aspects of this Ching world that we’re all navigating through with with the you know the roster turnover and stuff like that um hearing that we’re we’re getting a coach that car so much about what happens after their time
At Jam you uh I think is just going to build upon that Foundation we talked about earlier in the episode um thanks for giving us a few minutes of your time this week uh and we’ll let you get back to uh dealing with the the South Carolina fans who I’m sure have plenty
Of comments about what’s going on in their neighborhood and backyard this week as well one more one more thing you can host the show Mike I I was just being respectful for you oh no I got nothing to do I got I got my commitment video of this kid commits in a little
Bit so we’re good to go from covering South Carolina and I know JMU has high expectations and rightfully so right you’re a team that’s in the top 25 you want to continue to climb you want to be one of the first teams to be in the college football playoff when it expands
The 12 don’t get it misconstrued with what I’m saying in terms of oh he’s a nice guy he’s this and that he will find ways to push players buttons in practice to make it more difficult in practice than when it comes to a game things are
Easy and he understands at the end of the day he’s being judged on wins and losses so it’s not just okay you know he’s he’s a nice guy he’s gonna go in there and you know Love’s Gonna Be able to solve all the problems no he wants to
Go out there and he’s he understands he has to win in order to keep his job especially at a place like that so he’s going in there I know people are you know a little concerned right right now with what’s going on with the uh with national Signing Day I can tell you
Right now JMU is not in uh a boat by themselves with dealing with that you go through a coaching change it happens it’s happening throughout college football welcome to college football right I mean it’s just where it is with early national Signing Day so he’s going
To do whatever he can just like a lot of these other coaches out there are gonna do whatever they can to keep that class intact especially from you know Signet and what they were able to do because I know it was a very high recruiting class
But what I would say is the future is so bright and I’m not saying like next year it’s like okay you know you should just forget about it whatever happens you know I understand the expectations are high and it’s and that’s the reason and he went there but you know things are
Going to start to become much easier just right now like we were talking before on the show coaching staff players leaving uh bowl game coming up trying to put everything together you try to prioritize yeah there’s going to be some things that you’re going to lose out on unfortunately that’s just part of
It when you are a new coach somewhere so I think everything’s going to be okay but again with the process speeding up as quickly as it is and getting closer and closer to Wednesday I get it but again yes nice guy don’t get Mison misconstrued he’s also someone that is
An absolute killer he’s going to go out there he’s going to want to win because he knows that’s what he has to do in order to stay at a place like JMU well and with that since you told me you have more time and you just addressed the
Number one yeah I got nothing to do the number one comment and question that has come into us this week is there has been some some questions about well we’re hearing all this great stuff but we’re seeing you know both players going into the portal and there’s a whole another
Conversation about why that occurs and and in every player is entitled to make their own decision their own rationale and thought process behind what they do it but the same also with recruits there there’s many different Dynamics about why a recruit chooses to go to one school or the relationship they had with
An assistant who recruited them that might be at another school now at Indiana per se how how do you think he approaches recruiting and not just him how does how does he approach it with also the delegation to his staff and and these coaches who are going to be coming to
Jamu any familiarity with their approach and why jamu fans should be patient with this process um knowing what you’ve seen in the past about his ability to recruit to previous destinations well especially on the northeast side and that was something that I know the the athletic
Director JMU mentioned as to one of the one of the reasons why he wanted to bring in Bob chzn is because he’s very very familiar when it comes to the nor East now having said that there’s gonna be people out there that will be like well he was coaching D2 he was coaching
FCS yes but a lot of the same things that people were saying about him when he went to Holy Cross from division 2 he was able to prove them wrong six years there won five straight Patriot League titles that had never been done before made Holy Cross freaking relevant in
Football I mean Holy Cross the last time they were really relevant like in a BigTime sport was basketball you have to go back to like my grandfather’s days uh when he was younger so I bring that up because he’s always proven that he’s always proven it um there’s no question
In my mind that he’s going to be able to come into a school like JMU he’s G to be able to find players that have that same mindset that want to be there and I think that’s something too that will be important he’ll find guys that will obviously be
Very talented but he’ll I feel like he’s also going to attract players that will truly want to be there because again player attention from year to year as silly as it sounds that’s the that’s part of this new Norm of college football so you need to be able to do
Everything you can when you’re recruiting and I know him knowing him he I’m I’m sure I’m sure when he was at Holy Cross towards the end he identified players even guys that if he felt like he was still going to be at Holy Cross he identified players that could play at
That next level or guys are you know what this might be a reach to be able to bring him here because he’s probably more of an FBS player he’s more of a group five guy so I’m sure he already has some players that are identified I
Would not be shocked I would not be shocked over the next week or so to see some players come out of the portal and commit to JMU that are going to get Duke fans happy so I I I think again there’s just so many moving pieces this isn’t
Just something that JMU is going through I saw it a couple years ago when Shane Beamer came in early national Signing Day just throws in an extra uh wrench into things and I I talk about this with numerous college coaches throughout the country not just at the FBS level but at
The FCS level it’s hectic it’s crazy but it’s not just limited to what JMU is going through this is happening at other schools and it’s just you’re trying everything you can though especially at a program like JMU to keep that momentum going forward so I think that’s the
Toughest challenge for him is to be able to do everything that he has to put a coaching staff together roster retention whatever XYZ but being able to make sure that he’s doing this in a manner which is going to continue to keep the train going forward and he knows that he’s
Well aware of that yeah so I I guess my final question then is is there’s obviously a focus on high school recruiting because of what is in front of of us with the signing day but now the portal something that he obviously had access to at Holy Cross
But now being able to recruit out of the portal um to a program like jamu that’s coming off of a historic year in terms of national brand recognition the national television dates the uh the appearance that we’re gonna have on ABC this week against Air Force all you
Obviously C was game day so much has happened the last couple months forgetting that that occurred Pat mck ify show and everything um how do you feel his brand and and the brand that he brings in terms of being somebody who really cares about players and also the
Reputation that he has probably among the player community because let’s be honest all these players talk he’s goingon to help Jam Muir in the portal in the weeks to come as as he looks to field a roster that will likely have um some significant holes in it after the
Transition from some of these players um now that coach Signet has left jamu well I’ll say this and it it obviously varies from college to college I’m going to start with college and I’ll work back to high school when some of these players enter the transfer portter you hear
Coaches say oh we’ll do whatever we can to be able to help the you know this player that player when they leave you know get them in a good situation if they need our help and they want to go elsewhere obviously not every player does that however there are some Co
Players that will do that it is insane and I even really even told chzn this the number of coaches whether the coaches I’ve met during my journey going back to my days in Mississippi to now in South Carolina the number of coaches who have reached out that have wanted to get
In contact with chzn is insane and I’m talking some B pretty big name programs too because they have paid attention to what’s going on with him so I say that because he is very very very very very well-respected in the coaching Community not just at the division two division
Three FCS level we’re talking division one as well you know I try to keep a lot of my conversations private with coaches I know Shane Beamer and I’m sure he’d be okay with me sharing this we were talking the other day and he was saying you know I’m really impressed with what
He’s been able to do very impressed with what he’s been able to do and this is a guy that recruited one of Chesney’s players out of the transfer portal a couple years ago from assumption from a division two school he end up starting like the last six seven games at nickel
And he end up signing with the Steelers the year after so I say those things because people are paying attention I think that can also help chzn that if they’re looking at a school or a coach and a player does have that relationship and they’re like hey you know what I can
Help you out I think this would be a great school for you chzn would be one of those coaches I’m sure a lot of these other coaches would be pointing in the direction of saying hey if you need him you need anything I will call Chesney
For you so I think he’s going to be able to get some players from that not just this year but in the future and then trickling down to the high school ranks again going back to the fact that he’s been mainly recruiting in the Northeast region and just the the East the whole
East Coast I should say he really has a lot of relationships with a lot of High School coaches um he grew up in Pennsylvania his dad was a longtime High School football coach he has a lot of routs that trickle down past Connecticut past New England and start heading down
Towards Virginia and he’s done a great job too with recruiting even all the way down to Florida you know he had a quarterback from the Tampa area that started a game for a couple games for him when sluka was down so I bring those things up because I think he’s just
Going to continue to add to the fact of building on those some of those relationships and again like I said they’re authentic right I can tell you even going back from recruiting days you can read you know a lot of these coaches a lot of them come across as used car
Salesman he’s not because again he knows that just getting you on campus especially now isn’t going to be enough you need to make sure that they don’t freaking leave year after year so I think I think he’s going to be he’s going to be doing whatever he can uh to
Make sure that he’s bringing in the caliber players at this fan base wants and quite frankly deserves with the success they’ve been able to have the last couple years well and thanks to your your cowboy story we also know that he doesn’t take himself too serious as
Willing to maybe and I say this in a serious note you know if there was a flaw with our last coaching staff that maybe not the most media Savvy head coach not somebody who really sought out the camera uh maybe until the end with what he did with Pat mcavey show but it
Does seem like Bob chess somebody who is GNA be very marketable for jamu um somebody who’s gonna be willing to do the little things necessary to help to raise the funds to support colletive and that’s a big part of coaching now is that fan engagement in that relation
Ship building which is going to be critical to the recruiting piece the retention piece but also the fundraising piece which is becoming so ingrained in every aspect of college football this time Jonathan it’s it’s massive I talked with Coach chzn about this just the other day and I said look I said you’re
Gonna have more media than you dealt with at Holy Cross and assumption and it’s going to continue to work its way up no one’s saying it’s like you know being at an SEC school but there’s going to be more cameras there certainly and the more winds guess what happens that
Little station that’s maybe an hour away they’re going to drive and then you’re going to have a r radio station whatever the case may be there’ll be more people there I know you guys had the Callin show or that was at a restaurant I know they I don’t know if that’s a weekly
Thing during the regular season or not or is that so that’s that’s a weekly so I think being able and I told him this I said just continue to be yourself because with nil I said I said this is just my opinion on it just seeing how it
Has been working with South Carolina and other schools people want to feel like they know you right now certainly the easiest way to get more money from an nil standpoint is just win right but they feel like they know you more when you go out there and you’re in the
Community and you’re just yourself and that’s what he is now obviously he doesn’t have all the time in the world to be able to shake everyone’s hand and kiss every every baby but you know because he’s got to put all these things in place like we were talking about uh
That he’s running out of time it feels like in a sense before early national Signing Day but he’s someone that understands what to say in front of the camera but again it’s all authentic you know if anyone saw his intr U press conference that’s Bob you know he’ll
Make some jokes occasionally but that’s just him he’s a regular guy he’s the type of guy I mean I know it’s cliche to say but he truly is I mean I’ve gone out I’ve had drinks with them he’s the type of guy you’d want to grab a beer with I
Mean it’s say it’s as simple as that well Mike seriously first of all just from one person who dabbles in broadcasting from time to time to another you’re really good at what you do so I’m glad you you’ve gotten into this field and you’re continuing to to lend your talents the sports
Broadcasting world but seriously just your knowledge of him your experience with him your ability to to really kind of tie into one of the kind of the pillars of this platform is we we try not to speculate on here we try when we launch this we want to really have
Educated discussions and bring on people who have actual knowledge of the subject matters we’re talking about you brought that today and I think you really connected a lot of dots for fans hopefully you’re watching this and um just know you’re always welcome uh you put a word into coach Jesse we’d love to
Have him on when he slows down so if if he doesn’t get too mad at you about the cowboy hat story um just let him know there’s I’m waiting I’m waiting for that to get back to him um but we’ll definitely I’ll definitely pass that along yeah I’ll
Definitely pass that along I’m sure you know if he’ll give the thumbs up to Drew Canon too Drew would be a good one too anybody’s welcome but but thanks again Mike and and we look forward to watching you uh your continued growth in your career and just know you’re always
Welcome back here if there’s uh any more stories you or any of your other teammates from the past might have about Coach JY I appreciate I’ll let you know if I’m back up that way beautiful campus with love if I don’t awesome take guys all right and with that guys wow uh
I don’t know know we were all pretty fired up before this episode but uh just again to bring this to our final thoughts look I I’m gonna be candid and transparent this been a tough week for me in as a Jamie fan the exhaustion around uh the portal
And everything that comes with you know the sentimental and emotional value that we all assign sign as as fans and people who host a weekly show to some of these players and uh just to be direct all the best to to any of these players who were
Who were choosing to maybe go in a different direction at least on this platform we support them uh and and we you know wish them the best and we’ll continue to be fans of them going forward but to hear from a former player who you know we all have our questions
We we we’re all impressed with the initial press conference but you still you still want to know what he’s like what he’s going to be you know uh doing in terms of bringing this brand into the future to hear somebody as many years as it’s been since he played for Coach JY
This passionate and this detailed about what he’s seen from him in the past and what he continues to hear from former players um is pretty damn exciting and and bodess well for the future because a lot of the clips that are going to be you know used from this episode are
Going to be the types of questions parents are going to be asking you know maybe in the recrui the next week is saying what’s it going to be like for my son to to play for Coach Jess we just heard about as powerful testimonials you’re going to ever find from a former
Player advocating for for his coach just Taylor your thoughts on uh anything was brought up tonight and just what I thought was a pretty special episode I’m going to let Michael and Steve kind of give their thoughts on the football thing because I want to use my
Time to really highlight what is another very special team in a very special season going on right now and that’s men’s basketball um they only had one game since our last episode it was at Hampton yesterday uh lost the first half they were down 4241 at halftime to uh
Statistically one of the worst teams in the country they ended up uh I believe winning by 17 they covered the spread you know one thing that’s going to be tough about this team in any team in our situation is we’re not the last couple weeks and really moving on to the next
Few weeks ahead of us uh the quality of competition is not going to be the highest and I’m sure all of us have played competitively whether it be high school or recck League or intermurals or something but you know there is something to be said about uh when you
Go into a game knowing how heavily favored you are uh it’s kind of it can sometimes be even tougher to bring your aame so um having said that you know college basketball is kind of a funny thing the way it’s laid out where the season starts early November um right at
The thick of college football season when a lot of things are being decided and you know you have this outof conference schedule which and by no means it’s preseason or exhibition arguably these games that they’re playing right now um is what dictates a lot of their Net scores and the
Conference Net score that’s going to be factored in when they’re uh positioning this team uh on the bracket hopefully uh for March Madness but so it’s a very important part of the team but right now 352 or 362 I forgot that number total division one teams in the country there
Are only four remaining that are undefeated and you know I’ve seen some chatter from uh some of our uh more envious schools Tech Liberty um that are you know making the comments about uh you know well they haven’t played anybody I do want to break down that those four
Teams and it it is Houston it is Oklahoma it is Old Miss and JMU of those four um JMU right now has the third highest net they’re 25 and net Oklahoma’s nine Houston’s one old misses down there at 64 the reason old misses down so far is because they have no quad
One wins and after Baylor I’m sorry after Michigan State defeated a very good and undefeated and top 10 Baylor team this uh weekend by almost 20 over 20 points I believe uh that put jmu’s win against Michigan State back in that quad one territory another quad two win
Against Kent State so this 10 and0 by no means has come by easily and that is a very I I believe objective way of measuring uh how this team has been and so we have an undefeated team playing at JMU Tuesday night against copen state students aren’t going to be in school uh
It’s a it’s a tough game to get to because of the holidays and everything but um you know this is a team that really I understand why maybe people’s attention maybe hasn’t rallied around or come around to this team yet come January we’re going to be in conference
The school the school’s going to be back in session that student section is going to be incredible um we got a lot of football in front of us we got the bowl game coming up next weekend um I’m it’s hard not to be excited for the future of
JMU football after hearing this episode with Coach chzn uh but this this JMU basketball team is doing something really special I know we did have a comment come in about U the Women’s Basketball team having to come from behind win against Maine that’s a very good main team too and I mentioned last
Week just how good this Women’s Basketball team is some of the losses that they’ve incurred early in the season um two of them have been against teams that are likely going to be in the tournament and I believe they still are vcu’s only loss so uh we have two very
Good basketball programs playing at the Atlantic Union Bank Center um I I’ll give Jam fans a pass for another week or two to get through bowl season but it’s time to turn your focus onto Jam basketball come January this is going to be a memorable year it’s going to be a
Historic year we’ve already achieved some things that not only have never been done in JMU history but many teams around the country even at the P5 level have never done so um kudos to this basketball team kudos to the entire basketball staff we look forward to bringing you more uh coverage of Jamie
Basketball and with that I will graciously turn it over to Michael and well real quick because you mentioned Jamie women’s basketball player you know the transfer portal taketh it also giveth to JMU um and heavy on Bristo now eligible to play played today and contributed nicely for JMU women’s
Basketball um the Ohio State Providence transfer who’s potential to make a huge impact on that team as they go through sun Bel play so you know obviously get excited about the men’s team undefeated but keep an eye on the women’s team doing some good things as well um
Michael I know you were pretty pumped about that conversation uh your thoughts on on any aspect of today and just what we heard about Coach CH yeah uh pumped I think is an understatement um I think number one how do we get Mike on the show like every every week right I think
We find a way to do that get him on the show hype in the program selling Jam you I mean I’m all about it um I don’t want to speak for everyone right I want to I don’t want to speak for the fan base I
Don’t want to speak for you three but I think myself included I think we all needed to hear that right I think we all need to hear that message from Mike because it’s it’s really hard and we want to give Coach chesy the benefit of the doubt but it’s also really hard um
To fight off emotions right where you know we’re we’re only three or four weeks away from game day and being undefeated and going to a bowl game and and all this stuff and when you see people going into the portal or decommitting um when you don’t know the
Full context it’s it’s really easy to get caught up in emotions and I really appreciated Mike’s um insight into everything that a head coach particularly coach ches has to go through during this time not not even hitting on the personal side right like moving his family three young kids that are going
Through school right so many things are happening um but on the field perspective you know I love what we’ve heard about Coach helping people off the field and like making them the best citizen possible and you heard that from from every level that he’s coached at
But I loved I love knowing that he’s able to bring out an edge in his players because someone that’s able to motivate um players is so clutch I we saw it a lot at UNH with Shawn McDonald he never had the biggest fastest or strongest players but they always played with
Their hair on fire I feel like that is that is the foundation for Coach chzn teams because next year whether we like it or not whether other programs admit it JM is always going to be the game circled week over week we are going to
Be other team Super Bowl we are the team that every fan base every player um Personnel support staff you name it they want to knock off cocky arrogant James Madison University and it helped me really help helped me understand sort of chzn has that edge and be able to
Provide that on and off the field and really help motivate our players um that was really awesome lastly it’s great to hear he’s a type of coach and it sounds like they’ve substantiated as well like he’s constantly valuating um I had the pleasure of meeting coach chzn for
Considerable amount of time last I think Wednesday or Thursday during the meet and greet he’s constantly evaluating the Personnel um and I think Mike touched on that you know he probably when he knew he was going to get the job he’s probably evaluating some of his targets
Whether it’s in the portal his his former program in the high school ranks can they play at FBS can they play at JMU and I imagine um post bowl game when we’ll know for sure who’s in and who’s out who’s going to be on the roster how
Many scholarships does he have to play with he’s going to be ready to fulfill the need get the players in here um I don’t know if we talked about it but you know we offered a a a Texas offensive lineman earlier this evening top 10 Center in the country cor top 10 Center
In the country formerly committed to tane as we all know you know Willie Fritz just took over the Houston job so there’s they’re they’re experiencing the same things we are but once the last time we got a player from Texas and you know having some of his ties whether
It’s his recruiting his assistant coaches that came in like these are some of the new eras um areas where like holy cross recruits nationally we could start tapping into so um really needed to hear that I think a lot of J mition needed to hear that I think we’ve got a lot to
Clip and share and post for for recruits and ourselves tonight so um that was awesome and you know that was probably our best episode yet I I’ll say it up front phenomenal and again really great that you brought up the recruiting thing because there just we’ve urged some of
Us individually more than others on Twitter patience trust the process I think tonight hopefully made some people a little bit more willing to let’s give this guy a couple of weeks and then then evalue valuate where we stand but I think we’re going to be at good hands um
Steve I want to thank you before you give your final thoughts for bringing on Mike battle tonight because man love hearing his perspective as a former player and just you could see how passionate he is uh about the history of this program how passionate he is about
The Brotherhood um just a really special conversation with him and just excited to for his continued efforts to make this Athletic program what it’s going to be in the future and just uh really enjoyed that conversation but uh your final thoughts I mean it all fit
Together and and I I share with what you guys have I have less angst than probably folks in the younger part of the of the um of the fan base but you know I get some of it I hear you I mean I you know you’d love to have more
Information and I guess is what in this day and age we’re not really willing to sit back and let things play out um we want it now we want to know what’s happening now um we wanted chesne hired in 24 hours what the hell was happening
How come the the guys couldn’t get them hired in 24 hours how come it couldn’t been W not have any sense of urgency how is Cliffwood in that private jet scoping off in all these places and buying bourbon how in the world they not pay attention why flying up to Boston
Just to get good pizza come on Cliff yeah I mean Jesus Christ what were you guys doing um it’s you know you things take there’s a process and I can tell you and and I don’t have I can just tell you from what we’re hearing um you know
From from everybody we heard tonight but you know mainly from the guy that played for him he told you who he is he’s a detailed oriented machine detailed Orient and you heard last week if you listen to Cliff they they had Doss he had a dossier on everybody he was
Talking to you know he knew what Cliff had done all the way back I think to high school jobs and so if you’ve got somebody doing that to interview for the job at JMU do you think maybe he’s got a list of people he wants to fill
Different roles on the team do you think maybe he’s got plan a plan B on who’s going to fit which which uh role do you think he’s got a board um in the office talking about who’s going to be where and who he’s going to go after um I
Would think so that’s usually what happens so I’m not worried um yes do I not like I hate to see people decommit but people do things for reasons do I hate to see people transfer out sure you know you want to think that you’re immune to that and over the years JMU
Pretty much has been you know we lost Antoine Wells wished him well you know Isaac guu went off to Old Miss you know great for him uh this year we’ve got a lot of people um that are in the portal um you know wish nothing but the best
For those guys you know hope they could all stay they probably won’t and that’s okay uh that’s the era we’re in right now um and that’s okay um there’s not going to be any vitel coming from me about that because I know that we’re going to put some other guys here you
Know look at last year look at the roster we had last year you’d never heard of Jordan McLoud you’d never heard of Sarat you hadn’t heard from a lot of these people um yeah I mean look at all this look at all the people that you had kind of come
Up and become JMU people we’ll do the same thing this year so you know be patient this was this was great for me this was cathartic for me I got excited during it I got a little teary choked up a little bit talking about Coach Mack
With with Mike um but that’s old two old people talking so when you see the 80s in our you see Mike 81 83 and me 84 we’re going to talk about old stuff but it does come back history does repeat and I you know a lot of these folks
Never knew coach Mack um just didn’t and he’s a lot like coach chzn and this is why it’s exciting um but I you know I’ll be remiss not to say um and I got to give something out you know to the Air Force you know we’re coming you think
We’re disorganized and you think we don’t have our act together when’s when’s the last time do you remember the last time that anybody cared about an Air Force game I don’t but you know what come Saturday I do you show up at 3:30 off you go into the wild blue yonder
That’s where you’re going because we are gonna put a Smackdown and a Beatdown on You full respect love what you do for the country don’t care for 60 solid minutes 60 solid minutes we’re GNA mop the field with you you get ready for it bring your wings baby because we’re
Going to clip them here we go Steve I love you you’re National Treasure had to do it bring the wings love it all right um housekeeping couple things for starters we are gonna have a special episode this Wednesday evening Signing Day we’re g to recap all the recruiting news because spoil alert
There will be recruiting news because as we heard he he knows he needs to do that um so Wednesday evening uh time guys we think in 8 o’clock same time let’s just decide that now o yeah let’s live live TV so uh Wednesday night 8m do another broadcast focus on recruiting we’ll
Recap the class uh look at some of the names and do our best to give you some real-time analysis of what’s coming then and then um for those of you who cannot make the trip to Texas Michael and I will be making the trip down uh there is
Going to be a viewing party in Richmond at Gus’s home team not guses home team Grill uh with Taylor Atkins gonna be doing kind of a live watch uh party for the game um so if you’re in Richmond looking come hang out with the Alumni Association come hang out with Taylor uh
Watch the game together you could be on sound off you could be a co-host Taylor’s looking for co-host this we’re looking for lot of coing young brother who wants to get some experience join Taylor for about four hours worth of conversation uh while Michael and I try
To make our flight with about 20 other JMU grads after that game so uh Taylor thanks for doing that uh and as always thank you to the fans who continue to watch this program um thanks for putting up with us on social media we’re not always perfect I wasn’t perfect this
Week um but we appreciate it we’re all getting through this transition together and another exciting New Era for JMU so I hope you enjoyed the broadcast and with that go Dukes beat Air Force safe travels to everybody making the trip down to Texas uh and for those who are
There Michael and I will see you look forward to saying hi and go do speed Air Force
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