NCAA denies James Madison bowl eligibility waiver

The NCAA Division I Board Administration Committee denied James Madison’s second waiver try for full bowl eligibility Wednesday, sources briefed on the choice mentioned. Right here’s what you might want to know:

• James Madison is a second-year FCS-FBS transition staff, that means it’s not eligible for the postseason this 12 months, except there aren’t sufficient 6-6 bowl groups. Regardless of the denial, JMU continues to be prone to attain a bowl sport as a consequence of a scarcity of sufficient 6-6 groups.
• After going 8-3 as an FBS staff final 12 months, JMU submitted a waiver to request its transition be one 12 months as a substitute of the NCAA-manded two years. It was denied within the spring.
• This 12 months’s JMU staff is 10-0 and is likely to be in place for the Group of 5’s New Yr’s Six berth if it was totally eligible. The Dukes are usually not eligible for the CFP rankings nor eligible for the Solar Belt championship sport, per convention coverage.
• Jacksonville State’s FBS bowl and Tarleton State’s FCS playoff waivers have been additionally denied.

Is that this a shock?

JMU officers didn’t really feel optimistic heading into the hearings, however they remained hopeful. JMU’s case for the waiver rested on the truth that it spent its first transition season in FBS and the Solar Belt, not like most transitioning groups that spend the primary 12 months in FCS (as Jacksonville State and Sam Houston did).

The Dukes have additionally clearly confirmed they belong on the FBS degree, with an 18-3 document because the transfer and an athletic price range on par with their convention friends. If there was a staff worthy of a waiver, it was this one. — Chris Vannini, senior CFB author

Why was it denied?

Greater than the rest, the NCAA committees and different faculties didn’t wish to create a precedent, particularly after denying it within the spring. The foundations are the principles. JMU acknowledged it knew the principles when it made the transfer, and did so once more when the waiver was denied the primary time.

These classification guidelines have come up incessantly in basketball. Fairleigh Dickinson solely upset No. 1 seed Purdue on this previous spring’s NCAA males’s basketball event as a result of Northeast Convention champion Merrimack was not eligible for the event as a transitioning Division II faculty. That bounce is a four-year course of.

This additionally comes at a time when FBS necessities are getting stricter. Final month, the Division I Council modified the FBS necessities, eradicating the attendance requirement however including a $5 million software payment (up from $5,000) and inserting stricter scholarship utilization necessities. FBS will develop to 134 groups subsequent 12 months with the addition of Kennesaw State. Extra guardrails are going up, and permitting a faculty to bypass a part of the principles doesn’t match with the place the winds are blowing. — Vannini

Why does the reclassification course of exist?

In a press release, the Administrative Committee mentioned partly, “Necessities for members transitioning into FBS are primarily based on elements past athletics efficiency. They’re supposed to make sure faculties are correctly evaluating their long-term sustainability within the subdivision. Sponsoring sports activities at this degree requires elevated scholarships, expanded athletics compliance efforts, and extra tutorial and psychological well being help for student-athletes, and the transition interval is meant to present members time to regulate to these elevated necessities to place student-athletes at these faculties for long-term success.

“Division I members frequently assess transition necessities, and the board continues to consider that if Division I members don’t assume the necessities are applicable, these considerations needs to be addressed by means of guidelines adjustments slightly than waiver requests.”

What’s subsequent?

JMU hosts Faculty GameDay this Saturday, and you’ll make sure the present might be stuffed with anger directed towards the NCAA, now on the dimensions of ESPN’s premiere pregame present. I think about Pat McAfee could have a couple of alternative issues to say about it.

The Dukes additionally host Appalachian State and play at Coastal Carolina subsequent week. Each App and Coastal are within the race to fill the Solar Belt East spot for which JMU will not be eligible. It’s doable we may get JMU and Liberty matched up in a bowl sport, doubtlessly each as undefeated. This week’s The Athletic bowl projections have JMU versus Toledo within the Remedy Bowl.

Virginia Legal professional Common Jason Miyares has already lobbied for the Dukes as soon as, sending a letter to NCAA president Charlie Barker that was largely dismissed. It’s doable Miyares and different state politicians who’ve referenced the trigger may create one other push.

If JMU runs the desk, there’ll seemingly be a swell of fan help to declare itself a nationwide champion, as UCF did in 2017. When you go undefeated, I’ve bought no drawback with that. — Vannini

What they’re saying

“We’re clearly dissatisfied within the consequence of the NCAA’s evaluation of our request for bowl reduction,” JMU mentioned in a press release. “We’re saddened for our college neighborhood and, particularly, we’re devastated for our soccer program, the coaches and student-athletes who’ve orchestrated an incredible season and earned the chance. As we flip the web page, we’ve an unimaginable week lined up with Faculty GameDay right here and our ultimate dwelling sport, so we’re targeted on maximizing these moments for our college and celebrating our senior class.”

Required studying

(Photograph: Lee Coleman / Icon Sportswire through Getty Pictures)