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Message: [QUOTE="A Clockwork Orange, post: 4823394, member: 16"] Yes. They knew the rules. The NCAA also has an appeals process that JMU went through. This past April, that appeal was denied. People are mostly up in arms because of the results on the field. The AD had the opportunity to move to FBS in 2012-2013 and turned it down because they felt they weren't ready to make the move yet. They spent the next 8 years ramping the program up to be a national power in FCS and increased the amount of money spent on facilities upgrades, coaching salaries, etc. The people at JMU believe the program was more ready for FBS than any other team making that transition before them. They played a full FBS schedule last year to help the Sun Belt Conference out with scheduling. That typically doesn't happen with a transitioning team. They've played another full FBS schedule this year. The admins at the university believe the NCAA was dead wrong on the decision, based in part on the results on the field. The team is 17-4 since moving to FBS. The NCAA's response to the appeal and the site visit that NCAA officials did in the spring was essentially, "We've never granted this appeal before, so we won't start doing it now." A lot of the uppity-ups at JMU thought that response was asinine. Why even have an appeals process if you aren't willing to recognize a team that has met all the conditions laid out in the NCAA guidelines? That's where a lot of this ire is coming from. But yes, they knew before the season they would not be bowling. They thought it was BS then, and they think it's BS now. The only difference now is the team is undefeated and in the top 25, so there's more national media exposure. It helps that the state's attorney general is a JMU grad and has made a big fuss about it, as has other JMU alums in the state legislature. They are trying to drum up support for an adjustment to the rule. It's not going to work and shouldn't (the decision has been made), but they make the good point that the only people this affects directly are the student-athletes who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into being prepared week in and week out to be the best they can be. [/QUOTE]

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