I thought I'd share my experience with James Madison's Duke Club...My daughter has decided to branch out on her own and get her education from the mountain school a couple of hours north. I've spent a good amount of time there over the last couple of months as she's made her decision. It's a great school and a great town...it's no Boone, but its a great spot for her. This weekend she made it final, and I decided to set her up with her own athletic booster account so she can begin earning points, etc. etc.

As a Yosef Club member, it allowed me to compare "ours" and "theirs". It shouldn't surprise anyone on here, that DG and team are running a much better ship than the school in Harrisonburg! We throw our hands up from time to time complaining about all the rules and requirements, but in the end, we've got an easy to use website, a knowledgeable staff and good program for young and old alumni. I've tried for the last 3 days to give them money, and after multiple phone calls, emails, time on their website and finally being transferred to another department, they were able to take my credit card. Each person I spoke with was extremely polite, but unfortunately, none of them knew any of the details of their booster club program.

Just a good reminder that we've got a good thing going up the mountain and we should appreciate it and all the people who work so hard for us and our Mountaineer student-athletes.

Good luck to your daughter at Appalachian on the Interstate.

Interesting point of view. I've never dealt with any other booster club, so I've never had any comparison. I've never had any issues with the Yosef club, including the website. Always a positive experience. I've had to change addresses, emails, user names, delete a duplicate account. A simple phone call always got it done. Keep up the good work!

I've supported UNCA (in a small way) for a few years. They try, and are getting a little better. But no comparison to our system and staff (not even sure they have any dedicated staff person).

Boone Goon wrote:I thought I'd share my experience with James Madison's Duke Club...My daughter has decided to branch out on her own and get her education from the mountain school a couple of hours north. I've spent a good amount of time there over the last couple of months as she's made her decision. It's a great school and a great town...it's no Boone, but its a great spot for her. This weekend she made it final, and I decided to set her up with her own athletic booster account so she can begin earning points, etc. etc.

As a Yosef Club member, it allowed me to compare "ours" and "theirs". It shouldn't surprise anyone on here, that DG and team are running a much better ship than the school in Harrisonburg! We throw our hands up from time to time complaining about all the rules and requirements, but in the end, we've got an easy to use website, a knowledgeable staff and good program for young and old alumni. I've tried for the last 3 days to give them money, and after multiple phone calls, emails, time on their website and finally being transferred to another department, they were able to take my credit card. Each person I spoke with was extremely polite, but unfortunately, none of them knew any of the details of their booster club program.

Just a good reminder that we've got a good thing going up the mountain and we should appreciate it and all the people who work so hard for us and our Mountaineer student-athletes.

Next time you visit H-Burg check out this restaurant called Xenia. Small place that is almost guaranteed to be packed on the weekends or peak eating times (lunch and dinner). If you can catch it at the right time to sit down (the best experience) or even get it to go they have some of the best Greek/Mediterranean food I've ever had in my life. Gyros the size of your head. Full disclosure it's been awhile since I ate there so some of it's greatness may have changed.

As for the booster comparison it is no surprise to me. JMU has an interesting and spread out group of alumni. I grew up about 20 miles north of HBurg and naturally graduated high school with many that attended JMU. If I were to ask them if they donate to a booster, almost all would say no. Maybe it's because they are FCS? Who knows. They're missing out on a lot of potential though. I know many wealthy JMU grads who have deep pockets but are never reached out to by the athletic department and booster teams.

JMU leadership is holding out hope of a CUSA invite as they still perceive it to be a step up from the SBC, which the trend suggests otherwise.

Maybe they'll get lucky if/when CUSA and SBC swallow their pride to realign, but that'll be 5-10 years from now and quite a bit of opportunity lost.

JMU is holding out for a regional conference CUSA is a better bet for them than SunBelt. If we had any hope of a more regional conference I would have wanted to wait. Pretty clear until some fools recognize brand over location we are where we are.

The SBC has a smaller footprint than CUSA after Idaho and NMSU are gone. JMU would have been an excellent travel partner with App for the conference.

Could have been:

App - JMU
GSU - GA St.
Troy - USA
ULL - ULM
UALR - Ark St.
UTA - Texas St.

For all sports CCU was the stronger play actually.