HARRISONBURG — James Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne has always kept a list of potential football coaching candidates in case he had to replace the current one at the end of a season, he said.
“You have to always have a list of coaches in mind for every position because you’re never sure of when someone else might get another opportunity,” Bourne said Thursday.
During the offseason, the 17-year athletic director had to turn to that list when Everett Withers left JMU after two seasons for the head job at Texas State. From the day that Texas State announced the hiring of Withers, Bourne took less than a month to find his replacement when he named Mike Houston the school’s new coach in January.
Now, Houston is eight days away from pacing the sidelines in his first game as JMU’s coach and Bourne said he has an expectation of Houston to keep the positive momentum going.
“We’re at a point now that the program is strong across the board. We aspire each year to compete at the top of our league and find a way to win the league championship,” Bourne said. “Everett had some very talented assistant coaches that worked with him and they did really well and had two really good years of success that got us back on the winning track.”
JMU reached the FCS Playoffs in back-to-back years under Withers after missing out on the postseason in each of the previous two seasons.
“We didn’t lose that many [players] from last year,” Bourne said. “Although we’re shallow in a few places and have some young kids that have to step in, I’d say we’re probably a team that can be in the playoffs. Our goal with each of our coaching staffs is after they’ve had two or three years ... I expect to be in the playoffs every year. I think JMU, given the way we’re supported, where we are and the type of team that we have, that we can be one of those schools to do that. We’re one of those institutions that can win a national championship. I’m not going to go tell Mike that this afternoon, but realistically we feel like we’re one of those teams that should be poised to do that.”
In two years at The Citadel, Houston went 14-11 and reached the FCS Playoffs last fall.
For JMU to reach Bourne’s expectation, Houston said he wants to establish a certain style of play with an emphasis on “phyiscality” while also keeping cohesion within his coaching staff.
“I’ve got a staff that is a quality staff and I’d like to keep them together for several years because if you can do that you can establish consistency with the way the kids are being taught on a daily basis, so expectations are met better,” Houston said.
The ability to put together the staff was one of the traits to initially attract Bourne to Houston.
Beyond the goals of attaining records and championships, Bourne has an additional expectation that falls in line with Houston’s plan to keep building the program.
“[I] wanted someone that could not only attract, but retain a good coaching staff,” Bourne said. “You don’t have to look too far to see programs that are successful. One of the major factors in those programs is continuity. It’s a challenge because of the very nature of FBS football and the fact that compensation level of those jobs are often much higher of where we can go as an FCS school.”
When Houston made the pitch to defensive coordinator Bob Trott to leave Richmond after six years with the Spiders and join rival JMU, Houston said he stayed at Trott’s home in the state’s capital city. Houston said he stayed up to nearly 2 a.m. recruiting Trott and his wife, Barbara.
“Mainly recruiting her,” Houston said.
The final expectation from Bourne for Houston is to “strengthen” JMU’s defense sooner rather than later. JMU had one of the worst defenses in the Colonial Athletic Association last fall. Bourne said Houston’s defensive pedigree was “somewhat but not a guiding factor” in hiring the former Citadel coach.
