Rowe Aknowledges Criticsm, Pressure In Midst Of Skid

HARRISONBURG — As basketball coach Louis Rowe stepped away from the microphone at O'Neill's Grill — location of James Madison’s weekly athletic press conference — and made way for JMU lacrosse coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe, they stopped for a hug as they passed.

It was a sign of mutual respect from two coaches who were standout athletes for the Dukes in the 1990s and returned to their alma mater to take over their respective programs. But the tone of their addresses to gathered fans and media were quite different.

Klaes-Bawcombe, her team the reigning national champs, hinted at a bit of disrespect with her team ranked “only” fourth in preseason national polls. Rowe spoke candidly about the pressure he’s feeling as his men’s hoops team looks ahead to two challenging Colonial Athletic Association road games already in the midst of a four-game losing streak.

“It can get really negative really quick here,” Rowe said. “That’s the truth. That’s not a negative statement. That’s actually a positive statement. There’s a great desire ... you know, everything around us is really good.”

Thursday, JMU heads to Charleston with a 9-13 record and just 2-7 in CAA play. After back-to-back 10-win seasons, there was optimism entering the campaign that this JMU team could make a significant improvement.

That feeling was boosted even more by the Dukes’ first 4-0 start in three decades, a record enhanced by a pair of victories against Division III programs, but that also included solid road victories at East Carolina and Charlotte.

But Madison has not won a true road game since and have slipped into last place in the conference standings after losses to Hofstra and Northeastern last week.

It was known when Rowe was hired three years ago that a rebuild could take some time, but as the coach eluded to, the fanbase can lose patience in a hurry. Especially when nearly every other program in the athletic department challenges for CAA titles and teams such as lacrosse, men’s soccer and softball compete on a national level.

“They’re fans, right?” Rowe said. “There are very few people who really know me. That’s not a knock. What I’m saying is, they are not judging me off my character. They want JMU to win. I haven’t met anybody at JMU I didn’t like. I don’t take any of that stuff personally. I know that comes with it.”

By acknowledging the whispers and message board chatter, it’s all but assured Rowe’s job security will be a topic of conversation unless the Dukes turn it around over the course of the final nine regular-season games.

Rowe still has reasons to ask for patience. JMU is one of the youngest teams in the country and not a single player or coach has been in the program for three full seasons.

The Dukes also have a well-regarded recruiting class signed, including two of the state’s most electrifying high school seniors in Michael Christmas from Virginia Beach and Roanoke’s Julien Wooden.

But nearly everybody around the program acknowledges the need to simply win more games.

“We believe in Coach,” JMU senior Stuckey Mosley said. “Whatever the game plan is, we just need to go out there and get stops. That’s the bottom line. It’s on us to execute the game plan.”