CAA title ban threat irks JMU

Athletes, coaches and many fans of James Madison aren’t happy that the Colonial Athletic Association won’t allow JMU teams to compete for league titles if the school accepts an invitation to join another conference.

The JMU athletic department informed athletes of that decision Wednesday night, and many of them took to social media in protest. The Dukes are expected to move to the Sun Belt Conference, a move that could be announced as soon as today.

JMU teams still could receive at-large bids to various NCAA championships. JMU is permitted to compete in the CAA women’s soccer and field hockey tournaments, which are this weekend.

According to the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg, a source who has held key positions in conferences said athletes could petition for an injunction that might at least temporarily keep the Dukes eligible for CAA tournaments.

Commissioner Joe D’Antonio said the CAA simply is enforcing a bylaw allowing it to block schools from competing for conference championships if they’ve declared their intention to leave. That happened to Old Dominion in 2013 when it left for Conference USA; ODU now is headed to the Sun Belt.

JMU appealed to the presidents of other CAA schools Monday night, but those presidents voted overwhelmingly to bar the Dukes from postseason play in 2021-22.

“Eight other Division I conferences have full members that have publicly announced an exit and yet all eight have allowed the student-athletes at those institutions to continue competing for championships,” JMU said in a joint statement from President Jonathan Alger and athletic director Jeff Bourne. “To our knowledge, the CAA is alone in this outdated bylaw . ... In an era when the industry of college athletics stresses student-athlete welfare, this decision is completely contrary to those ideals.”