HARRISONBURG – Few topics get more of a reaction from James Madison football coach Mickey Matthews than talking about playing Division I-A games for guarantee money. With the Dukes opening the season at North Carolina, Matthews made sure people understood some key differences between last year’s upset win over Virginia Tech and this year’s game. Most notably, he referenced the short week the Hokies had to deal with after playing Boise State on Monday night at FedEx Field.
“I talked to the North Carolina people about scheduling Boise state on Monday night, so we could play a team coming off the Boise State game last year like tech did, where they wouldn’t get back in bed til 6 in the morning Tuesday morning and wouldn’t even look at our film til Wednesday,” Matthews said Monday during his weekly press conference. “For some reason, they wouldn’t agree to that.”
As for the out of state media that covers the Tar Heels’ program, Matthews said they appear to have little interest in JMU.
“They don’t know who we are,” Matthews said.
Matthews was blunt when asked about playing I-A games.
“I tried to get out of these Division I games when I got here,” the 13th year coach said. “How many years have I been here? I’ve told them 13 times. I don’t want to play these games. If they had asked me five minutes after the Virginia Tech game last year I would have told them I don’t want to play a Division I game. I have no interest in playing them, zero.”
Asked how often he broaches the subject with the JMU administration Matthews said, “I bring it up every year, sometimes monthly.”
So, what is the most obvious difference between JMU and UNC – aside from the 22 more scholarships the Tar Heels have at their disposal.
“The head coach at North Carolina makes a lot more money than I do,” a smiling Matthews said.
The coach also addressed some other topics Monday.
On the recent earthquake and Hurricane Irene: “Well, like everyone in Virginia, the earthquake made it a little different. Certainly having an earthquake and a hurricane in five or six days, certainly it has not been a normal August for everyone in the commonwealth.”
On injuries suffered during last year’s regular season finale against Maine: “Nobody asked me because everybody was too mad at me.”
On Michael Vick’s impact on the game the year JMU faced the Vick-led Hokies: “The game would have been a lot closer if he went to get pizza that day instead of quarterbacking the Hokies.”
On the expectations facing starting quarterback Justin Thorpe, a junior: “Justin Thorpe has had greatness on him since the day he walked in the door. Justin probably is the best athlete we ever had. He’s a tremendously physically gifted guy. … I guess everyone who bleeds purple wants him to be the national player of the year. He certainly has that ability and everyone in our league knows that. He has two years to see what he’s going to do.”
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