Three days after James Madison’s football victory at Virginia last season, Jeff Bourne pondered his quarter-century as the Dukes’ athletic director, a tenure marked by sustained excellence and exponential growth.
Bourne would soon announce his retirement, and I asked him about any unfinished business.
Ending prolonged NCAA postseason droughts in men’s basketball and baseball topped his wish list.
What subsequently transpired was positively storybook, a remarkable close to Bourne’s career and a landmark year in JMU sports annals.
The Dukes did not add to their collection of four NCAA team championships, earned in field hockey (1994), women’s lacrosse (2018) and Championship Subdivision football (2004 and ’16).
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But their football/men’s basketball/baseball trifecta was arguably the department’s most notable since 1982-83.
More on that history in a moment. First, the present.
Among the last four at-large selections, JMU not only reached its first NCAA baseball tournament since 2011, but also advanced to the regional final, eliminating Bryant and South Carolina before falling to host N.C. State on Sunday night.
The Dukes’ NCAA bid came less than a month after the school hired Virginia native Matt Roan to succeed Bourne, and their efforts in Raleigh reflected what veteran coach Marlin Ikenberry and his players described as a love for competition and one another.
“How much we bought in, how much we bonded together and just went for the ride: It’s special,” sophomore second baseman Mike Mancini said.
“Getting here and the way they played the last 14-21 days, it’s been a pleasure to watch these guys compete,” Ikenberry said. “And more importantly, I want to thank every single one of them for what they’ve given to this program. … We will be back.”
JMU (36-25) was an out away from upending South Carolina on Friday, only to have the Gamecocks tie the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. USC won 8-7 in the 10th, a potentially gutting defeat.
But the Dukes rebounded to handle Bryant 8-1 on Saturday, setting the stage for a wild Sunday.
Thanks to Mancini’s two home runs, his first multi-homer game as a collegian, and 6 2/3 innings of filthy relief from left-hander Donovan Burke, JMU blanked South Carolina 2-0 in the afternoon. Mancini hit two more solo shots, plus an RBI double, in the nightcap against N.C. State, but the Wolfpack prevailed 5-3 against a depleted Dukes pitching staff.
JMU’s Donovan Burke celebrates during his stellar relief outing against South Carolina on Sunday in the NCAA tournament.
Reflecting the Sun Belt Conference’s baseball depth, each of the four league teams in the field — Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, Southern Mississippi and JMU — advanced to a regional final.
“We preach excellence,” Ikenberry said. “Our standard is pretty high in our locker room, and these guys upheld it.”
The same can be said for much of JMU’s sports portfolio this academic year.
In just their second season as a Bowl Subdivision and Sun Belt program, the football Dukes went 11-2, hosted ESPN’s College GameDay for the third time and earned their first bowl invitation. The men’s basketball team reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 11 years, upset Wisconsin in the first round and won a school-record 32 games.
Here’s the list of FBS schools that in 2023-24 reached at least the round of 32 in baseball and men’s basketball and had double-digit football victories:
Rather stout company there.
The Dukes’ operating budget is approximately $70 million, the Ducks’ $150 million.
The most comparable year for JMU’s primary men’s sports was 1982-83, when a victory at UVa highlighted football’s 8-3 season, men’s basketball defeated West Virginia in the NCAA tournament before losing to reigning national champion North Carolina, and baseball, against all odds, advanced to the College World Series.
Not to suggest the Dukes’ accomplishments this year were limited to three high-profile programs.
Like baseball, volleyball, women’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s soccer earned at-large NCAA bids, always a heavy lift for mid-major schools. Moreover, men’s soccer advanced two rounds in the NCAA tournament, reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018.
Never before had JMU reached NCAA-sanctioned postseason in football, men’s soccer, men’s basketball and baseball during the same academic year.
For the second time in as many years of membership, JMU will finish No. 2 in the Sun Belt’s all-sports standings, behind Texas State, and No. 1 among conference colleagues in NCAA graduation success rates.
Surveying all that he inherits from Bourne, Roan last month aspired to even greater heights.
“There’s nothing a student-athlete could want for,” he said, “that doesn’t exist here.”
Gallery: JMU’s Jeff Bourne retiring after 25 years
Jeff and Mary Lou Bourne
Jeff Bourne and his wife, Mary Lou
Jeff Bourne and Mike Houston
JMU AD Jeff Bourne (right) hired Mike Houston as football coach in 2016.
Jeff Bourne Sun Belt
Jeff Bourne steered JMU’s transition to the Sun Belt and FBS.
Jeff Bourne and Kenny Brooks
Jeff Bourne and then-JMU women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks when Brooks won his 300th game.
Jeff Bourne and Lefty Driesell
Jeff Bourne and former JMU basketball coach Lefty Driesell.
Jeff Bourne and Lou Campanelli
Jeff Bourne and former JMU basketball coach Lou Campanelli.
Jeff Bourne and Curt Cignetti
Jeff Bourne hired Curt Cignetti as football coach in 2018.
Jeff Bourne Sentara Park
Jeff Bourne at Sentara Park, JMU’s soccer, lacrosse and track facility, in 2016.
Jeff Bourne in 2023
Jeff Bourne has led JMU’s athletic department since 1999.
Jeff Bourne 2013 CAA title
Jeff Bourne cutting down nets after JMU won 2013 CAA tournament championship at Richmond Coliseum.
