NORFOLK, Va. — There's an easy timeline to trace back to Texas and Oklahoma. The two national powerhouse universities announced their impending move to the SEC, and suddenly a thunderous procession of conference dominoes began to fall. Schools and conferences scrambling to make sure they didn't get left behind in college sport's new world order.
Eventually the realignment musical chairs reached Virginia. James Madison nestled comfortably into a prime seat with the Sun Belt Conference, alongside Old Dominion. For the Dukes, however, that easy timeline extends well beyond the SEC's Big 12 robbery.
"For a long time we've been diligent about making sure that we were in a position, if opportunity came, we could take advantage of it. I use the term intentional, I say that because we want to make sure that we're always prepared," Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne says the Dukes have fulfilled that intention for decades. From state of the art facilities to academic advising, the school wanted to be ready when their time came. Throughout they've grown into an FCS national powerhouse on the gridiron.
Football is the driving force behind conference movement. Scratch that, football is just about the only force behind conference movement. Madison's program is as desirable as they come at the FCS level, hence the move up, but it's the school's meticulous preparation that made the move logistically feasible, and the biggest reason that they'll be competing for the biggest prize, in the biggest sport, going forward.