(STATS) – Given its past high standard of success, James Madison underachieved as a program earlier this decade, but coach Mike Houston raised the bar again during his three seasons guiding the Dukes.
Despite Houston’s departure in the last two days to become East Carolina’s coach, athletic director Jeff Bourne said at a news conference on campus Monday there won’t be a change in expectations within the program.
“Obviously, we expect to win championships,” he said, “conference and national championships. And we know we can do it.”
Bourne addressed James Madison’s coaching opening just hours after Houston was named the new coach at East Carolina, where he signed a five-year contract.
Inside linebackers coach Warren Belin has been named JMU’s interim head coach, but Bourne said the school expects to name Houston’s successor in the near future. The December signing period for high school seniors begins on Dec. 19, adding to the urgency.
“Special places attract special people,” Bourne said.
“We’re looking forward to this process. We’re prepared not to sleep a lot and get after it beginning today.”
James Madison has one of the top programs in the FCS. It was a national championship winner under coach Mickey Matthews in 2004 and a semifinalist in 2008 before the Dukes slumped with only one playoff win from 2009 to 2015.
Enter Houston three years ago. He went 37-6 with the Dukes, leading them to two CAA Football championships, the 2016 FCS national title in his first season, a national runner-up finish last year and into the second round of this year’s playoffs, where they lost at Colgate on Saturday.
With Houston considered a rising coaching candidate for the FBS level, James Madison went into prevent defense last December by signing him to a 10-year contract extension through the 2027 season.
But the higher pay for an FBS-level coach and a homecoming to his native North Carolina played big parts in Houston’s decision to take over at East Carolina. With Houston as its target, the American Athletic Conference school fired Scottie Montgomery last week. He was 9-26 in three seasons, including a loss to Houston and JMU to open the 2017 season.
In announcing Houston’s departure from the school Sunday night, Bourne called him “the right coach at the right time for our program. He injected energy, he went about his job the right way, he cared about our student-athletes and he won.”
The Dukes still want, and expect, that in their next coach.
“We’ll look comprehensively at everybody that would have an interest in this position,” Bourne said Monday. “There is credence to hiring a head coach – somebody who’s been there, been in that chair, had to make the tough decisions.”
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