In our FOIA request, we received a thread of e-mails between Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson and JMU Athletic Director Jeff Bourne. Well, the word “between” might be a little strong.
So, from February 20, 2013 at 1:45 PM through February 25, 2013 at 9:52 AM, Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson sent JMU Athletic Director Jeff Bourne 4 e-mails and Bourne did not respond once. Sounds like JMU is, in fact, not interested to me.
The first 3 e-mails had attached the proposed 2014 Sun Belt Conference map we disclosed previously.
*Note: we blocked out Benson’s phone numbers
So, to date, has there been any public comment from JMU about the Sun Belt’s invitation?
AD Jeff Bourne must have replied to Karl Benson in some fashion. Not to do so would be too unprofessional. Maybe he pulled a ‘Jason Bourne’ on you to dodge the FOIA request he knew he’d get from you. It’s unthinkable to me that there would be no acknowledgement or reply at all.
I agree, he more than likely called him instead of sending him an email. It would have been rude for Jeff Bourne to email him any on such an important topic. Clearly, things have changed because they added New Mexico State and Idaho. Karl Benson was extremely rude with his infamous quote, “far, far, far from being the case,” concerning Liberty University being next in-line to join the Sun Belt. I think the Sun Belt will wait until JMU has completed their feasibility study.
Of course, I realize that this is all speculation on my part and there is a good chance I have misspoke.
OK, hold on a minute. Big, big leap to say there is no interest. You DO understand that a response would have been caught in an FOI request like yours right? The rest of the conversation took place via phone call, and was started by a phone call. Public institutions take FOI very seriously, and with all of the FOI requests out there about conference re-alignment, I would hope JMU’s executives were smart enough to handle communications privately.
I would like an update on Liberty U. and the Sunbelt Conference for today or on 5/14/13. Thanks