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All-America. In 1986 Haley, JMU’s career tackles leader (506), became its first NFL draftee (San Francisco, fourth round), and he was the first player to be a member of five winning Super Bowl teams. JMU’s 21-17 win at Virginia in 1982 came only three years after the Dukes lost 69-9 there and was the springboard to an 8-3 year,
Coach Challace McMillin (pointing) with assistant Jimmy Prince at JMU’s 1983 game at Appalachian State
JMU’s first winning Division I-AA season. Quarterback Jon Roddy came off the bench to rally the Dukes by Appalachian State in their second 1982 game (39-35 win) and combined with Clark on an 80-yard scoring pass the next week at Virginia. Mike Thurman returned an interception 53 yards for a score at Virginia. Clark had punt returns of 87 and 89 yards for scores in JMU’s 1983 game at Virginia before the hosts rallied for a 21-14 win. Clark was the sixth player selected in the 1984 United States Football League draft, and after two USFL
seasons he joined the Washington Redskins and played for two Super Bowl winners.
Division I-AA Success A defense that ranked in the top 20 in I-AA for six straight years under Purzycki and defensive coordinator Jim Pletcher, who remained at JMU through 1994, was the Dukes’ trademark in the late 1980s and a key ingredient in the team’s 9-3 playoff season in 1987. JMU allowed fewer than 300 yards per game in every season from 1985-90, including 1987 when it gave up 291.7 yards per game. Linebacker Marty Fitzgerald led the 1987 defense with 128 tackles, and the Dukes were ranked as high as third nationally. Defenders Shawn Woodson, Steve Bates and Dan Kobosko were key performers in the late 1980s, and offensive guard Carlo Bianchini and punter John Druiett also received All-America honors. Safety Eupton Jackson was named to four All-America first teams in 1990, and offensive tackle D.R. Carlson was an All-America that season. JMU won at Division I-A Navy in 1989 and 1990 before Scherer, a former offensive coordinator at Arizona and later the head coach at Memphis, led the Dukes to the playoffs in 1991. That 9-4 squad had JMU’s first playoff win -- 42-35 in double overtime at Delaware -- and set a then-team record by averaging 31.9 points behind quarterback Eriq Williams and tailback Kenny Sims. The 1991 team lost its opener at Division I-A Virginia Tech but then in consecutive games beat nationally ranked opponents in 1990 playoff participant Central Florida 49-31, eventual Southern Conference winner Appalachian State 31-8 on the road, and 1990 playoff participant William & Mary 29-28 on the road. JMU won at defending Division I-AA champion Youngstown State (52-49) in 1992 and
JMU’s unbeaten team of 1975 (9-0-1)
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Mike Thurman scored on an interception return at Virginia in JMU’s 1982 win
returned to the playoffs in 1994 and 1995 behind most valuable player Mike Cawley. The 1994 squad became JMU’s thenwinningest team (10-3), had a playoff win and won the Lambert/Meadowlands Cup as the top Division I-AA squad in the East. The 1995 team was 8-4, went to the playoffs and gave the Dukes the thenbest back-to-back years in team history. JMU completed 1995 having been ranked in 23 straight Division I-AA top-25 polls by The Sports Network (22 times in the top 20, 10 times in the top 10). The Dukes in 1999 tied for the Atlantic 10 title, JMU’s first Division I-AA crown, and returned to post-season play. JMU met Division I-A national runner-up Virginia Tech in its opener and then won seven straight games behind Matthews, The Sports Network’s Division I-AA coach of the year. Matthews also was the Atlantic 10 coach of the year, and JMU’s Curtis Keaton and Chris Morant were the league’s offensive and defensive players of the year. The Atlantic 10 honors were JMU’s first, and Keaton was selected in the fourth round of the NFL draft by Cincinnati. The season was the first time one program received each of the league’s three major awards during the same year.
Continuing Success Cawley (6,482 passing yards in three years) erased many of Williams’ (5,356 career passing yards, team-record 7,678 yards of total offense) passing records while safety Chris Parrott, defensive tackle Tyrone Washington, cornerback Dwight Robinson, center David Bailey, placekicker John Coursey, tight end Ed Perry, wide receiver David McLeod, safety Tony Booth, return specialist Delvin Joyce, Keaton, Morant, linebackers Derick Pack and Derrick Lloyd, of-