Stinespring feels at home at JMU
HARRISONBURG — Before he was officially hired by James Madison last week, Bryan Stinespring called his mother, Loretha.
Standing outside the football complex overlooking Newman Lake, Stinespring chatted casually with his mother, mentioning that he was in Harrisonburg. Eventually Loretha – who lives in Clifton Forge, Stinespring’s hometown located about 90 minutes away from James Madison – caught on.
“She said, ‘You’re taking a job at James Madison, aren’t you?’” Stinespring recalled last week. “I said, ‘Yeah, why? How’d you know?’ She said, ‘I could hear it in your voice.’”
According to the 52-year-old Stinespring – JMU’s new tight ends coach and run-game coordinator under first-year big whistle Mike Houston – “Momma’s always know.”
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Stinespring, a former walk-on at JMU in the early 1980s who spent the past 26 years on Frank Beamer’s staff at Virginia Tech. Stinespring served as Tech’s offensive coordinator from 2002 to 2012 and spent the past three seasons as the team’s tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
Landing at JMU ends a hectic couple months for Stinespring, who was not retained by new Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente following Beamer’s retirement. Stinespring previously had interviewed for the head coaching job at Tennessee Tech in December that ultimately went to Temple offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield.
Stinespring also said he interviewed for the head-coaching job at JMU last month when Everett Withers bolted for Texas State. But even after being passed over for that position, staying close to his family in Clifton Forge was a major factor in joining Houston’s staff as an assistant, Stinespring said.
“This state has always been a big part of my life — being close to my family,” Stinespring said. “The things that matter to me personally and my family personally has always been a big part of my life.”
Whenever he gets a chance, Stinespring said he still goes back to Clifton Forge to visit. In his two-plus decades at Tech, he said there were plenty of rivers he could have fished between Blacksburg and Clifton Forge, but it had to be the Cowpasture River back home.
Staying close by to that part of him, Stinespring said, was key. Though he moved on to a higher-profile position with the Hokies after graduating from JMU in 1986, his alma mater has always remained significant to him, he said.
“I went to James Madison University not because I thought I was going to be an impactful player football-wise,” Stinespring said. “I knew I was stepping in a little over my head, but I went to James Madison University because I loved the campus and I loved the people. The guys that were in my wedding, most of them were guys I met here. It left a big impact on my life, it’s always been important to me … to be able to come back and be a part of a tremendous university with great people.”
Trips back to campus have been few and far between for Stinespring in the past 25 years. A fixture in the state as a recruiter, the Shenandoah Valley was not one of his territories — Stinespring said that he was usually speeding by on Interstate 81 on the way to Northern Virginia to recruit.
He said he stopped once in Harrisonburg to visit Curt Newsome – a former Virginia Tech assistant who coached at JMU in 2013 – and once with his own son, Daniel, while visiting prospective colleges.
Stinespring, who got his coaching start at Lexington and Patrick Henry High schools, was referred to Houston by Beamer and Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, Houston said. From there, Houston and Stinespring met, and Stinespring said the two shared similar football philosophies.
“The biggest thing that sticks out about Bryan is just his reputation as a recruiter in the state of Virginia,” Houston said. “He has great relationships with coaches all over the state, so that was something that stuck out with him in the process. He’s a JMU alum, so he loves the school. He’s excited about being back here and helping us do something special in football.”
Stinespring said he hasn’t delved too deep into his role with the Dukes yet, but Houston sounded excited about how the offensive staff is coming together.
“His experience as an offensive coach and the way they were able to run the ball effectively at Virginia Tech for so many years, I think he will bring [that] and he has that natural intensity and the demeanor that I want around my offense,” Houston said.
The uncertainty of starting a new job made him nervous, Stinespring said. Shortly after accepting the job, a human-resource employee met with a handful of Madison’s new coaches at once to go over the paperwork.
The person assumed that they had all gone through the process many times before. But not Stinespring – he’d done it just once.
“Over 25 years in Blacksburg, I’ve probably been in a staff room with about 19 different guys,” Stinespring said. “[Now] I’m in one with 10 different ones. That’s exciting.”