College Football Coach Hire Grades: James Madison

James Madison Dukes: Bob Chesney

Why the job was open: Curt Cignetti had a ton of success with the JMU program, they transitioned from FCS to FBS during his tenure and immediately established themselves atop the Sun Belt. You could even argue they were the best G5 team in the nation. The Dukes spent a lot of the season in the Top 25 and with all that attention on what Cignetti did it was inevitable that a program with more money and resources would come calling.

Coach Profile: Bob Chesney made his coaching roots in the Northeast. He’s carved out a career at programs that were either newer or historically lacked success but he succeeded at all of them. His most recent stop was at Holy Cross where he compiled a 44-21 record and had 4 FCS playoff appearances. That’s especially impressive when you consider Holy Cross only made the FCS playoffs twice in program history prior to his arrival.

Why he will succeed : Bob Chesney has succeeded everywhere he’s gone, and has done it at places that aren’t easy. James Madison has a ton of support, a large alumni base and a winning culture. Virginia is a state where you can find and develop gems, something Chesney has specialized in so far in his career.

What obstacles are in the way of success: The first thing people will point to is the fact that Chesney has never coached at the FBS level. There’s a reason for that, the FBS level has more challenges than ever so that will be a new thing for Chesney to manage. How does he handle recruiting? NIL drama around players? The transfer portal?

Grade: A- – I’m a big fan of this hire. Some coaches are just winners plain and simple. That’s what Chesney has been his whole career, JMU has built their culture by making hires like this and it’s nice to see they didn’t change that despite being at the FBS level. No doubt there’s some risk but one worth taking.