How Curt Cignetti, Bob Chesney paved way for James Madison to ditch Sun Belt for American Conference
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
How Curt Cignetti, Bob Chesney paved way for James Madison to ditch Sun Belt for American Conference appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
James Madison University is moving again, this time to the American Conference. The institution announced in a statement that it will join the American Conference as a full member “no later than July 1, 2028.”
The institution, once a significant FCS power, moved to the FBS in 2022. The program boasted two coaches that are standouts in the college football world: Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and UCLA’s Bob Chesney. Both Cignetti and Chesney paved the way for immense success in their tenure as James Madison joins the American Conference.
Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports spoke with Jeff Bourne, who hired both Cignetti and Chesney as James Madison’s athletic director. Bourne’s philosophy is simple: he hires head coaches who have been in the seat and made tough decisions.
Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (free trial)
“I don’t think there’s any replacement for somebody that’s had to be the head coach,” Bourne told Auerbach. “They’ve had to hire assistant coaches. They’ve had to fire assistant coaches. They’ve had to make decisions that, many times, were not popular. They’ve had to deal with the university administration and athletic administration. They understand what donor pressure is like at the head coach level. There’s just the enormity of what they need to have in their toolbox in order to be an effective coach, I think, really hinges a lot of it on having already been there.”
He then brought up their ability to be organized, disciplined, and their expert understanding of football.
“Look at their ability to scout, look at the amount of film that Curt watches and how prepared he was. Same thing with Bob,” Bourne said. “They both knew their staffs exceptionally well. They knew their strengths and weaknesses personally, and they hired around that. Then, they trusted their staff to get the job done. I felt like they were wonderful football CEOs. They really knew the game. They knew the student-athletes. But beyond that, as head coaches, they knew how to organize and run a program.”
Cignetti became the head coach of James Madison on December 14, 2018, becoming the eighth head coach of the football program while they were still competing at the FCS level. They proved themselves as a rival to then-fellow perennial FCS power North Dakota State, with Cignetti never having a losing season with the Dukes from his first season in 2019 to his last season with the team in 2023. Cignetti also helped lead the team into its FBS era when James Madison accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference on November 6, 2021.
After Cignetti left, Chesney came in and continued the success. Although he was with the team for only two seasons, they thrived again, going 9-4 in 2024 and posting a phenomenal 2025 season that drew national acclaim. Last season, James Madison finished 12-2 and 8-0 in conference. The record was good enough for them to clinch a spot in the college football playoffs, though they lost to No. 5 seed Oregon, 51-34. They served as the first Sun Belt Conference champion to make the expanded college football playoff field.
Now, the Dukes are led by former Florida coach Billy Napier and are off to a 6-0 start to the season after a narrow 27-24 win over Georgia Southern.
Related: Former HBCU football player who played for Deion Sanders passes away
Related: Alabama’s Ryan Coleman-Williams injury update puts Tennessee matchup in doubt
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos