JMU plans to hire Billy Napier as its next head football coach. Here’s what you need to know about the former Louisiana and Florida head coach.

He’s a national champion

Napier holds impressive credentials.

He’s won national championships (yes, plural) as an assistant coach. He won a title in 2011 with Alabama as an analyst under Nick Saban and again in 2015 as Alabama’s wide receivers coach under Saban. That 2015 team had Amari Cooper at wide receiver.

He’s also previously worked as an assistant at Clemson and Arizona State. And, of course, he was the head coach at Florida. He understands what it takes to win (and lose) at the highest levels of college football.

Will that translate to success in the Sun Belt in 2026 and beyond? Who knows, but he has experience that guys like Bob Chesney and Mike Houston didn’t. He also has experience that other candidates this hiring cycle, such as Lehigh’s Kevin Cahill, don’t.

Certainly JMU hired Napier largely because of his 40-12 record when leading a Sun Belt school, but his P4 credentials are what make him especially interesting. Napier handled a massive NIL budget for an SEC program, and his Florida recruiting classes consistently ranked in the top 15 nationally. At Louisiana, his classes regularly paced the Sun Belt. 

He’s an exceptional relationship builder and talent evaluator, which has been crucial for JMU’s previous coaches. He’ll need to build out a solid staff around him to ensure recruiting wins, but his history and JMU’s resources suggest the Dukes’ roster will be loaded with talent. Not many coaches in the Sun Belt can say they’ve led an SEC program, but Napier can. He’s worked with guys like Saban and Dabo Swinney, which will almost certainly come up in recruiting conversations. 

JMU isn’t asking Napier to win a national title, but he has watched Saban get it done twice. That matters.

He carries risk

There’s risk involved with hiring any coach, Napier included.

He refused to give up play calling duties during his Florida tenure, even when the offense sputtered. He lost his job as a result. Will he hire an offensive coordinator at JMU to call plays? That’s maybe the biggest question surrounding his first year in Harrisonburg.

It’s not the first time he’s been fired, either. Clemson moved on from him as its offensive coordinator after the 2010 season. He bounced back well that time around, joining Alabama’s 2011 national championship team as an analyst. A decade later he led Louisiana to a pair of Sun Belt titles.

Other Sun Belt schools are running a similar plan with middling success. Butch Jones coached Tennessee before getting fired there. In four seasons with Arkansas State, the Red Wolves are 25-37, but they have made bowl appearances in 2023, 2024 and now in 2025. He’s yet to reach a league title game, though. 

Clay Helton joined Georgia Southern after being fired by USC, and the Eagles have been fine. They’ve made a bowl game in all four years under him, but they’ve never won more than eight games. Helton is 26-25 at Georgia Southern and has yet to win the SBC East.

This could be a home-run hire for JMU, given Napier’s name recognition, recruiting knowledge and P4 experience. But he’s also failed in his career. There’s a scenario where JMU falls short of championship expectations under Napier and the fit doesn’t work out, similar to what we’re seeing with Jones and Helton. The major difference is JMU has better resources than those two programs. Napier will have built-in advantages that Jones and Helton don’t. 

His hiring is not without some risk, given his Florida tenure. Matt Roan believes the potential reward is well worth it.

He’s not a Jeff Bourne hire

Roan made clear with this search that he’s his own man. The athletic director with P4 aspirations went for a splash hire.

Splash made.

Jeff Bourne probably hires a coach with a track record of only winning at lower-level programs. Roan isn’t Bourne, apparently.

Cahill made a lot of sense at JMU. He led Lehigh to an undefeated record this season, and he’s gained a reputation as a culture builder. The same is true for Drew Cronic, now at Navy, and Mike Jacobs, Mercer’s coach. Those fit the Jeff Bourne mold and all three likely would have been extremely interested in this opening.

Napier doesn’t fit Bourne’s recent mold, but different hiring methods can work. Remember that Everett Withers went 18-7 at JMU over two seasons and was not an up-and-coming FCS coach. He had meaningful P4 experience and Bourne hired him to energize JMU’s program in 2014. Mission accomplished. Does Vad Lee come to JMU without Withers being the coach? Probably not. Name recognition can matter.

Dan Mullen “failed” at Florida, but his UNLV team is 10-2 and playing for a Mountain West title in his first season. He loaded up in the portal, including bringing in UVA QB Anthony Colandrea, who immediately became a top G5 QB. Lane Kiffin was fired by USC but posted a pair of 10-win seasons at FAU before jumping back to the P4. Helton and Jones haven’t been crazy successful in the SBC, but they’ve also made their teams bowl eligible and both have a few notable wins. The bottom didn’t fall out of either program.

Roan is betting that his playbook can work, too. His own P4 dreams might hinge on Napier’s success.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications