Bob Chesney is reportedly leaving JMU Football for UCLA. Here are some candidates who could become JMU Football’s next head coach.

DeLane Fitzgerald, Southern Utah head coach — Fitzgerald makes the top of this list because he’s a JMU alumnus and bleeds purple. He’s also an elite program-builder, which he’s showing at Southern Utah.

Fitzgerald is 111-70 as a head coach. But if you remove the first year of his rebuilds, he’s 99-50.

He’s also previously coached at Southern Virginia, which he led to a record-setting 8 wins in 2013, and Frostburg State. He led Frostburg State through a transition from Division III to Division II, posting a 62-19 record in the process. He turned a struggling D3 team into a competitive D2 squad during his eight-year tenure.

He inherited a 1-10 Southern Utah team and has led them to modest FCS success. They’re in a UAC conference loaded with ranked talent. KFord Ratings, who has advanced FCS metrics, considers Southern Utah a top-25 caliber FCS team. That’s impressive, given the program’s lack of resources. Southern Utah went 7-5 in 2025, winning six straight games to end the season.

He doesn’t have FCS playoff success or FBS assistant experience, but he fits the mold of what JMU wants in a coach. And the 49-year-old coach would willingly stay in Harrisonburg for more than two seasons. He should be a top contender given what he’s done at schools with minimal resources.

Colin Hitscher, JMU’s defensive coordinator — There’s likely a fat paycheck waiting for him in Los Angeles if he wants it, but if Hitschler has a desire to lead a program, JMU should give him an interview. Hitschler, 39, has meaningful Power Conference experience at Wisconsin and Alabama and spent 2025 with an up-close view of how Chesney led this specific program to success. That’s valuable.

Mike Jacobs, Mercer head coach — He’s a winner who fits what former AD Jeff Bourne often looked for in a hire. Jacobs, 46, is 94-22 between stops at Notre Dame (OH), Lenoir-Rhyne, and Mercer. He currently has Mercer inside the top 10 of the FCS rankings, receiving an FCS playoff seed.

Drew Cronic, Navy offensive coordinator — Cronic, 51, uses a hybrid Wing-T offense at Navy that has the Midshipmen playing like a top-tier G5 offense. He’s also 75-23 as a head coach at the NAIA, D2, and FCS levels. The former JMU wide receivers coach is a winner. His son plays for Navy, though, and he isn’t focused on climbing the coaching ladder — he just declined an offer from UAB to be its head coach. Would JMU interest him? If so, the Dukes need to consider him.

Kevin Cahill, Lehigh head coach — Could JMU dip into the Patriot League again? In his third season as a head coach, Cahill has Lehigh at a perfect 12-0. The 46 year old turned the program around rapidly, and he has significant assistant coaching experience, including over a decade with Yale. His background is coaching on the offensive side of the ball.

Jerry Mack, Kennesaw State head coach — With experience as an assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the high-powered offense of the Tennessee Volunteers, Mack is a fascinating coaching talent. The 45-year-old coach has been superb at Kennesaw State in his first season (9-3), and he went 31-15 as North Carolina Central’s head coach from 2014-17. JMU Football offers a step up from CUSA play — no offense to Kennesaw State — and a clear path to an eventual P4 head coaching job. He’s worth a call to gauge interest.

Willie Simmons, FIU head coach — Simmons is a winner. He went 21-11 at Prairie View A&M, 45-13 at Florida A&M, and he led FIU to a 7-5 record this fall. He also spent 2024 as an assistant at Duke, getting valuable ACC experience. He’ll be a P4 coach one day, and JMU offers a better path to a high-level job than FIU. USF will give the 45-year-old coach a close look, though.

Mike Shanahan or Bryant Haines, Indiana offensive and defensive coordinators — Both spent time at JMU under Cignetti. They know the program well, and they know Cignetti’s winning blueprint. But they’re handsomely compensated by the Hoosiers. Would they want to leave that setup for the G5? Shanahan is 35, and Haines is 40.

Corey Hetherman, Miami defensive coordinator — He’s paid extremely well by the Hurricanes, but if JMU’s former defensive coordinator wants to lead a team, JMU could be a good fit given his familiarity with the school. He’s an elite defensive mind, but he played quarterback in college and began his coaching career on the offensive side of the ball. He understands what a team needs to succeed, and has a lot of years left in the business as he’s just in his mid-40s. This would be a home-run hire.

Andrew Aurich, Harvard head coach — Aurich, who is in his early 40s, spent 2012 with the Buccaneers as a defensive assistant, and he worked as an offensive assistant with Rutgers from 2020 through 2023. He spent a lot of time at Princeton in between those stints. Since taking over Harvard’s head coaching gig in 2024, he’s 17-4. His NFL and P4 experience makes him especially enticing. He’s a rising star.

Billy Napier, former Florida head coach — While his Florida tenure didn’t go the way he hoped, it wasn’t really that bad. The Gators went 22-23. At Louisiana, Napier was 40-12. He’s shown he can win in the Sun Belt, although JMU Football fans might react poorly to hiring a recently fired coach instead of getting a rising star from the FCS or G5 ranks.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications