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Bob Chesney Hired By UCLA, JMU Football Looking For New Coach | JMU Sports News Podcast

·1 hr 14 min·5 clips

Mike Jacobs and Drew Cronic have combined for 169 wins across their head-coaching stops.

1. JMU Sports News Podcast centers on Bob Chesney leaving JMU for UCLA and the coaching search that followed. 2. Bennett Conlin and Jack Fitzpatrick host the show, and they are the voices reacting to Chesney’s UCLA hire and naming replacements. 3. The episode asks what Chesney’s move means for JMU, how the leak happened, and which coach should replace him. 4. Bennett says he first thought Penn State might land Chesney because the UCLA announcement did not come out on Sunday. 5. Jack and Bennett connect the timing to Sunday’s coaching carousel, including Auburn, Florida, LSU, Arkansas, South Florida, Tulane, Memphis, and Ole Miss. 6. They argue that JMU also benefits from the news leaking because the program can publicly search for a new coach. 7. They describe Chesney’s UCLA fit as weird because he is a Northeast lifer with no West Coast connections. 8. The hosts compare Chesney’s fit to the older belief that he would have been better off at a football culture school with an on-campus stadium. 9. They say Chesney could still benefit from UCLA money, Big Ten resources, and a strong buyout if things go wrong. 10. They contrast Chesney with Curt Cignetti, saying Cignetti stayed longer at JMU and connected more easily as an interview subject. 11. The episode then moves to replacement names, beginning with Delaine Fitzgerald at Southern Utah. 12. Fitzgerald is a JMU alumnus who took Southern Utah from 1-10 to seven wins and also built programs at Southern Virginia and Frostburg State. 13. Jack says Fitzgerald should be in a later round of candidates if JMU first pursues a splashier option. 14. They also discuss Colin Hitschler as the likely internal name, but they doubt he is ready for a head-coaching job. 15. Drew Cronic gets strong attention because he turned down UAB, coaches Navy’s offense, and uses a modernized wing T. 16. Mike Jacobs at Mercer is presented as another fit because he has a 94-22 head-coaching record and a similar winning profile. 17. Kevin Cahill at Lehigh and Andrew Aurich at Harvard round out the discussion as coaches with strong résumés and Ivy League or offensive backgrounds. 18. The tone is conversational and opinionated, with Bennett and Jack trading jokes about vibes, fit, and how much they liked Chesney or Cignetti. 19. Fans who follow JMU football coaching searches, Group of Five moves, and FCS candidates would get the most out of this episode. 20. Fans wanting game recap only and no coaching search speculation could skip it.

As heard by us

A candid JMU coaching-search conversation with fan-room energy and real stakes.

Chesney's move to UCLA sits at the center, but the sharper interest is in how JMU fans are expected to absorb it: a sudden coaching loss, a quick reset on the program, and the familiar scramble through possible names.

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Why you'd press play

Chesney's UCLA exit kicks off a messy JMU coach-search debate.

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