17/11/2025
The Dukes’ dark horse
Chesney: The right stuff for PSU
By: Greg Maresca
In the spring of 1966, Penn State didn’t just hire a football coach, they rolled the dice on destiny. The university handed the keys to its storied program to a longtime assistant with no head coaching experience but was a gritty Brooklyn Ivy Leaguer.
His name? Joe Paterno. The gamble? Monumental. The payoff? Historic.
What followed was not just a coaching tenure, but a transformation. Paterno didn’t just win games, he built a legacy. Two national championships. Four undefeated seasons. And a cultural imprint called the Grand Experiment where a program could achieve both academic and athletic excellence without compromising integrity. In so doing, the Nittany Lions carved out a legacy forged in grit, and loyalty like their head coach.
Nearly 60 years hence, current Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft is at a similar crossroads with the opportunity to hire a generational coach.
Who would have thought that going on the third Saturday in November James Madison University (JMU) would be in the top 25, while Penn State is not. This comes as no surprise to those following the coaching exploits of JMU head coach, Bob Chesney, Jr.
In the grand bazaar of college football, where loyalty is negotiable and buyouts are just love letters with commas, the true victors are the coaches who have engineered turnarounds at schools not traditionally known for gridiron glory. Chesney is certainly one of them. Everywhere Chesney has coached he has not only met success but mastered it. Such success brings leverage, and leverage brings lucrative midseason raises designed to fend off poachers.
Case in point: Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, who turned their program once known more for basketball and gridiron gloom into a College Football Playoff contender and a No. 2 ranking in the AP Top 25.
Who had Cignetti on their coaching radar? Penn State.
Before the Nittany Lions could reach out, Indiana rewarded the 64-year-old Cignetti with a staggering eight-year contract that resembles a government stimulus package: a $93 million extension that includes a $3.6 million annual raise to assuage the emotional labor of pretending to enjoy recruiting visits to Bloomington in February. This is his third contract since becoming head coach in 2023. Cignetti is not just climbing the coaching pay scale, he is riding the express elevator.
Cignetti came from James Madison University where Chesney succeeded him. Cignetti’s success adds weight to Chesney’s candidacy.
Last year, Chesney led the Dukes to a 9-4 record and capped off the season with a victory in the Boca Raton Bowl defeating Western Kentucky 27-17. Chesney accomplished this despite Cignetti taking key players with him to Indiana. This season Chesney is 9-1 overall and 7-0 in the Sun Belt and has JMU in the top 25.
Chesney’s résumé is a masterclass in excellence across four college divisions with a 129-51 record, a .716 winning percentage. He won at the D-III level, going 23-9 at Salve Regina over three seasons. After that, he spent five seasons at D-II Assumption, where he went 44-16 overall and 36-9 in conference play that earned him both the HERO Sports and NEFW D-II Coach of the Year honors in 2015.
Chesney’s dominance continued at Holy Cross going 44-21 overall and for his efforts was named Patriot League Coach of the Year three times (2019, 2021, 2022), while also collecting NEFW D-I Coach of the Year and Gridiron Club FBS/FCS Coach of the Year awards in both 2021 and 2022. In 2024, he was recognized nationally with the Bear Bryant Fan Favorite Coach Award and VaSID Coach of the Year.
Chesney’s accolades across multiple levels reflect not just victories, but a rare and consistent ability to elevate programs regardless of division, resources and expectations. Chesney’s teams are known for defensive toughness, special teams precision, and player development all hallmarks of sustainable success.
Chesney knows how to prepare a team for high-stakes games, something Penn State desperately needs in November and beyond. He doesn’t just win, he transforms. Moreover, he is a Pennsylvania native with Coal Region grit, who knows the culture and the weight of Penn State tradition.
Penn State doesn’t need a headline hire.
Penn State needs a builder, a believer and a battler.
Chesney is all three and if Kraft is as smart and crafty as he likes everyone to believe, he needs to put Chesney on speed dial.
