Bob Chesney is a name that has come up in the Penn State coaching search, and now is a good time to talk about him.
Chesney had big shoes to fill when Curt Cignetti left for Indiana, and he’s done a solid job filling them so far.
The Dukes weathered the post-Cignetti storm in Year 1, going 9-4, and this year has been even better.
James Madison is 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Sun Belt, with the only set back being at a College Football Playoff contender in Louisville.
NSN talked about Jeff Brohm as a possible candidate a while back, and now, it’s time to talk about Chesney.
WHY PENN STATE SHOULD HIRE HIM
The most appealing thing about Chesney is that, to paraphrase Johnny Cash, “he’s won everywhere, man.” He won at the DIII level, going 23-9 at Salve Regina over three seasons.
After that, he spent five seasons at DII Assumption, where he went 44-16 overall and 36-9 in conference play.
That got him the job at FCS Holy Cross, and he won there, too, going 44-21 overall and 28-4 in the Patriot League.
When Cignetti left for Indiana, Chesney was the guy to succeed him.
Chesney is also a PA guy, growing up in Kulpmont, which is less than two hours in State College. So if Penn State wants a guy who would stick around for 20 years, Chesney makes as sense as anybody.
WHY PENN STATE SHOULD STAY AWAY
The biggest drawback to Chesney is that he has no Power Four experience as either a head coach or a coordinator, which is an advantage pretty much every other candidate or prospective candidate has over him.
People will point to Cignetti’s post-James Madison success as to why Chesney could work.
But here are some of the places Cignetti worked as an assistant before getting the James Madison job:
- Pitt (1983-84, 93-99)
- NC State (2000-06)
- Alabama (2007-10)
Chesney’s only experience as an assistant came at the DIII level.
Every great Big Ten coach has to make their Big Ten debut at some point. Yet it’d be hard to blame Penn State AD Pat Kraft for going with candidate that has at least some form of Power 4 coaching experience.
THE CHESNEY FILE
Here’s the full file on Bob Chesney (HC unless noted).
- 2000-01: DIII Norwich (GA)
- 2002: DIII Delaware Valley (DC)
- 2003-04: DIII King’s PA (ST)
- 2005-06: DIII Johns Hopkins (ST/DB)
- 2007-08: Johns Hopkins (DC/ST/DB)
- 2009: Johns Hopkins (AHC/DC/DB)
- 2010-12: DIII Salve Regina
- 2013-17: DII Assumption
- 2018-23: FCS Holy Cross
- 2024-: James Madison
Stayed tuned to NSN for more updates on the Penn State coaching search.
