Barber: A Poolside Chat with JMU Football Coach Bob Chesney

By Mike Barber
JMUSports.com Correspondent

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It's been just over a year since James Madison hired Bob Chesney, tasking the former Holy Cross coach with keeping the Dukes' formidable football program rolling. Chesney faced an unprecedented rebuilding effort, but he led JMU to an 8-4 season and its second straight bowl appearance.

The team will look for its first-ever bowl win Wednesday against Western Kentucky in the Boca Raton Bowl.

Chesney took a break from the activities of bowl week, for a 20-minute question-and-answer session sitting poolside at the team's South Florida hotel. He talked about the work done over the past year, the challenges he faced, the relationships that were formed and, of course, the future.

Mike Barber: You had to completely rebuild this roster basically from the ground up. Is it wild to think how successful you've been considering where you started?

Bob Chesney: "I don't know if it's wild, because I think we had a plan. As you know, there's two to three plays in every game that can derail that plan or help keep it intact. I think back to those last two games and there really are two or three plays in each of those games that you could have been sitting here at 10-2, and I know that's the frustration for the fans. That's the frustration for all of us. But ultimately, the amount of work that went into it – and I think, if you really do understand what we walked into, and I know that everybody doesn't, and everybody expects it to just continue to be what it's supposed to be … it doesn't always work that way, though. Because there's a whole lot of change that happened and we had to find a way, very quickly, to piece this whole thing back together. I love what our guys did. I love what our coaches did. I love the people we brought in. I love the people that joined this family."

Barber: There were moments, looking at the depleted roster in December, that it was fair to wonder if you'd be able to field a competitive team. Did you ever have your doubts?

Chesney: "Yeah, there probably was. In the beginning, we went through the first transfer portal and we realized how far behind we were. There was still a bowl game being played. You're looking at it the next week, you realize, everybody's leaving. Everybody's actually leaving. And at that point, you're like, 'OK. We have this four-day window to make it alright.' And a four-day window to make it alright is a pretty daunting task. I really appreciate how hard our coaches worked. How much they put into it. How many relationships they built in a quick period of time."

Barber: Was there a moment you realized you had found a way to put together a roster that could form a really good team?

Chesney: "We needed the second transfer portal in the spring to make it right. When all the running backs were onboard. When we eventually got the defensive backs. And when I looked back through, and I thought, 'Offensive line is going to be in a good spot. We've got guys returning.' I thought about the running back room, and I thought, if we stay healthy - now, we didn't stay healthy - this could be a really good running back room. And then I went through the piece of the defensive line, and we knew we had missing pieces, but here came the guys we got in that spring window. At some point in time, I sat and looked back on it and said, 'We might be as good if not better based on what we just did in this very short period of time.'"

Barber: You also put together a new coaching staff, bringing in guys from a lot of different places. How did that process go and how important was it in your success this season?

Chesney: "That had a lot to do with it. Everybody had a different piece in it. The guys from Holy Cross came with me. They didn't all come in the exact same position, but they came with me, and they had their piece of the pie. I think we did a really good job of building a staff that understood what I wanted it to look like. I wanted it to be personable. I wanted it to have energy to it. I wanted it to be not just, 'Who are they as football players?' I wanted it to feel more communal and family-like. And that was a really important part of the hires."

Barber: You still have to worry about what your roster will look like in 2025. How do coaches sleep at night in this transfer portal age? Do you?

Chesney: "You do but if I showed you, I have a text chain to myself. It's my own cell phone number. I'll get up in the middle of the night, two in the morning, three in the morning, four in the morning, and text myself. Sometimes I'll be like, 'That was an awful idea.' But sometimes it's a really good idea. It's just things that you've got to get out of your head. You're lying there, and you don't wanna lose that thought. I send myself texts all night long, throughout the night. That is something that's hard for my wife. But it's just the nature of the beast right now. There's so many moving parts. There's never been more of a roster instability and volatility than exists today. I don't know what's in store over the next few weeks. Can we even field a team? I think every head coach put his head on the pillow at night and goes, 'What assistant coaches am I losing? What guys on my roster am I losing? Am I going to be the only left standing in this office?'"

Barber: In April, you also got a new boss when James Madison hired Matt Roan as its athletic director. How has that relationship developed over the past eight months?

Chesney: "It's been great. These are ever-changing times. For us to be as forward thinking as we can, and have someone who understands it, someone who's going to go fight for it, and someone who cares about it is important. I think anybody that's above you in life, needs to understand what you're going through, they need to care about it, and they need to work together. He understands. He certainly cares. And his willingness to work together is phenomenal, so I'm really blessed and thankful to have him as our athletic director. I know he gets where we're trying to go."

Barber: Being around your team this week, they seem invested in being at this bowl game, playing well and ending the season on a high note. In this era of opt outs and the portal, how rewarding is that?

Chesney: "Very rewarding. There are some of them that, it's their last dance in college. And I think the respect that everyone else on the team is giving to a Tanner Morris, a Cole Potts, a Jacob Dobbs, those guys who will not play another college football game, is the fabric of who we are. There's an empathetic, caring nature about every one of these guys. And they're competitive as hell and tough as hell on the field. I think that's important. In this world, there's becoming this selfishness that's going to exist within every single locker room. To know that these guys are here, giving everything they've got, for those guys and for each other, is what makes a team a team. To complete the mission is what this week's about. And I'm excited for them to be able to do that together."

Barber: At some point, you're going to win the first bowl game in JMU history. What would it mean to do it this year, in your first year at JMU?

Chesney: "It would mean a lot. It would mean a lot to do it in Year 1. It's the first year we're fully eligible to prove ourselves on this stage at the FBS level. It would mean a lot to our community, our fans, our alums and everybody involved in the program. But it would also mean a lot personally to me, and I think also to our families and all the coaches that sacrificed so much to build this thing in this very short period of time. Winning it would just be the cherry on top."

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