Looking Back on Bob Chesney

Taking a look back to the off-season before the 2024-25 campaign for the Syracuse Orange brings about an interesting question when it comes to the football program.

Bob Chesney, the then-Head Coach of the Holy Cross Crusaders in NCAA Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS), was up for the Syracuse head-coaching job.

Chesney interviewed for the position, and ultimately was not chosen.

But that did not take Chesney off of the NCAA Division I-A (Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS) radar.

James Madison University (JMU) ended up hiring Chesney and a year later, he is coaching the Dukes in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game.

The Dukes are also ranked in the nation's top 25.

If JMU wins the Sun Belt title game, they could find themselves in their first-ever College Football Playoff as an automatic bid, which goes to the five highest-ranked conference champions.

On top of that, Chesney's named allegedly has surfaced for a Head-Coaching position in the "Power" conference world.

Syracuse, on the other hand, ended the 2025 season at 3-9 as the 17th team out of 17 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), leaving Orange fans to ponder the question, "What could have been?"