Don't do this to yourself, James Madison. I know the hire of Billy Napier as your head coach sounds great. He had an SEC job for a few years. He's a pretty solid recruiter. His players do play hard for him. And people generally like him as a person.
But no. Just no. You had Curt Cignetti. You had Bob Chesney. These coaches were dynamic and aggressive and put together explosive offenses and could both be in the college football playoffs this year. You can't go from Eggs Benedict to dry wheat toast.
NEW: Former Florida head coach Billy Napier is a top name to know in the James Madison coaching search, @PeteNakos reports.https://t.co/3GO8TJOBbf pic.twitter.com/qkdEomPFna
— On3 (@On3sports) December 4, 2025
It's not a surprise that the former Gators coach is up for another head coaching job. Every previous coach that got fired from Florida got another job pretty quickly....even Ron Zook. And Napier has had plenty of success in the mid-major ranks. He was basically the king of the Sun Belt Conference once, so I get it.
But James Madison football is about explosive plays on offense and putting up a lot of points. The Dukes have scored 52 or more points in four of their past six games. That isn't Billy Napier rolls. Don't expect JMU to keep playing as a fast pace and meeting in the end zone 6–7 times a game. Billy ball is all about trying to move the chains, and ball control and ground and pound. Maybe it'll work sometimes against Sun Belt talent, but it's not appealing to the eye.
I think Billy Napier can coach and James Madison is as close to "Add water and win" as they come, but next to some of the floated names that are more in the style of JMU's recent hires... Idk.
— Brady Weiler (@bradymweiler) December 4, 2025
If he's the hire, new AD is breaking the mold and setting his own stall. We shall see.
This just doesn't seem like a good fit
It's easy to understand why the brain trust at James Madison is thinking. Napier is very familiar with the lay of the land in the Sun Belt Conference. He will probably improve recruiting because he has a lot of connections that have been developed over the years. And his time in the SEC will certainly help in getting talent from the transfer portal.
All those things are nice, but James Madison has gotten to this point by being fun to watch and football under Billy Napier is anything but fun. It's an excruciatingly painful experience to watch a team full of talent grind their way down the field one first down at a time and fail to execute in the red zone. And then when you suggest to him that maybe, just maybe, someone else should be calling the offense, he gets really stubborn and doubles down on his methodical approach.
Good luck to you in your coaching search James Madison, and if Billy Napier is the guy, I wish him well. But don't say you weren't warned.