With Syracuse University on their first search for a head football coach in almost a decade, one name to look at is Bob Chesney.
Chesney is the current Head Coach of the Holy Cross Crusaders in NCAA Division I-AA, or Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). This season included, he has led the team to five-straight regular-season championships, residing atop all Patriot League football institutions In five of his six seasons at Holy Cross. The only season where Chesney did not aid the Crusaders to the top spot in the Patriot League was in his first season with the team, where they finished second in the conference with a record of 4-2, and that was also Chesney's only losing season at Holy Cross, with a record of just below the equator line, at 5-6.
In six seasons at the helm of the Crusaders, Chesney is currently 44-21 overall, which includes a 28-4 record in Patriot League play.
Earlier this season, in January, the College of the Holy Cross signed Chesney to a restructured contract that is set to last through January 31, 2028. How did Chesney respond? By winning his fifth-straight Patriot League title, as aforementioned.
Before coming to Holy Cross, Chesney coached for three seasons at Salve Regina (2010-12), concluding his time there with an overall record of 23-9, including 18-6 in conference play. He would then lead Assumption for five seasons (2013-17), finishing there with an overall record of 44-16 and 36-9 in conference.
In total, Chesney has compiled a record of 111 wins to 46 losses over 14 seasons as a collegiate head football coach. He has ended with a winning record in conference in every one of his 14 seasons as a head coach.
Prior to being a head coach, Chesney was an assistant coach at Norwich University in Norwich, Vermont (2000-01), defensive coordinator at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (2002), and an assistant coach and special teams coordinator at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (2003-04). He was a defensive assistant and special teams coach for four seasons (2005-08) at John's Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, before being promoted to Associate Head Coach for his fifth and final season there (2009).
He was born in Kulpmont, Pennsylvania, and went to school at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was a four-year varsity letterwinner at defensive back.
So, why Syracuse?
Well, as is clear from his journey, Chesney is a northeast guy through and through. He grew up in the northeast, went to college in the northeast, and every single one of his coaching stops, both as an assistant and as a head coach, have been in the northeast.
On the recruiting end, his 2023 roster at Holy Cross had over 60 student-athletes from the northeast, showing connections to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, among others.
Chesney also shows on his current roster that he and his staff have brought in talent from Florida, Texas, the midwest, and west coast,
So, northeast ties: Check.
Recruiting bridges in the northeast: Check.
Recruiting in hotbeds as well as overall regions outside the northeast: Check.
A proven winner wherever he goes: Check.
It may be time for Syracuse University to get a commitment from someone within their six-hour radius before this rising star helps another program to elevate above the clouds.
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