Matthew Reichert ’28
Staff Writer
In his six seasons as the Holy Cross football head coach, Bob Chesney won five consecutive Patriot League titles. Quarterback Matthew Sluka won four consecutive Patriot League titles during his four years as a Crusader. Safety Curtis Harris-Lopez also won 4 consecutive Patriot League titles at Holy Cross.
After establishing themselves at Holy Cross, an FCS program, Chesney, Sluka, and Harris-Lopez are all now united at James Madison University (JMU), an FBS program. Since Chesney arrived at JMU a season ago, he has taken plenty of former Crusaders with him in addition to Sluka and Harris-Lopez.
Last season, former Holy Cross running back Tyler Purdy, offensive lineman Pat McMurtrie, cornerback Terrence Spence, and star linebacker Jacob Dobbs followed Chesney to JMU when he took over as the program’s next head coach.
But it wasn’t just former Holy Cross football players that followed Chesney to his new home in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Several Holy Cross coaches also followed Chesney, including offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy, special teams coordinator Drew Canan, offensive line and run game coordinator Chris Smith, who spent one season with the New York Giants, before returning to a Chesney-led staff, safeties coach and recruiting coordinator Anthony DiMichele, cornerbacks coach Kyle Barnes, running backs coach Mike Cordova, director of football operations Jordan Smith, and most recently, strength and conditioning coach, Chris Grautski.
It is one letter is what turns historic members of the Holy Cross football program into great parts of another team. I suppose, really, it is what the letter represents. D1-AA versus D1-A; better competition and more money. More opportunity to reach the NFL or get a power-four conference coaching job. And all of it is deserved I guess.
Chesney was a historically great coach at Holy Cross, Sluka was an FCS All-American and Conference Offensive player of the Year, and Harris-Lopez had multiple interceptions and a touchdown and over fifty tackles last season. Sluka graduated from Holy Cross last spring and Harris-Lopez will graduate in May of this year; they earned their right to leave.
Really, departure is the highest marker of success. The opportunity to go somewhere else means you have succeeded so much against this competition that you have earned a greater challenge. And, a chance at a greater reward if you can keep succeeding. This inevitably leads to tension for fans of every team except for the very upper-echelon. We want our players to play well and our coaches to coach well. If our teams are going to win championships, we need them to be great. If they are great, they will then leave and be gone.
And, we can see this coming. This is a constant plight the most prestigious programs of college sports do not face. Nick Saban is one of the greatest coaches in the history of Alabama. Nick Saban retired at Alabama. Bob Chesney is one of the greatest coaches in the history of Holy Cross. Bob Chesney left for JMU. If he ends up being one of the greatest coaches in the history of JMU, he will likely leave for somewhere else. Especially with the expansion of the transfer portal, Holy Cross is not the final destination for its best athletes and coaches.
And so then there is a new coach, Dan Curran. And there is a new starting quarterback, Joe Pesansky. And next year, there will have to be a new quarterback and a new starting safety. This does not mean the team has to be worse; after all, last season’s team did win a share of the Patriot League title with Pesansky throwing for over 2,500 yards.
However, things will be different. Success at Holy Cross and other schools like it does not exist in eras but moments. Hopefully this new coach, Dan Curran, and his new players will be able to capture as electrifying a moment of success as those who previously held their jobs. I don’t know if they will; five consecutive titles is a difficult achievement to match. In fact, it is so difficult that if this next group is able to do it, more than a few of them will probably leave too. Then, the program will have to start all over—again.
Nevertheless, I can’t even hope for the sort of temperate success that will allow good players or Coach Curran to stay. I still want them to win every game every year even if doing so probably means they will leave. As a fan of Holy Cross, of sports in general, I want to see the greatest players and the greatest coaches and the greatest teams. All the while the most you can do is enjoy the moment and, when it ends, just wait for the next one to come along.
Featured image courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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