Billy Napier tasks himself with continuing to make history as James Madison's coach

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Billy Napier tasks himself with continuing to make history as James Madison's coach

2025-12-11 10:31 Last Updated At：10:40

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — Billy Napier will be watching 12th-seeded James Madison's College Football Playoff game against fifth-seeded Oregon with an eye toward the future.

The former Florida coach was introduced Wednesday as the successor to Bob Chesney, who will leave James Madison for UCLA following the Dukes' playoff run.

“This place continues to make history and it’s our job to continue that,” Napier said. “It’s in the DNA here.”

Napier agreed to a five-year contract that will pay him a guaranteed $1,005,000 annually, a deal that ranks him in the top five among coaches in the Sun Belt Conference.

The contract includes a $2.5 million buyout if he leaves before the 2029 season. It goes down to $1.75 million if he leaves before the 2030 season, and $1.25 million if he leaves before the 2032 season.

Athletic director Matt Roan said in addition to a salary in the top end of the conference, Napier will have high-level pay for his staff and a revenue-sharing percentage that is the highest in the Sun Belt and competitive nationally.

“We certainly have enough resources to be competitive,” Napier said. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if that wasn’t the case.”

Napier went 40-12 in four seasons at Louisiana, then 22-23 in his four years with the Gators. His run at Louisiana saw him dominate the Sun Belt, making four appearances in the title game as West Division champs and league titles in his final two seasons there.

Napier never got things rolling at Florida, having just one winning season at 8-5 in 2024. He was 3-4 when he was fired by the Gators this season.

Chesney has led the Dukes to a 12-1 record, the Sun Belt championship and a spot in the CFP. UCLA had been pursuing him since it fired DeShaun Foster in Week 3.

“Where we’re at currently, we need to maximize the momentum that we have,” Napier said. “We need to take full advantage of these opportunities that come with the College Football Playoff.”

Calling the next 90 days “critical,” Napier said he’ll be focused on meeting and retaining the current players and hiring his staff.

In Napier, JMU may have found a coach who can bring stability to a program that just hired its fifth coach in the last 10 years.

“This could be the price for success,” Roan said.

But he believes Napier’s experience at Louisiana and the age of his children could also lead to a desire to stick in one place.

“This is about building a sustainable program that can have continued success,” Napier said. “To where I can drive home everyday and feel good about the type of team we could have next year.”

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After months in hiding, Venezuelan opposition leader Machado reappears as a Nobel laureate

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in public for the first time in 11 months early Thursday morning, when she waved to supporters from a hotel balcony in Norway’s capital hours after her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

Machado and her supporters then sang Venezuela's national anthem before she left the hotel to shake their hands. People erupted in cheers and began chanting, “Freedom! Freedom!” and “Thank you! Thank you!”

Machado, dressed in jeans and a puffer jacket, spent several minutes outside the hotel, where she was joined by members of her family and several of her closest aides. She hugged many in the crowd amid chants of “President! President!”

“I want you all back in Venezuela,” Machado said as people lifted their cellphones to take pictures.

Machado had been in hiding since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. She had been expected to attend the award ceremony Wednesday in Oslo, where heads of state and her family were among those waiting to see her.

Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call published on the Nobel website that she wouldn’t be able to arrive in time for the ceremony but that many people had “risked their lives” for her to arrive in Oslo.

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the prize in her place.

“She wants to live in a free Venezuela, and she will never give up on that purpose,” Sosa said. “That is why we all know, and I know, that she will be back in Venezuela very soon.”

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, told the award ceremony that “María Corina Machado has done everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today — a journey in a situation of extreme danger.”

“Although she will not be able to reach this ceremony and today's events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe, and that she will be with us here in Oslo,” he said to applause.

Machado said in an audio recording of a phone call published on the Nobel website that she would not be able to arrive in time for the ceremony but that many people had “risked their lives” for her to arrive in Oslo.

“I am very grateful to them, and this is a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,” she said, before indicating that she was about to board a plane.

Machado said that "since this is a prize for all Venezuelans, I believe that it will be received by them. And as soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and my children that I’ve have not seen for two years and so many Venezuelans, Norwegians that I know that share our struggle and our fight.”

Prominent Latin American figures attended Wednesday in a signal of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

The 58-year-old Machado’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10. Watne Frydnes said that “Venezuela has evolved into a brutal authoritarian state,” and he described Machado as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in recent Latin American history.”

Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.

The lead-up to the election on July 28, 2024, saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.

González, who sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest, attended Wednesday’s ceremony.

U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.

“More than anything, what we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey — that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom,” Sosa said as she delivered the lecture written for the occasion by her mother.

The speech didn't refer to the current tensions between Washington and Caracas, as U.S. President Donald Trump continues a military operation in the Caribbean that has killed Venezuelans in international waters and threatens to strike Venezuela. Machado has consistently endorsed Trump’s strategy toward Venezuela.

Among many “heroes of this journey” honored in the lecture, Sosa mentioned “the leaders around the world who joined us and defended our cause,” but didn't elaborate.

Watne Frydnes said of authoritarian leaders like Maduro that “your power is not permanent. Your violence will not prevail over people who rise and resist."

"Mr. Maduro, accept the election result and step down,” he said.

Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize's official website, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski in 2022.

The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.

Gustavo Tovar-Arroyo, a Venezuelan human rights activist who was forced to flee into exile in 2012, said that Machado's supporters “did the best for her to be here as she deserves. But we knew the risk.”

He added that they are “disappointed that she cannot be in the ceremony, but this is part of what we do when we fight against a dictatorship, a tyranny or a criminal regime. So we are used to it."

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva, contributed to this report.