HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — Four years ago, Billy Napier walked away from a Sun Belt Conference powerhouse he had built at Louisiana-Lafayette. It was, in part, because he wasn’t sure how that program would handle the financial challenges of new rules allowing college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness.
Four years later, Napier is returning to the league with James Madison. And the Dukes’ ability to compete financially was one of the main drivers behind his decision to become the successor to UCLA-bound Bob Chesney.
“This place has what it takes to dominate the competition for sure,” Napier said of a program ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25 and headed to the College Football Playoff.
Napier went 40-12 in four seasons at Louisiana-Lafayette, dominating Sun Belt competition. His Ragin’ Cajuns won the Western Division all four years he was there and claimed league championships in his final two seasons. He was twice named the league's coach of the year.
But after posting a 12-1 record and his second Sun Belt title in 2021, Napier left for Florida.
“I stayed at Louisiana after Year 2 when we had opportunities, after Year 3 when we had opportunities,” Napier said. “And we probably, truth be known, would have stayed longer if it wasn’t for NIL. Because we know that was coming. We knew that roster was going to be tough to keep together.”
Napier went 22-23 at Florida, starting this season 3-4 when he was fired in his fourth year leading the Gators.
As he surveyed the landscape, considering his future, he thought a lot about how college football had changed since he first took over at Louisiana-Lafayette in 2018. The NIL rules allowing college athletes to cash in on their fame went live in summer 2021, while this year marked the arrival of revenue sharing following the $2.8 billion House antitrust settlement.
“It’s very different,” Napier said. “Obviously (revenue sharing) is ultimately a huge difference maker at the Group of Six level. Now, you evaluate jobs relative to alignment, resources — which basically means building infrastructure and hiring a great staff — and then the rev share that allows you to compensate really good players.”
Napier said that, the transfer portal and roster limits following the House settlement have changed the game since he last coached in the Sun Belt.
“But ultimately, football’s football,” Napier said. “We’re going to need to evaluate well. Basically going to recruit a high school cycle each year. Then you’re going to recruit a portal cycle each year. Then start over.”
Those changes aren’t something Napier is thinking about in the abstract.
He jumps right into one of the most awkward positions in the country — seeking to retain players of a CFP-bound team while their current coach presumably is hoping to take some of the Dukes’ top talent with him west to UCLA. (No. 12 seed JMU faces No. 5 Oregon on Saturday night.)
“I’m for transparency,” Napier said. “Let’s rip the Band-Aid off. Who are you taking? And who wants to go?”
When Curt Cignetti left JMU for Indiana, he took 13 of the program’s top players with him. That group includes the Hoosiers’ leader in rushing touchdowns (Kaelon Black), its leader in receiving scores (Elijah Sarratt), its leader in pass breakups (D’Angelo Ponds) and its second-leading tackler (Aiden Fisher).
Nine former JMU players started multiple games this season for top-ranked Indiana, which beat then-No. 2 Ohio State for the Big Ten Conference title and is the top seed in the 12-team playoff.
Chesney had to rebuild JMU almost entirely from scratch. He brought in 58 new players his first season.
Athletic director Matt Roan said he and Chesney navigated the entire season with openness and honesty, starting with UCLA’s first inquiries about Chesney after Week 3. That gives him confidence that Chesney and Napier will be able to work simultaneously and professionally toward the future of both coaches’ programs.
“We were very transparent throughout,” Roan said. “The day that UCLA announced that DeShaun Foster was being removed as the head coach, they started calling. And every program in America started calling. And we would have those open, honest conversations about where things could go. We’ve been the adults in the room.”
JMU president Jim Schmidt expressed confidence the Dukes will remain successful under Napier no matter how the fight over players turns out.
“I have no doubt that we may lose some talented players to UCLA,” Schmidt said. “We certainly lost some talented players to Indiana. I believe that we will retain the right players and I believe Coach Billy will bring some great players to round that out.”
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FILE - Florida head coach Billy Napier watches his team line up against Texas A&M during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The two Iowa National Guard members killed in a weekend attack in Syria that the U.S. military blamed on the Islamic State group were identified Monday and remembered as dedicated soldiers.
The U.S. Army named them as Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered all flags in Iowa to fly at half-staff in their honor, saying, “We are grateful for their service and deeply mourn their loss.”
The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, has said a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter also was killed. Three other Guard members were wounded in the attack, the Iowa National Guard said Monday, with two of them in stable condition and the other in good condition.
The attack was a major test for the rapprochement between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago, coming as the U.S. military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces. Hundreds of American troops are deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.
The shooting Saturday in the Syrian desert near the historic city of Palmyra also wounded members of the country's security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned amid suspicions that he might be affiliated with IS, a Syrian official said.
The man stormed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba said Sunday.
Al-Baba acknowledged that it was “a major security breach” but said that in the year since Assad’s fall, “there have been many more successes than failures” by security forces.
The Army said Monday that the incident is under investigation. Military officials and President Donald Trump have blamed the attack on an IS member.
“Our hearts go out to their families, and we lift them up in prayer for strength and comfort during this time of grief,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday on social media. “The United States of America will avenge these fallen Americans with overwhelming force.”
Trump reiterated his promise of retaliation from over the weekend, telling reporters at the White House on Monday that IS will “be hit hard.”
He also reaffirmed his support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, saying the Syrian government is not to blame for the deadly attack.
“This had nothing to do with him,” Trump said of al-Sharaa. “This is a part of Syria that they really don’t have much control over. And it was a surprise. He feels very badly about it. He’s working on it. He's a strong man.”
Trump welcomed al-Sharaa, who led the lightning insurgency that toppled Assad’s rule, to the White House for a historic meeting last month.
Meanwhile, Torres-Tovar and Howard were remembered as “cherished members” of the Iowa National Guard family, Stephen Osborn, adjutant general, said in a statement.
“Our focus now is providing unwavering support to their families through this unimaginable time and ensuring the legacy of these two heroes is never forgotten,” Osborn said.
Luis Corona has known Torres-Tovar since middle school, when they played soccer together during recess. They drifted apart while attending different high schools but reconnected after Corona enlisted and saw a familiar face upon joining his Iowa unit after bootcamp.
“I was very nervous, very new to the Army. I didn't know what to expect. And just to see Edgar there, it was a big relief, a huge weight off my shoulders, like, OK, I won't be alone in this,” Corona told The Associated Press.
From then on, he said, their bond grew into a brotherhood.
Torres-Tovar's defining trait was his selflessness, Corona said. He was remembered as a role model to his younger siblings and all the newly enlisted soldiers in the unit.
Corona learned of his friend's death while reading the news. “No!” he shouted at the top of his lungs in what he later described as an expression of “disbelief, shock, sadness, anger, just every form of distraught you can think of.”
Howard had wanted to be a soldier since he was a young boy, according to Jeffrey Bunn, Howard’s stepfather and chief of the Meskwaki Nation Police Department in Tama, Iowa, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Des Moines.
Howard “loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out,” Bunn wrote Saturday on the department’s Facebook page.
Howard also was a loving husband and an “amazing man of faith,” Bunn said, adding that Howard's younger brother, a staff sergeant in the Iowa National Guard, would escort “Nate” back to Iowa.
Howard was inspired by his grandfather’s service and wanted to serve for 20 years, according to an April post on a Facebook page dedicated to sharing stories of the unit. He had served for over 11 years.
Fingerhut reported from Des Moines. Associated Press writers Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
This undated photo released by the Iowa National Guard shows Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard. (Iowa National Guard via AP)
This undated photo released by the Iowa National Guard shows Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar. (Iowa National Guard via AP)
This undated combo photo created with images released by the Iowa National Guard shows Sgts. William Nathaniel Howard, left, and Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar. (Iowa National Guard via AP)
