After another strong season under Curt Cignetti where James Madison (FCS - VA) ranked among the top teams in the country once again throughout the course of the year, Mo Linguist at Buffalo hired Dukes offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Shane Montgomery away.
That left Cignetti with an opening on a staff that expects to compete for national championships annually.
Cignetti announced last night that they didn't have to look far for their new offensive play caller, and that they're prying an Alabama staffer away to fill the opening on offense.
For the offensive coordinator spot, wide receivers coach Mike Shanahan has been promoted to the role. Shanahan, who joined the staff with Cignetti in 2018, will continue to work with the wide receivers and act as the team's recruiting coordinator as well.
Prior to joining the JMU staff, Shanahan worked under Cignetti coaching the receivers at Elon (FCS) and Indiana University Pennsylvania (D-II). He also has prior coaching experience as an assistant at Pitt, where he played his college ball and was a two-time captain, ending his career ranked among the top 10 in school history in receptions and yardage.
To fill the quarterbacks position, Cignetti raided the Alabama staff for offensive analyst Tino Sunseri. A former starting quarterback at Pitt for three seasons, Sunseri had a brief career in the CFL with the Saskatchewan Roughriders before starting his coaching career.
Sunseri, the son of Alabama outside linebackers coach and former Tennessee defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri, had spent time as a quality control assistant at Florida State (2016-17) and Tennessee (2018) before joining Nick Saban's staff as a graduate assistant. He spent the 2019 and 2020 season in that role before transitioning to an analyst role for the Tide.
Cignetti also announced that defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman and offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski have added the associate head coach titles.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.