HARRISONBURG — With the Mike Houston era officially in the rearview mirror, James Madison needs a new football coach.

The Dukes have one of the most attractive jobs in all of FCS as the program has appeared in the national championship game in each of the past two years while winning it all in 2016. JMU has five consecutive postseason appearances, has hosted ESPN’s College GameDay twice and sent each of its last two coaches onto FBS jobs.

There are a few ways JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne could look to the fill the position – promote one of Houston’s former assistants, bring back a candidate that had a previous stay at the school or make an outside hire. In the school’s press release, JMU announced it has engaged Parker Executive Search as consultant to immediately commence a national search to find Houston’s replacement. Here is a look at potential candidates from each of the three categories for Bourne and Parker Executive Search to evaluate, interview and make a decision on.

2018 job: JMU offensive coordinator/quarterbacks

When Houston was hired, he brought on Kirkpatrick to help create an innovative offensive system featuring elements of a spread passing game and a between-the-tackles rushing attack with the ability to incorporate option. The Dukes have averaged at least 33.9 points per game in each season with Kirkpatrick calling plays. He also has head coaching experience, having served as the headman at Chattanooga from 2000 through 2002. Kirkpatrick is widely respected by the current JMU players and has worked with and for some of the most respected coaches in the industry such as Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley, Louisiana Tech coach Skip Holtz and Hal Mumme, who is considered the father of the air raid offense.

2018 job: Maryland offensive line coach

Following two seasons on Houston’s staff, Stinespring left JMU for Maryland the day after the Dukes lost in the 2017 national championship game to North Dakota State. That day Stinespring, a JMU alum, told the Daily News-Record that the decision to leave “wasn’t easy.” Known as a great recruiter with plenty of ties to the 757, Stinespring could likely help JMU continue recruiting at high level like they are now while competing against Group of Five programs for prospects. Before his stint in Harrisonburg, he was a longtime assistant for Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech.

2018 job: Marshall linebackers coach

Thweatt’s experience resonates because he has experience at different levels. Before arriving at JMU in 2016, Thweatt was the head coach at Division II Virginia State. After he left the Dukes before the 2018 season, he took a job as linebackers coach at FBS Marshall. He also worked eight years at Richmond, so he knows the Colonial Athletic Association well. An added bonus is his familiarity with JMU defensive coordinator Bob Trott’s 4-2-5 system, so even if Trott follows Houston to East Carolina, the system can remain in place so JMU’s defensive players don’t have to learn a new scheme.

2018 job: Texas wide receivers coach

It’s hard to say if Bourne would be open to bringing back a staff member from the Everett Withers era, but Mehringer is well respected by the players who played for him at JMU and those in administration at JMU who worked with him during his season at the school. Mehringer is only 30 years old, but has worked at Ohio State as a grad assistant, at JMU as a co-offensive coordinator, Houston as a recruiting coordinator, Rutgers as an offensive coordinator and is now at Texas as the Longhorns’ wide receivers coach. Hiring someone off of Tom Herman’s would certainly make a splash.

2018 job: Charlotte recruiting coordinator/defensive ends coach

Now to pull candidates from the Mickey Matthews era requires a little bit of out-of-the-box thinking, but Edmonds, a JMU alum, was a longtime assistant at the school. Like Stinespring, Edmonds’ major strength would be aiding the Dukes to maintain their strong recruiting efforts. He’s recently worked as the recruiting coordinator and defensive ends coach at Charlotte, but during his time at JMU helped Matthews develop and implement the idea of satellite camps around the state. Those camps helped the Dukes gain more recognition in Richmond and the 757, and it was at one of those camps that Edmonds and Matthews found former running back Khalid Abdullah, who was the Most Outstanding Player in JMU’s 2016 national title game win.

2018 job: N.C. State assistant head coach for defense/cornerbacks

Another former Matthews assistant, Barlow was the defensive coordinator when the Dukes won their first national championship in 2004. He has vast experience at every level of the game from blue blood Oklahoma to a junior college in Kansas, but never spent more time anywhere than his decade in Harrisonburg. “Those were 10 of the best years of my coaching career,” Barlow told the Daily News-Record before JMU opened its 2018 season at N.C. State. “Being there, I had a great time and was fortunate enough to win a national championship, and just the relationships I made there with the players, coaches and administration were invaluable.” His understanding of JMU and the city of Harrisonburg along with a terrific defensive background could make for a smooth transition in the post-Houston years.

2018 job: Elon coach

JMU knows all about Cignetti, who led Elon to a 27-24 road win over the Dukes at Bridgeforth Stadium this past October. It was the only loss Houston suffered at home in his three seasons at the school. Cignetti has quickly turned Elon from perennial loser in the CAA to conference championship contender and FCS playoff contender. If Cignetti could do that at Elon, he could likely have even more success at JMU where the budget is bigger and he has more access to resources that he needs and wants.

2018 job: Clemson offensive coordinator/running backs coach

Tony Elliott’s already making $800,000 per year as an assistant at Clemson, so it’d be hard for JMU to top that even though the Dukes would be making him the head coach. Though if Elliott wanted the job, the fact that he’d be coming from a winning program would only help his cause, especially considering some of how Houston structured JMU was based on some things he admired about the Tigers program. Elliott, a California native, who has spent his entire coaching career in the state of South Carolina, doesn’t have any ties to the state of Virginia, though.

2018 job: Maine coach

Harasymiak is a rising star in the business. The 32-year old has Maine in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs in just his third season as head coach of the Black Bears after he was promoted from former coach Jack Cosgrove’s staff. Maine’s identity is very similar to that of JMU’s under Houston – with a commitment to run the ball on offense and emphasize stopping the run on defense – so Harasymiak could be a natural fit. He’s also making $150,000 per year, so Bourne should be able to offer him more to pry Harasymiak away from a conference foe.