HARRISONBURG — James Madison’s Curt Cignetti isn’t the only one making his coaching debut for a program in the Colonial Athletic Association this week.

In addition to Cignetti, who will lead the Dukes in their opener at West Virginia on Saturday, Maine’s Nick Charlton, William & Mary’s Mike London and Elon’s Tony Trisciani will all coach for the first time in their respective jobs.

Defending CAA champion Maine hosts Sacred Heart on Friday at 6 p.m. On Saturday, Elon travels to North Carolina A&T for a 6 p.m. kickoff and William & Mary welcomes Lafayette to Williamsburg at the same time.

“I’m excited,” Charlton, 30, the youngest of all 256 Division I head coaches, said. “I’m fortunate we have some veteran players that have played in some games, but it’ll be about being organized and making sure some of those Week 1 issues that you can have are taken care of in terms of the discipline and general organization, so we’ve been very cognizant of that.”

In Trisciani’s case, he’s been preparing his Phoenix for a Top 25 showdown with the Aggies. Elon is ranked No. 21 in the preseason STATS FCS poll and North Carolina A&T is ranked No. 20.

“I feel like we got a good feel for what we’re going to get from [North Carolina A&T coach Sam] Washington’s team,” said Trisciani, who Elon promoted to replace Cignetti. “They’re a program that’s used to winning. They’re going to come out and they’re going to look run the football and they play very good defense. They pursue sideline to sideline and they’ve been one of the best defenses in the country. We know they’re going to give us four quarters.

“And normally these openers are typically your FBS games and there’s a lot of excitement with that. Our FBS game is Wake Forest in Week 4, but this is a great opener. We’re not going to have any trouble getting our guys fired up to start the season and line up against A&T because, shoot, they’re a top-20 team and ranked above us.”

William & Mary will look completely different after London used the spring and summer to install to what he calls a go-go offense along with a 3-4 defense. He’ll also start a quarterback that is new to the program — either senior Kilton Anderson, a Coastal Carolina transfer, or freshman Hollis Mathis.

“One guy is shaving and the other guy is not,” London said. “So the pluses and minuses are obvious when you have an older guy that’s been in games, that’s handled the things experience can do for you is a plus. The other thing for the young guy, Hollis, is he’s not scared of anybody. Good thing is he’s a freshman. Bad thing is he’s a freshman.”

The smooth start for Villanova led to an easy 34-14, season-opening victory at No. 13 Colgate in Week 0 this past Saturday.

“Our guys just seemed ready to play,” Wildcats coach Mark Ferrante said. “It’s been nine months since you’ve played against another opponent and I think they were just itching, excited to get up there and play against someone else. They came ready and our coaches did a great job preparing them, but I was really excited to see the guys come out with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm.”

Villanova scored the game’s first 27 points thanks to an interception return for a touchdown from cornerback Jaquan Amos and three touchdown passes from quarterback Danny Smith, who transferred from Campbell this past offseason and won the starting job in training camp.

“He makes quick decisions,” Ferrante said. “He’s able to run when things break down a little bit and he did pick up a couple of first downs with his feet, actually scored a touchdown and he delivers a nice ball and it comes out pretty quick. So we gave him the nod and he took advantage of it.”

Late Monday, New Hampshire athletic director Marty Scarano announced longtime Wildcats coach Sean McDonnell is taking an indefinite leave of absence for health-related reasons.

“Our entire department is aligned in doing everything to support Sean with the intent of getting him back to coaching his program,” Scarano said in a statement. “This will be the ultimate team effort; the administration, coaching staff, and most of all the student athletes will give everything we have to support [McDonnell’s wife] Jenny and Sean during this challenge.”

McDonnell is the longest-tenured coach in the CAA and has been at the helm of the UNH program since 1999. He is 154-95 with 14 FCS postseason appearances in that span.

Scarano named associate head coach and quarterbacks coach Ricky Santos the interim coach in McDonnell’s absence.

“Ricky will carry on the principles that Coach Mac has instilled in our nationally recognized program,” Scarano said.