HARRISONBURG — There’s one reason Curt Cignetti had to respectfully, but slightly and publicly, disagree with his new boss.

“This is the best FCS job in the country,” James Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne said before introducing Cignetti as the eighth coach in Dukes history Monday.

The handshake and pause for a photo as the two men held up a purple JMU jersey came just before Cignetti stepped up to the microphone and said what he had to.

“It is a great job,” Cignetti said. “For sure the best job east of the Mississippi and one of the top two or three in America.

“I heard Jeff say it was the best in America. I think that’s why I’m standing here. I have to make it the best in America because right now it’s not the best in America based on our four losses last year and our need to improve this program.”

Yeah, there’s that, but there’s also the 10,000-pound Bison in the room that no one wanted to bring up until the cameras, lights and livestream were turned off.

In its quest to become the premier destination, brand or program in FCS, JMU is still chasing North Dakota State.

The Bison will return to the FCS championship game for the seventh time in eight seasons when they face Eastern Washington on Jan. 5 at Toyota Stadium. North Dakota State has won the FCS national title in its six previous trips to Frisco, Texas, including last year’s 17-13 victory over the Dukes.

But JMU is the lone team to disrupt North Dakota State during its run of dominance when the Dukes knocked off the Bison at the FargoDome in the 2016 national semifinal en route to capturing the national title a few weeks later.

JMU and North Dakota State are the only two schools to hoist the FCS championship trophy in the last seven years.

“I think you’ve got to look at them because they’re the standard,” said Cignetti, who acknowledged the history of North Dakota State football, after the news conference.

Cignetti said his father, College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Cignetti Sr., faced North Dakota State in the 1990 Division II national championship game during a 20-year run as coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania — the same IUP Curt Cignetti led for six seasons.

“They got waxed,” Cignetti said of IUP’s 51-11 loss to NDSU. “I wasn’t there. I was probably at Pitt at the time, but you’ve got to look at them. You’ve got to look at them on the field — and I’m not talking about facilities and fan support and all that — but on the field, they’re the standard. That’s the team you’ve got to beat.”

Next year North Dakota State will have a first-year coach, too, as Matt Entz was promoted from defensive coordinator to coach, replacing Chris Klieman. Last week, Klieman took the same job at Kansas State, but will finish his duties at North Dakota State through the championship game.

Entz was hired from within at NDSU as was Klieman when former coach Craig Bohl departed North Dakota State for Wyoming after the 2013 season.

So even though the Bison will be on their third coach in seven years the stability of their program isn’t questioned.

Cignetti, who inked a six-year, $425,000 per year contract to be at JMU, is the Dukes’ third coach in six years. None of the head-coaching hires have come from the staff of the previous regime and Cignetti said he wants to win multiple national championships at the school.

“My dad used to always talk about JMU back a long time ago,” Cignetti said. “He always thought it was a job that had great potential and I think it’s proved to be that and the people that have made it great have built it to what it is.

“But I mean it’s an extremely attractive job because if you want coach a long time you better win football games. This job is a winner. There were other opportunities — FBS opportunities — but this is a better job than a lot of those jobs. And there are probably a lot of people standing in my shoes that would’ve taken a lot of jobs I’ve turned down through the years, but I’m pretty selective.

“You can do special things here. Things that have never been done, things that will be remembered for a long, long time and create a legacy.”

One way to ensure that lasting mark: Make JMU the top program in all of FCS and push the Bison from their perch along the way.