Holy Cross Associate Vice President for Athletics Kit Hughes announced on Friday that Dan Curran has been hired as the Crusaders’ head football coach.

Curran replaced Bob Chesney, who took the head coaching position at James Madison after guiding the Crusaders to unprecedented success over six seasons. Chesney was 44-21 overall and 28-4 in the Patriot League, including six straight conference titles.

“Holy Cross is truly a special place, one where student-athletes can have an elite academic experience and compete for championships,” said Curran.

Curran was an All-Scholastic from Chelmsford who played collegiately at New Hampshire. He spent the last 11 seasons at Merrimack, guiding the program’s transition from Division II to FCS in the Northeast Conference.

Curran is the all-time winningest coach in program history with 53 wins while leading the Warriors to the NE title game the past two seasons.

RICH THOMPSON