The UCLA Bruins are targeting James Madison’s Bob Chesney to be their next head football coach.
UCLA Expected to Land JMU’s Bob Chesney
BREAKING: UCLA is expected to hire JMU head coach Bob Chesney, @PeteNakos reports🐻https://t.co/WpvxYaecxu pic.twitter.com/jT7pJcCMay
— On3 (@On3sports) December 1, 2025
Chesney is heading to sunny California for his next job.
Per On3’s Pete Nakos, UCLA is expected to hire Chesney as its next head coach. Chesney informed his players on Monday about his intention to take the UCLA job.
The contract is expected to be a five-year deal. The deal will be finalized following the Sun Belt title game between James Madison and Troy on Dec. 5.
No. 19 James Madison is 11-1 heading into the conference championship weekend. With a win, the Dukes have a shot at qualifying for the College Football Playoff as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.
If JMU wins on Friday and qualifies for the CFP, Chesney is expected to coach the Dukes before departing for UCLA.
Chesney’s move to UCLA completes one of the fastest rises in college football.
After Curt Cignetti left James Madison to coach Indiana at the end of the 2023 season, James Madison hired Chesney as the next head coach.
In 2024, Chesney led the Dukes to a 9-4 record and a victory in the Boca Raton Bowl.
This season, James Madison has 11 wins and a legitimate chance to make the College Football Playoff.
For the last 15 years, Chesney has won at every level of the college game.
From 2010 to 2012, Chesney went 23-9 at Salve Regina, a Division III school in Rhode Island. Chesney became the head coach at Division II Assumption University, compiling a 44-16 record in five seasons.
In December 2017, Holy Cross, an FCS school, hired Chesney as the head coach. Chesney went 44-21 in six seasons, with five conference titles and four playoff appearances.
Chesney’s collegiate coaching record is an impressive 131–51.
UCLA Going in a Different Direction
Approximately 20 minutes before multiple outlets reported Bob Chesney was heading to UCLA, he was asked at his weekly presser how likely it was by the end of the week he'd have a decision made about his future.
His answer: pic.twitter.com/n2zLswaAcN
— Jarvis Haren (@jarvisharen) December 1, 2025
In the past, UCLA has typically hired former players or coaches with West Coast roots.
UCLA fired former player-turned-coach DeShaun Foster after a 0-3 start to the 2025 season. Foster went 5-10 during his short tenure as the Bruins’ head coach.
Foster took over for Chip Kelly, who left UCLA in February 2024 to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. Kelly, who notably coached the Oregon Ducks and Philadelphia Eagles, went 35–34 in six seasons at UCLA.
UCLA has not won 10 games in a season since 2014, when it had double-digit wins in two consecutive years under Jim L. Mora.
UCLA finished the 2025 season 3-9, losing its last game to crosstown rival USC by a score of 29-10.
