Rising college football coach expected to be named head coach at UCLA

The UCLA Bruins logo on video board | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

College football programs around the country have filled their open jobs with new head coaches this weekend, and the SEC led the way as all of Florida, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss have named new leaders in the last few days. Now, a domino out west, the UCLA football vacancy, has found its man.

On3's Pete Nakos reported Monday morning Bruin time that UCLA had zeroed in on a popular Group of Five coach in Bob Chesney from James Madison. The Dukes are 11-1 with a Sun Belt championship game coming up against Troy, and a win there could potentially send JMU through to the College Football Playoff, depending on how the final rankings shake out. The architect of this terrific 2025 season, Chesney may now be on the move.

"UCLA is expected to hire James Madison head coach Bob Chesney, sources tell On3," Nakos wrote. "The 48-year-old head coach has risen through the coaching ranks and was also a candidate in Penn State’s coaching search." He adds that a five-year deal is the expectation.

"It’s expected to be a five-year deal for Chesney in Westwood, which will be formalized following the Sun Belt title game," Nakos says. "He’s informed his team on Monday of his intentions to take the Bruins job."

Bob Chesney set to be rising star in CFB

James Madison Dukes head coach Bob Chesney | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

So, Chesney has verbally agreed to become the UCLA coach but will wait to polish the details on his contract until after the conference championship game. An honorable move. In light of Lane Kiffin's spat with Ole Miss over coaching out the year for a College Football Playoff team, will James Madison allow their coach to lead the program through the CFP should they somehow sneak in? Furthermore, would Chesney/UCLA agree to such an arrangement?

Those are important questions that could come into play next weekend. Who knows, if Chesney is allowed to stay and coaches a run, UCLA could win the offseason with everyone seeing clearly they've nabbed a rising star coach.

Like UCLA, Penn State is a team that fired its coach long ago in the season, relative to a few other programs, but has milled about conducting its search. Few obvious favorites emerged throughout the remainder of the regular season once DeShaun Foster was fired, and even Chesney was a late climber in the discussion. As Nakos mentioned, he certainly appeared to be a factor in the Penn State race.

Bob Chesney did reportedly interview for the Penn State job, and by all accounts was a candidate. You'd think he was holding out for the Nittany Lion job if it came, likely over the UCLA gig. But if Penn State had recently told him they were searching in other directions, perhaps Chesney took that decision as a chance to take another swell opportunity in the Big Ten, albeit on an opposite coastline.