UCLA to hire Bob Chesney: Bruins pluck James Madison coach to reinvigorate program

The UCLA football coaching search has come to an end. James Madison coach Bob Chesney has been tapped to lead the Bruins and take the first Power Four job of his career, sources confirmed to CBS Sports. Chesney replaces former UCLA coach DeShaun Foster, whom the program fired early in the 2025 season after a dreadful start to the second year of his tenure.

James Madison owed Chesney an $833,495 salary for the 2025 season, according to USA Today’s coaching salary database, but $140,000 of that pay was set aside as a now-nullified retention bonus.

Chesney brings with him to Westwood a lengthy track record as a winner at every NCAA level. He reached conference championship games at each of his previous stops: Salve Regina (Division III), Assumption (Division II), Holy Cross (Division I FCS) and James Madison (DI FBS). For his career, Chesney boasts a pristine 131-51 record with four 
conference championships and numerous Coach of the Year awards.

Chesney’s latest achievement was a successful jump to the FBS in a two-year run at James Madison. Despite seeing a number of the Dukes’ top players leave for Indiana with former coach Curt Cignetti, Chesney more than kept the program afloat with nine wins in his debut campaign. He took his second squad to the next level, posting an 11-1 record this year and placing James Madison in the hunt for the Group of Five’s spot in the College Football Playoff.

UCLA’s move is the latest example of a program deemphasizing geographic ties with its coaching hire. It is a model that works better in the transfer portal era than in college football days of old where the ability to attract local talent on the recruiting trail was of the utmost importance. Time will tell whether Chesney — who has never coached outside the Eastern Time Zone — can win in the West Coast recruiting footprint.

As the first school to fire its coach during the 2025 campaign, UCLA had ample time to assess the candidate pool. While interim coach Tim Skipper did an admirable job, the Bruins elected to look outside their own facility for their next full-time coach.

Chesney a statement hire for UCLA

While UCLA struggled to gain its footing in its first two years in the Big Ten, its hire of Chesney signals brighter days could be ahead. Chensey became a nationally relevant name on the coaching carousel because of his winning résumé, and rather than filling one of the many prominent open jobs on the eastern side of the United States, he chose the Bruins as his launchpad into the power conference universe.

UCLA also emerged as the head-to-head winner in the coaching hunt against Penn State, which would have been a logical fit for Chesney. The Pennsylvania native attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and spent some of his earliest coaching years in the state. Prying a premier candidate away from a Big Ten foe is a major victory for a Bruins program jockeying for position in the early years of the conference’s 18-team era.

That Chesney picked UCLA over other potential destinations should invigorate a fanbase that has only seen moderate success over the last decade. The Bruins’ hire may be a sign of new commitment to the football program after years of financial struggles and questionable decisions — the Foster hire among them.

Brandon Marcello, John Talty, Chris Hummer and Matt Zenitz contributed reporting