ESPN, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News Record, among others, are reporting that JMU Football coach Bob Chesney is going to take the head-coaching job at UCLA.
Per the reports, Chesney will be announced as the new UCLA coach after JMU faces Troy in the Sun Belt Championship Game on Friday.
Also being reported: UCLA has agreed to allow Chesney to coach the JMU team if the Dukes end up getting an invite to the College Football Playoff.
Chesney, 48, is 20-5 in two seasons as the head coach at JMU, after replacing Curt Cignetti, who left after the 2023 season to take over at Indiana, which he led to a CFP berth in 2024, and has poised for a return appearance in 2025.
Chesney had led Holy Cross to four straight FCS playoff appearances and a 44-21 record in six seasons there before taking the JMU job.
He also coached at Salve Regina, a D3 school where he was 23-9 in three seasons, and Assumption, a D2 school where he was 44-16 in five seasons.
UCLA is along the lines of where Indiana was when Cignetti left two years ago in terms of its place in the Power 4 pecking order.
The program moved to the Big Ten in 2024, and has not been competitive there – going 8-16 over the past two seasons, including a 3-9 mark in a 2025 season that saw DeShaun Foster fired three games in.
A succession of coaches have failed to get things going in the right direction since Terry Donahue (151-74-8 in 20 seasons) retired in 1995: Bob Toledo (49-32 in seven seasons, fired in 2002), Karl Dorrell (35-27 in five seasons, fired in 2007), Rick Neuheisel (21-30 in four seasons, fired in 2011), Jim Mora Jr. (46-30 in six seasons, fired in 2017) and Chip Kelly (35-34 in six seasons, quit in 2023 to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State).
The reports regarding Chesney have him set to sign a five-year deal with UCLA.
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Chris Graham
