UCLA has hired Bob Chesney as their new head coach, hoping to replicate the success James Madison (JMU) saw under his predecessor, Curt Cignetti.,Chesney, who has a strong winning record across various coaching levels, faces his biggest challenge yet in the competitive Big Ten conference.UCLA is hoping for a repeat of past success with their latest coaching hire, Bob Chesney, who joins from James Madison (JMU). The last coach to make a similar move from JMU to the Big Ten, Curt Cignetti, transformed a struggling program into a powerhouse. <\/p>\n
Chesney, 48, was a sought-after candidate for multiple coaching vacancies. In his two seasons at JMU, he achieved a 20-5 record, including an 11-1 record this season, positioning the Dukes for a Sun Belt championship and a potential College Football Playoff spot.<\/p>\n
The hiring has been graded as a B, with potential regret from other schools, such as Penn State, for not pursuing Chesney, given his consistent winning performance. Over his 16-year coaching career, Chesney has only experienced one losing season across all levels.<\/p>\n
Parallels can be drawn between Chesney and Cignetti, both of whom climbed the coaching ranks from Division II and FCS to FBS. Chesney’s coaching journey includes stints in Division III, Division II, and FCS before leading JMU. However, unlike Cignetti, Chesney has no prior experience coaching in a Power Four conference, even as an assistant. He has spent his entire career in the Eastern Time Zone before moving to the West Coast for this role.<\/p>\n
UCLA, replacing alumnus DeShaun Foster, appears to have prioritized a proven winning track record over familiarity with the program’s traditions. The move to the Big Ten presents the greatest challenge of Chesney’s career, as UCLA is considered one of the more difficult jobs in the conference. Comparisons to Cignetti’s success at Indiana will likely be closely watched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UCLA has hired Bob Chesney as their new head coach, hoping to replicate the success James Madison (JMU) saw under his predecessor, Curt Cignetti.,Chesney, who has a strong winning record across various coaching levels, faces his biggest challenge yet in the competitive Big Ten conference.UCLA is hoping for a repeat of past success with their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/post01.exeyezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}