Bob Chesney’s first season at UCLA is starting to look like one of those jobs that flips from cautionary tale to showcase in a hurry.
The Bruins were coming off a miserable 3-9 season and had already dumped their head coach after an 0-3 start, a stretch that had them looking like the Big Ten’s punchline. Things only turned around when UCLA caught some midseason life with an upset of ranked Penn State, then stacked three straight wins. Even that felt like a temporary spark at the time.
Now? UCLA is 7-0, and Chesney has the Bruins sitting in position to chase a conference championship appearance and a College Football Playoff spot. The back half of the schedule does not line up with many of the league’s heavy hitters, which opens the door to something even bigger: a perfect regular season in Chesney’s first year.
There’s no question the job has been easier in spots than what some other Big Ten teams have faced, but that does not erase what Chesney has pulled off. Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated graded Chesney’s year a “feasting” in his rundown of college football’s first-year head coaches, and it is hard to argue with that call.
The comparison to what Curt Cignetti did the last two seasons matters here, because Chesney has become part of that James Madison-to-Big Ten coaching pipeline that now looks pretty strong. He did the same kind of work at James Madison last year, when the Dukes earned the lone Group of 6 bid to the College Football Playoff.
UCLA has also had to deal with injuries, including the loss of its starting quarterback, but the Bruins have kept winning anyway. Chesney and his staff have gotten contributions from nearly everyone on the roster, and the team has kept playing at a high level through those setbacks.
It is still early to stamp this as a full program overhaul, but the signs are pointing that way. Chesney has UCLA in a place almost nobody saw coming, and if this keeps up, the Bruins may be headed for a truly special finish.
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