Better for Ole Miss, Kiffin has way too much baggage and is a flake at best, what do you want from an ex-USC Trogan. My bet is that in 2 short years LSU will yet again "tarmac Kiffen". As for UCLA, they should have already announced a new coach. yes, I know other teams might be in the middle of playoff and bowl season, but the Portal opens up in just 4 weeks and national signing days for HS recruits is just in 3 days! That isn't a lot of time for a new coaching staff and every day that passes is an opportunity lost. UCLA has had almost double the time of some of these other schools that fired their head coaches, but nothing has seemed to be moving. If it's Chesney, well I feel sorry for Chesney, but Kiffin is a good example of what money and greed can do. All this said, I have to remember that Jelly 2.0 is running this new coach hire, hence its already all screwed up and whomever Jelly 2.0 selects will immediately be on the hot seat, since it was Jelly 2.0 who selected this next sucker, oops I meant to say head coach.
UCLA is going to sign HS recruits on Wednesday regardless of whether they have a head coach or not. There’s a “GM” still in place and the program is going to bring in some freshmen, including a few four-stars.
The bigger question is the portal, but UCLA should have a head coach in place well before that officially opens.
So, then the next question is when can those potential candidates will, if committed to UCLA, be able to leave. The head coach makes a difference even though you may think the head coach has nothing to do with player recruitment or development. So no, the portal isn't the only "big question". How committed will any new player be to a blind and deaf football program with no leadership. Not sure if anyone will stay even for one season. They need to have a new coach now, it's pretty obvious. You make it sound like they have plenty of time, no big deal. That's the type of attitude that has brought the entire Athletic Dept at UCLA to ruin... NO BIG DEAL.
UCLA is likely communicating its intentions to recruits already - there were plenty of guys who decommitted when Foster was let go and came back - and the portal opens in January so if UCLA doesn’t have a head coach in place by then there are much bigger problems to address beyond the roster.
As is, I think UCLA will have a new head coach in place within a few days. Chesney is still waiting out Penn State apparently, but FootballScoop already put the UCLA contract details out there, so it seems pretty close to the finish line.
This just illustrates the shit storm the NCAA has created. They need to move signing day and the portal window. And they need to figure out a way where coaches do not get hired until the playoff is over.
Also, if I'm an AD, i'm including a special buyout 2x or 3x the normal buyout if the coach leaves while the school is ranked top 12 in the selection committee. For example, I think Kiffin's buyout at Ole Miss was 36 million. Make it 75 if he leaves under these circumstances.
Kiffin didn't have a buyout, his contract was up. That was what he was deciding on, whether to go to LSU or sign the Ole Miss extension to his contract.
Getting rid of ESD fixes things a little, since the traditional first Wednesday of February still exists as NSD. The new portal window also helps because most bowl games will be done by then and you assume the four teams left in the playoffs will be keeping their coaches.
Especially since JMU are actually alive for the CFP if Duke wins the ACC in what's been called the "ACC doomsday scenario" - unlike lame kitty, maybe he is showing some integrity
I'm not a Kiffin fan, but it really has nothing to do with integrity. Now, as in the next few days max, is when coaches are going to get hired. If he wants to coach at UCLA, he will not be coaching JMU in the playoff. And when whoever we hire inevitably leaves for a better job (unless fired), it will probably be necessarily in the middle of a really good season, and they too will not be coaching in the post season. That is just how it works and is the reality of the shit system the NCAA created.
Florida and OK State both said their future head coaches will be allowed to coach their current team in the playoffs. I would expect UCLA would do similar with Chesney if JMU makes the playoffs because it’s just good advertising (even if JMU spends the entire game getting smoked, the broadcast would also spend it talking about what a great job Chesney has done and speculate on how he’ll do at the next level).
So long, Skip! I feel bad for you, you entered a dumpster fire with no support from your management. They need to go, too! Else no mater who they hire we can expect more of the same. 3 &9 is not the Bruins. What talented prospect wants to step in that?Good luck Skip! Hopefully someone out their recognizes your potential and gives you another chance!
Sean Lewis who's SDSU Aztecs gagged away a chance at being in the CFP conversation by not showing up for a road game at Hawai'i and then gagged away a home game for the conference championship by losing at New Mexico both in the last month of the season? Great.
Of course Donut Head Jelly 2.0 and his Holes at Morgan are in another stranglehold waiting desperately for Chesney to take the bait while Penn State is still angling.
What an endless cluster...
And Blockhead 2.0 is just a feckless wonder, and truly to blame for embracing both failure and corruption.
Agreed, and I would actually prefer that Coach Chesney, if he is coming to Westwood, NOT make any announcement until after next Friday or even Sunday - out of respect for his program and players ahead of a hugely important game, and to protect his school's position as CFP and bowl selections are made. He (or his agent) is very able to give UCLA a handshake behind the curtain while keeping his outward and public focus on his players and the remainder of their excellent season.
"while keeping his outward and public focus on his players and the remainder of their excellent season." The terms of the offered contract were already leaked. and you expect a handshake agreement to be kept secret?
JMU isn’t Ole Miss, there’s a pretty good understanding that if a player wants to leave there isn’t much they can do about it. The school went through this two years ago when Cignetti left, I’m sure they have a strategy already in mind for Chesney’s eventual departure.
One of the unassailable facts is that, so long as that incompetent charlatan boob is AD, UCLA athletics is a decade out from regaining its former glory. He needs to be cut loose and a large part of the AD staff need to be fired and face criminal prosecution for gross mismanagement of California taxpayer funds.* Further, we need to get an ass-kicking AD in here who wants to rebuild from the ground up.
Alas however, All appearances is that the new Chancellor is going to ride out the storm and not rock the boat.
Blockhead 2.0 is a big FAIL and the root of the problem.
This feckless wonder is something to behold. From his throne and his Holes in Murphy to the Donut Head and Holes in Morgan, our beloved UCLA has been burned to the ground.
Somewhere back, I heard the phrase used to describe catastrophic systemic failure as "all the holes lining up" in the sense to mean that consecutive slices of Swiss cheese allowing the element of failure to penetrate the filter.
Tangentially, the sorrow of all this is that "Mister Read The Room" (or possibly the incoming Chancellor?) is dangling this move to SoFi and other shiny distractions so as to divert we alums* from the prime mission objective: ridding UCLA of this fraud!
"...but screw your courage to the sticking place and we shall not fail..."
*I refer to the truly generous as season ticket holders who also contribute a portion of their daily crust to our alma mater. I am the cheapskate in this battle: long on words but short on personal jingle.
Joe -- Your comments are always intelligent and insightful. I agree with you about Coach Skipper -- a fine man, talented coach, and terrific role model for college age young men. He will have a terrific career and build a fine program for some fortunate university football team. Hopefully UCLA will get a top quality coach, resume recruiting promising talent, and start on the way to winning seasons. Re: Kiffin. Why in the world would he have wanted to leave Mississippi, where he has done so well and move to LSU, a university that eats and spits out top coaches?
I don't know much about Chesney, but can someone explain why running the table in the Sun Belt is considered an accomplishment worthy of promotion to a Power 4? How is beating the likes of Troy and Arkansas State supposed to translate into beating USC? And please don't come with the "he's won everywhere." That should be given for anyone we hire. Rick Neuheisel won everywhere before UCLA. Again, there might be a very good reason for this guy being at the top of our list, but winning the Northeast-10, Sun Belt, and New England Football Conferences should not be among those reasons.
I think it’s the fact that every time he moved up a level, he has found success. He started in D3, then FCS, then FBS, and now for a B10 school. It shows an ability to adapt to the higher levels of competition at each stop. Obviously there’s no guarantees in the coaching world and UCLA’s football program is still at rock bottom but this hire is the first step in pulling us out.
Also, JMU fans on social media are despondent right now about losing their coach. That’s a good sign - we don’t want to hire a coach where the fans want him to leave lol
Yea, it's all over the newswires now. They all make it sound like a great pick, and it will "reinvigorate the UCLA football program", where have we all heard that before. I do admit, he was the best selection out there for UCLA, but he has a lot of work to do and with Jelly 2.0 there it won't be easy. I hope he at least asked and received full autonomy with the football program. If not, it will simply be more losing.
Apparently within the last 24 hours, Penn State's coaching search has now come down to Chesney, Kalani Sitake and Lincoln Riley. With Riley now being the favorite!
Well, these are just speculations and rumors most likely, but I wouldn't think anyone would want Lincoln Riley! Wow. Not sure what Penn State is thinking, but I will say this "NO ONE CAN SAY JELLY 2.0 (AKA JARMOND) LOOKS COMPETANT". That statement just doesn't make any sense at all.
Kiffin to LSU now a done deal. Finally.
Better for Ole Miss, Kiffin has way too much baggage and is a flake at best, what do you want from an ex-USC Trogan. My bet is that in 2 short years LSU will yet again "tarmac Kiffen". As for UCLA, they should have already announced a new coach. yes, I know other teams might be in the middle of playoff and bowl season, but the Portal opens up in just 4 weeks and national signing days for HS recruits is just in 3 days! That isn't a lot of time for a new coaching staff and every day that passes is an opportunity lost. UCLA has had almost double the time of some of these other schools that fired their head coaches, but nothing has seemed to be moving. If it's Chesney, well I feel sorry for Chesney, but Kiffin is a good example of what money and greed can do. All this said, I have to remember that Jelly 2.0 is running this new coach hire, hence its already all screwed up and whomever Jelly 2.0 selects will immediately be on the hot seat, since it was Jelly 2.0 who selected this next sucker, oops I meant to say head coach.
UCLA is going to sign HS recruits on Wednesday regardless of whether they have a head coach or not. There’s a “GM” still in place and the program is going to bring in some freshmen, including a few four-stars.
The bigger question is the portal, but UCLA should have a head coach in place well before that officially opens.
So, then the next question is when can those potential candidates will, if committed to UCLA, be able to leave. The head coach makes a difference even though you may think the head coach has nothing to do with player recruitment or development. So no, the portal isn't the only "big question". How committed will any new player be to a blind and deaf football program with no leadership. Not sure if anyone will stay even for one season. They need to have a new coach now, it's pretty obvious. You make it sound like they have plenty of time, no big deal. That's the type of attitude that has brought the entire Athletic Dept at UCLA to ruin... NO BIG DEAL.
UCLA is likely communicating its intentions to recruits already - there were plenty of guys who decommitted when Foster was let go and came back - and the portal opens in January so if UCLA doesn’t have a head coach in place by then there are much bigger problems to address beyond the roster.
As is, I think UCLA will have a new head coach in place within a few days. Chesney is still waiting out Penn State apparently, but FootballScoop already put the UCLA contract details out there, so it seems pretty close to the finish line.
This just illustrates the shit storm the NCAA has created. They need to move signing day and the portal window. And they need to figure out a way where coaches do not get hired until the playoff is over.
Also, if I'm an AD, i'm including a special buyout 2x or 3x the normal buyout if the coach leaves while the school is ranked top 12 in the selection committee. For example, I think Kiffin's buyout at Ole Miss was 36 million. Make it 75 if he leaves under these circumstances.
Kiffin didn't have a buyout, his contract was up. That was what he was deciding on, whether to go to LSU or sign the Ole Miss extension to his contract.
Getting rid of ESD fixes things a little, since the traditional first Wednesday of February still exists as NSD. The new portal window also helps because most bowl games will be done by then and you assume the four teams left in the playoffs will be keeping their coaches.
I don't root for SEC teams but it would be hilarious and serve him right if Pete Golding became the Steve Fisher of football...
I gotta believe Chesney won't commit anywhere until the end of the season.
Especially since JMU are actually alive for the CFP if Duke wins the ACC in what's been called the "ACC doomsday scenario" - unlike lame kitty, maybe he is showing some integrity
I'm not a Kiffin fan, but it really has nothing to do with integrity. Now, as in the next few days max, is when coaches are going to get hired. If he wants to coach at UCLA, he will not be coaching JMU in the playoff. And when whoever we hire inevitably leaves for a better job (unless fired), it will probably be necessarily in the middle of a really good season, and they too will not be coaching in the post season. That is just how it works and is the reality of the shit system the NCAA created.
Florida and OK State both said their future head coaches will be allowed to coach their current team in the playoffs. I would expect UCLA would do similar with Chesney if JMU makes the playoffs because it’s just good advertising (even if JMU spends the entire game getting smoked, the broadcast would also spend it talking about what a great job Chesney has done and speculate on how he’ll do at the next level).
So long, Skip! I feel bad for you, you entered a dumpster fire with no support from your management. They need to go, too! Else no mater who they hire we can expect more of the same. 3 &9 is not the Bruins. What talented prospect wants to step in that?Good luck Skip! Hopefully someone out their recognizes your potential and gives you another chance!
The longer the process is unconsumated, the less likely Chesney is the choice, and the more likely Sean Lewis is the man.
Sean Lewis who's SDSU Aztecs gagged away a chance at being in the CFP conversation by not showing up for a road game at Hawai'i and then gagged away a home game for the conference championship by losing at New Mexico both in the last month of the season? Great.
I've said it earlier, I'll say it now, and I'll say it again when announced: UCLA needs a Selection Committee to select Sean Lewis?
I am gagging at this whole damn mess 😡😢
Of course Donut Head Jelly 2.0 and his Holes at Morgan are in another stranglehold waiting desperately for Chesney to take the bait while Penn State is still angling.
What an endless cluster...
And Blockhead 2.0 is just a feckless wonder, and truly to blame for embracing both failure and corruption.
I just read somewhere Penn State is targeting Kalen DeBoer.
If true, that would be great.
Yep. Coach Lewis’ resume sounds like the perfect hire by the UCLA administration. Mediocre but soft on the pocket book.
I disagree. Chesney's team plays for the Sun Belt Conference championship on Friday night.
I'm perfectly fine with him coaching the Dukes in that game and even the CFP if they end up making it.
Let him and JMU finish the season.
Now, if they finish and he takes his time, maybe we have to move on, but I'm not going to panic that there was no announcement today.
Also, I'm hearing that we shouldn't expect something early this week either. Second half of the week seems to be the absolute earliest.
I'm a glass-is-half-empty kinda' guy, but I'm hopiuming for a silver lining.
Agreed, and I would actually prefer that Coach Chesney, if he is coming to Westwood, NOT make any announcement until after next Friday or even Sunday - out of respect for his program and players ahead of a hugely important game, and to protect his school's position as CFP and bowl selections are made. He (or his agent) is very able to give UCLA a handshake behind the curtain while keeping his outward and public focus on his players and the remainder of their excellent season.
Which would make him the anti-Kiffin...
And we would be all the better for it.
"while keeping his outward and public focus on his players and the remainder of their excellent season." The terms of the offered contract were already leaked. and you expect a handshake agreement to be kept secret?
I would think JMU would have a problem with this, giving him access to their players who would presumably have interest in following him here.
JMU isn’t Ole Miss, there’s a pretty good understanding that if a player wants to leave there isn’t much they can do about it. The school went through this two years ago when Cignetti left, I’m sure they have a strategy already in mind for Chesney’s eventual departure.
"UConn's Jim Mora taking over at Colorado State"
https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/11/26/jim-mora-uconn-leaving-to-become-the-head-coach-at-colorado-state
Another 3&9
Jimbo at Colorado State will fare better than Chipster at Kentucky (or wherever he lands).
A good write-up, Joe! You and Dimitri are aces!
One of the unassailable facts is that, so long as that incompetent charlatan boob is AD, UCLA athletics is a decade out from regaining its former glory. He needs to be cut loose and a large part of the AD staff need to be fired and face criminal prosecution for gross mismanagement of California taxpayer funds.* Further, we need to get an ass-kicking AD in here who wants to rebuild from the ground up.
Alas however, All appearances is that the new Chancellor is going to ride out the storm and not rock the boat.
Phooey!
*Firing, yes! Criminal prosecution, possibly! Semi-serious here.
Blockhead 2.0 is a big FAIL and the root of the problem.
This feckless wonder is something to behold. From his throne and his Holes in Murphy to the Donut Head and Holes in Morgan, our beloved UCLA has been burned to the ground.
And they don't give a damn...
Holes! Absolutely!
Somewhere back, I heard the phrase used to describe catastrophic systemic failure as "all the holes lining up" in the sense to mean that consecutive slices of Swiss cheese allowing the element of failure to penetrate the filter.
Tangentially, the sorrow of all this is that "Mister Read The Room" (or possibly the incoming Chancellor?) is dangling this move to SoFi and other shiny distractions so as to divert we alums* from the prime mission objective: ridding UCLA of this fraud!
"...but screw your courage to the sticking place and we shall not fail..."
Lady Macbeth had it right:
https://youtu.be/8n5ezohf9dA?si=-4oaPVeFZz6eIMB0
*I refer to the truly generous as season ticket holders who also contribute a portion of their daily crust to our alma mater. I am the cheapskate in this battle: long on words but short on personal jingle.
I used to like swiss cheese 🤣
I am a cheapskate too! 🤣 But my oh my, your words make you one of the richest people I know 💙💛
Awwwwwww, shucks! !
😁👍🏻
For anyone who hasn't heard Chesney, here's his postgame presser from yesterday. I think he sounds refreshingly candid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCa1BCmuLhY
So refreshing, he seems to be very level headed. 🙏💙💛
Looks like he's the guy, all sports news services are reporting a 5-year deal with Chesney. And why does this guy remind me of Sean McVay?
Joe -- Your comments are always intelligent and insightful. I agree with you about Coach Skipper -- a fine man, talented coach, and terrific role model for college age young men. He will have a terrific career and build a fine program for some fortunate university football team. Hopefully UCLA will get a top quality coach, resume recruiting promising talent, and start on the way to winning seasons. Re: Kiffin. Why in the world would he have wanted to leave Mississippi, where he has done so well and move to LSU, a university that eats and spits out top coaches?
$$$
I don't know much about Chesney, but can someone explain why running the table in the Sun Belt is considered an accomplishment worthy of promotion to a Power 4? How is beating the likes of Troy and Arkansas State supposed to translate into beating USC? And please don't come with the "he's won everywhere." That should be given for anyone we hire. Rick Neuheisel won everywhere before UCLA. Again, there might be a very good reason for this guy being at the top of our list, but winning the Northeast-10, Sun Belt, and New England Football Conferences should not be among those reasons.
Re: Slick Rick. 66-30 combined record at Colorado and Washington. I wouldn’t call that winning everywhere. And he left both programs in shambles.
At UW he won the Rose Bowl in year 2 and finished ranked third. At Colorado, he finished his first two seasons as a top 10 team.
I think it’s the fact that every time he moved up a level, he has found success. He started in D3, then FCS, then FBS, and now for a B10 school. It shows an ability to adapt to the higher levels of competition at each stop. Obviously there’s no guarantees in the coaching world and UCLA’s football program is still at rock bottom but this hire is the first step in pulling us out.
Also, JMU fans on social media are despondent right now about losing their coach. That’s a good sign - we don’t want to hire a coach where the fans want him to leave lol
See: Cignetti, Curt.
Of course there are no guarantees. His record may be a question mark but it is anything but a negative.
The Chesney hire is starting to be reported online as a done deal by on3, espn, and cbs sports!
It will be a 5-year deal and UCLA is allowing him to coach in the playoffs should JMU make it
Yea, it's all over the newswires now. They all make it sound like a great pick, and it will "reinvigorate the UCLA football program", where have we all heard that before. I do admit, he was the best selection out there for UCLA, but he has a lot of work to do and with Jelly 2.0 there it won't be easy. I hope he at least asked and received full autonomy with the football program. If not, it will simply be more losing.
weren't messers Dorrell, Neuiheisel, Mora, Kelly, Foster supposed to reinvigorate the program?
Definitely not foster
Apparently within the last 24 hours, Penn State's coaching search has now come down to Chesney, Kalani Sitake and Lincoln Riley. With Riley now being the favorite!
It’s hilarious that Jarmond looks more competent than Penn St’s AD just by taking himself out of the equation in the coaching search lol
Well, these are just speculations and rumors most likely, but I wouldn't think anyone would want Lincoln Riley! Wow. Not sure what Penn State is thinking, but I will say this "NO ONE CAN SAY JELLY 2.0 (AKA JARMOND) LOOKS COMPETANT". That statement just doesn't make any sense at all.
It is being reported this morning that Chesney to UCLA is a done deal.
Seeing it reported now as breaking news and a done deal. Finally some good news!
Ucla has hired Bob Chesney according to the USA Today. Hell yeah.