UCLA Football 2025 Coaching Hot Board 2.0

The November update puts UCLA in a weird position regarding their coaching hire.

Could the return of Jedd Fisch be on the horizon for UCLA? (Photo credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports via uclabruins.com)

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The college football landscape has changed dramatically in the month and a half since UCLA fired Deshaun Foster.

At the time of the first Hot Board, only UCLA and Virginia Tech had fired their coaches (well, Stanford technically had an opening too, but no one counts them). Since then, seven more Power Four programs have fired their head coach, including major powers Penn State, Florida, and LSU. The carousel continues spinning, even with these major names now on the market; just last week, Auburn decided to join in on the fun by getting rid of Hugh Freeze, and there are rumblings of changes on the horizon at places like Maryland and Michigan State. Throw in extensions for big-name coaches like Curt Cignetti in Indiana, Matt Rhule in Nebraska, and Rhett Lashlee at SMU, and the pickings are likely to get slim.

UCLA has also had plenty of change since we last wrote about the search. Yes, Martin Jarmond is still employed, but UCLA has a full search committee in place to lead the search for the next coach. The committee is full of heavy hitters, including Casey Wasserman, Bob Myers, and Adam Peters, which should, at the very least, inspire confidence that a good choice can be made. There were also reports that UCLA approached the UC Board of Regents and received approval for a coaching contract worth up to $9 million per year. That is not to say UCLA will sign someone at that level, but UCLA has at least positioned itself to be a player on the market.

The Hot List itself has undergone some major changes since the last go-round. Some names, like Jonathan Smith and Tony White, have had bad seasons that have made their potential candidacies harder to support, while the general churn of the carousel has shifted UCLA’s gaze away from bigger names towards coaches finding success at the G5 level. Which ultimately may work out for the Bruins, as it causes the administration to go against its baser instinct of hunting for a big name and instead allows it to go after a coach having success in the current college football landscape for the first time, well, ever.

Most of the names on this list are new, and so they’re getting new write-ups. For the few names that are holdovers, I am going to bring back their (lightly edited) write-ups from last time, along with a November update. Let’s get into it.

Things to Watch

Before we get to the list of names, I wanted to give you guys a bit of a cheat sheet of things to be on the lookout for these next few weeks.

First, keep watching what jobs open up. I think we are now at the point where all of the Big Jobs that would open up this cycle have opened (Auburn being the last domino), with the caveat that Florida State could try and find the money to move on from Mike Norvell in the future. That said, several other jobs could still open in the next month for a variety of reasons, including:

• Maryland

• Baylor

• Michigan State

• TCU

• Colorado

• Arizona

• Kentucky

These are jobs that will be in more direct competition with UCLA for a head coach, so it would behoove UCLA to take advantage of its early mover status to lock down its preferred choice sooner rather than later.

Second, we have to watch what Lane Kiffin does. He’s the biggest domino of the coaching cycle, with Florida and LSU both likely vying for his services while Ole Miss is sitting with an extension ready for Kiffin to sign. If Kiffin goes to Florida, that would be great for UCLA and its top plan of luring Jedd Fisch down south, but it would also open up Ole Miss, which would again be in direct competition with the Bruins for a top-end coach.

On a similar note, some of the coaches on this list may be coaching for conference titles and potential playoff spots, which could delay the process. I don’t know if UCLA is going to watch for a coach in the playoffs to lose before offering them the job, and this is a new frontier for everyone. Still, UCLA will want to have an idea of who they are getting well before that, as Early Signing Day is December 3, and UCLA will want to communicate to commits and potential recruits what their plans are before that.

Now that we’re in November, you will start hearing concrete names being vetted and interviewed. October was more about getting ducks in a row, and for the most part, UCLA has done that, getting the approval from the UC Board of Regents for a sizeable coaching salary bump and messaging that it has NIL money now (I have my doubts on that second part, but we’ll see). The committee will also have conducted a realistic survey of the coaching market, determined where UCLA falls in it, and adjusted their initial vetting accordingly based on the coaches they could get, which this list reflects. UCLA will have some committee members meeting with prospective candidates for initial interviews at this point (no, they won’t be on campus; instead, they will be at airport hotel conference centers to give the coach a level of deniability). If UCLA is doing this search correctly, they will have narrowed their target list to two or three by the week of Thanksgiving and will be extending an offer as soon as November 30th hits.

The Frontrunners

Jedd Fisch

Current job: Head coach, Washington

Jedd Fisch is a name familiar to many UCLA fans, both from his time as UCLA’s offensive coordinator during Jim Mora’s final season to his time leading Arizona and Washington. Fisch has proven himself to be a solid head coach, with a particular gift for recruiting despite lacking the resources of some of his rivals. There is definitely a subset of UCLA fans who believe he should have been the choice to take over from Mora instead of Chip Kelly (and honestly, they have a point, though it is hard to argue UCLA did not make the correct decision at that moment).

Fisch has the same con that Jonathan Smith has, in that he has only been at Washington for a little over a year. Still, that did not stop him from openly flirting with UCLA when Chip Kelly left last time, and it has been reported that Fisch’s family did not acclimate well to Seattle and has moved back to Arizona. Los Angeles was clearly to the Fisch family’s liking, and there are already rumblings that Fisch will be interested in this job again.

November Update: I think it is safe to say Jedd Fisch is going to be the top priority of the search committee. Besides the previous ties to UCLA, Fisch is a client of…Casey Wasserman, one of the members of the committee. At this point, I think it is pretty safe to say Fisch will likely be leaving Seattle after this season, but the big question will be where he goes next, as he has also emerged as a potential candidate at his alma mater, Florida (especially if they whiff on Lane Kiffin). Now, Washington could also throw a big extension in front of him, similar to what Nebraska just did with Matt Rhule, but the ball is really in Fisch’s corner. As it is, I expect UCLA to make a big push for him, especially if Florida fills its opening.

Alex Golesh

Current job: Head coach, South Florida

Golesh was on the “Names to Watch” list during the last go-round, but now he’s one of the top names UCLA will be considering, so it’s time to introduce him.

Alex Golesh has made numerous stops in his young coaching career, with jobs at Illinois, Toledo, Iowa State, and UCF. It was at UCF that he started working under Josh Heupel, and Heupel brought Golesh with him to Tennessee when he left in 2021, becoming the offensive coordinator. He leveraged that success into the head coaching job at South Florida in 2023, where he has amassed a 20-14 record so far. Critically, South Florida has been on an upswing during his tenure (the school posted 2-10 and 1-11 seasons before his arrival), culminating in this year’s squad, which is currently 6-2 with a victory over Florida.

There’s a lot to like with Golesh. He’s put together great offenses in his young coaching career, and he has a reputation as a good recruiter (being the recruiting coordinator for Heupel at Tennessee helps this case). He’s young, and the track record of success likely helps him with getting donors to pony up NIL money. On the flip side, he has no P4 head coaching experience, so there is some risk involved. He also has no West Coast experience, which I don’t think is a big deal, but it is something to consider.

Golesh is a name UCLA is actively vetting and reaching out to, but he’s also going to be a popular name this offseason, with jobs closer in Auburn, Florida, and LSU all having opened up. This is not to say UCLA can’t land Golesh, but they might have to pay more than they’d like for him.

Jon Sumrall

Current job: Head coach, Tulane

Another name that was on the “Names to Watch” list, Sumrall has risen a ton since the market evolved and UCLA’s priorities shifted. Which isn’t a knock on Sumrall at all; rather, UCLA’s shifting focus could end up leading it to a better coach than its usual modus operandi.

Jon Sumrall has proven to be a winner at the lower levels. He’s bounced around the South for the past decade, bouncing between Tulane, Troy, Ole Miss, and his alma mater, Kentucky. Crucially, he does have some West Coast experience, as he spent five years as an assistant at San Diego. At Kentucky, he served as defensive coordinator, and that work eventually got him the head coaching job back at Troy, where he went 23-4 over two years and won the Sun Belt twice. He then parlayed that into the Tulane job following the departure of Willie Fritz, where he’s had some modest success rebuilding after Fritz took his core with him to Houston. At Tulane, Sumrall is 15-7, finishing second in the American last year (losing the championship game to Army), and is currently 6-2 this season.

Where Golesh is a great offensive coach, Sumrall is known for his defense, and he’s very good at it. Sumrall’s teams are known for playing excellent defense and complementary football on offense (which is also why this year is so weird, as the Tulane defense isn’t very good while the offense has been much better). He’s also known as more of a CEO-style coach, who empowers his coordinators and focuses more on the overall program. He’s a good recruiter, and as evidenced by his time at Tulane, he has experience getting people to spend money for NIL, as Tulane is one of the top G5 programs in that regard.

Like with Golesh, Sumrall is going to be a hot name this cycle. I don’t think LSU will consider him (because LSU considers Tulane beneath them in the same way they did not consider Billy Napier when he was winning the American up the state at Louisiana), but Auburn and Florida will absolutely be considering him. More interesting will be what Ole Miss or Kentucky does if their jobs open up. Either way, I expect Sumrall will be on the move this offseason, but where is more of an open question.

Next Man Up

Sean Lewis

Current job: Head coach, San Diego State

Sean Lewis feels really close to moving up into that top tier, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about that yet.

I think there is no doubting his coaching ability, however. Sean Lewis is the guy who made Kent State, one of the worst football programs in the country, respectable, going 24-31 over his five seasons there and taking the Golden Flashes to two bowl games (for reference, Kent State has made a bowl game five times in program history). He left Kent State for an ill-fated run as offensive coordinator for Deion Sanders’s Colorado team, but was relieved of duties after a few games (more on this in a moment). That wasn’t enough to deter other teams from hiring him, and he wound up at San Diego State in 2024. That first year, the Aztecs went a miserable 3-9, but have bounced back in a major way this year, currently sitting at 7-1 and with an inside track of hosting the Mountain West Championship Game if they win out.

Here’s the thing that concerns me about Sean Lewis. Lewis is known as an offensive guy, and there is no doubt his Kent State teams could rack up the yards and points, but in two years at San Diego State, with much better access to talent than he ever had prior, the Aztecs have been bad on offense. This year, they rank 81st in Offensive SP+, and it is the defense that is carrying them to wins. Throw in how bad Colorado was on offense when he was in charge (and how they immediately got better once he left), and I’m left with some questions about his offense’s viability at the P4 level. Outside of that, he only has that brief Colorado stint and time at Syracuse under Dino Babers as his P4 experience, so there are questions there. Lewis is the top name at a West Coast G5 at the moment, so he’s getting play as a result, but I’m on the fence regarding him.

Eric Morris

Current job: Head coach, North Texas

If you’re looking for a hot coaching candidate that UCLA can realistically get, it’s hard to go further than Eric Morris here. Morris is currently at North Texas, where he has been spending the past three years turning around the Mean Green, going from a 5-7 record in 2023 to getting bowl eligible last year to racing out to an 8-1 record so far this season. Prior to that, he served a one-year stint at Washington State’s OC and had a four-year stint as the head coach of Incarnate Word, where he compiled a 24-18 record with two Southland Conference titles. Maybe most importantly, he served as offensive coordinator at Texas Tech from 2013-2017, which means he was the sole offensive coordinator when Patrick Mahomes was lighting the Big 12 on fire. In fact, Morris is something of a quarterback whisperer, as he brought Cam Ward with him from Incarnate Word to Washington State and recruited John Mateer to the school as well.

There is some risk and reward with Morris. He’s young but already has a pretty impressive resume, with strong recruiting chops and energy. But he’s considered a Texas guy; outside of two quick stints at Washington State, he’s only ever coached in the state of Texas. That might limit his reach as a coach; it certainly prevented Jeff Traylor from getting traction at the P4 level when he had UTSA rolling. If Morris is the choice, UCLA may have to move quickly, as there are already some programs in the area (Oklahoma State, Arkansas) that might move on him, and with Baylor and TCU as possibilities to open as well, Morris may have good options close to home.

Dan Mullen

Current job: Head coach, UNLV

Perhaps the most experienced head coach among those with a legitimate chance at this job. Dan Mullen took over as the head coach at Mississippi State in 2009. He essentially built that program from the ground up, finishing with a 69-46 record at the school and holding the record for most bowl appearances in Bulldogs history (he’s also second all-time in wins, but that’s because Jackie Sherrill had four more seasons on him). His .600 winning percentage is by far the best of a Mississippi State football coach in the modern era, and he gets to claim Dak Prescott as a player he developed into a legitimate NFL quarterback, which is not nothing. Mullen comes from the Urban Meyer tree and was his QB coach at Utah and Florida (where he also picked up offensive coordinator duties), so he also gets to claim Alex Smith and Tim Tebow as his college successes.

Talking about Mullen’s Florida tenure is interesting. He finished with a 34-15 record and went to three major bowl games in that time, winning the Peach and Orange Bowls before losing the Cotton Bowl. But Mullen showed a loyalty to his coaches that would be his downfall, particularly defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, and there were reports of disinterest on the recruiting trail. It’s an odd statement, as Florida had two top 10 classes during his time and the worst full class he had ranked at 12, but perhaps that was as much a failure to quickly adapt to the changing Portal/NIL landscape. He has certainly learned a lot during his media stint before returning to coach, as UNLV went heavy in the portal and has put together a squad that is currently 6-2 on the season (with a win over Deshaun Foster, for as much as that counts for anything).

With Mullen, you’re getting a coach with ample Power Four experience, who clearly has a plan for the new era and is likely chomping at the bit to get back into the action at a high level. Throw in that he is a Grade-A shit-talker who would get under Lincoln Riley’s skin in a hurry, and this is a pretty good backup plan.

Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi

Current job: Offensive and Defensive coordinator (respectfully), Oregon

You’ll notice that most of this list is filled with current head coaches. That’s partly because I think UCLA will prioritize head coaching experience after being burned so badly by the Foster hire, but that doesn’t mean they should dismiss rising coordinators out of hand. In fact, Oregon has two coordinators with very different value propositions that UCLA should be willing to consider.

For Will Stein, you’re taking a gamble that he ends up like Kenny Dillingham - a young, vibrant offensive mind who will work tirelessly to build a successful program. There’s no doubting Stein’s offensive mind, having gotten the best from Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel (and looking to do the same with former Bruin Dante Moore). He’s also an excellent recruiter, and the hope would be that he picked up as many lessons as possible while working under Dan Lanning, one of the best coaches in the game currently.

Tosh Lupoi is a little different. His defenses are fine, not outstanding, but in Lupoi, you have a guy who understands the value of recruiting better than anyone, being known as one of the most elite recruiters on the West Coast. Lupoi would bring west coast knowledge that most of the other names on this list lack (Lupoi is a UC Berkeley alum, and coached both there and at Washington in addition to Oregon). Besides coaching under Lanning, Lupoi spent time as the defensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban. In both cases, there was an understanding that the head coach would have a hand in designing the defensive strategy, but it is increasingly clear that Lupoi knows his stuff on that front.

The big knock against both guys: no head coaching experience. Lupoi is older and more veteran, so you’d think he would have more of a chance to break through that problem, but for both, this would be something that the UCLA administration would need to overlook.

November Update: Of the two names, Stein is the one getting the most traction, but I do think he’s lower on the list of priorities than other names here. Still, given how the carousel could shake out, you never know.

Not Doing Themselves Any Favors

Jonathan Smith

Current job: Head coach, Michigan State

There’s an alternate universe out there where Jonathan Smith is already UCLA’s head coach, but in that universe, UCLA was proactive in firing Chip Kelly, unlike our current reality, where the school let Kelly engineer a hostage situation that only served to damage the program further.

Smith checks a lot of boxes for UCLA. He’s a proven program builder, having built up the last good Oregon State team and putting Michigan State on the right track so far. While his offenses don’t wow you, they are effective, and Smith’s teams are known for being well-coached and fundamentally sound. He’s also a local boy; Smith is from Glendora and went to UCLA games at the Rose Bowl in his youth (though, crucially, he does not have other UCLA ties). We know Jonathan Smith had a high degree of interest in this job before, as he tried to wait out Chip Kelly before taking the Michigan State job rather than staying at Oregon State when the school was sent off to the wilderness following the dissolution of the Pac-12, and word in the agent community is that Smith will be interested again.

The big question with Smith is one of timing. If this job were opening up a year from now, Smith would be the #1 option with a bullet, and UCLA would likely have little trouble convincing him to come home. But given that Smith is only in his second year at Michigan State, it may be harder to convince him to leave the new project he started so soon. His buyout is reportedly cheap thanks to a clause in his contract that was activated after Michigan State fired the athletic director who hired him, which is a point in his favor as well to the famously budget-conscious UCLA brass.

November Update: The good news is that Jonathan Smith might become very available for UCLA soon. The bad news is that it is because he feels likely to be fired before the end of the season. Michigan State is not a good team, as evidenced by UCLA absolutely smoking them at home last month, and Smith does not seem like a good fit in East Lansing. UCLA might be able to get him for a song, but he would be a hard sell to a fanbase that just watched him flounder as publicly as he has been. A reunion with Oregon State is also potentially in the cards, though some bitterness with how he exited a few years ago would need to be worked out.

Tony White

Current job: Defensive coordinator, Florida State

Here’s what I wrote the last time this job came open:

Tony White feels like the big hot name amongst UCLA insiders for a variety of reasons. For one, he has ties to UCLA, having played for the Bruins from 1997 to 2000 and working as a graduate assistant in 2007. In addition, White is a really good defensive coordinator. Last year, the Huskers ranked 6th in the country in defensive SP+. This is not a one-time occurrence, either; White took over at Syracuse in 2020 and got the Orange to improve from 46th in his first year to 24th by the time he left. White has ties to the region as well, having coached at Arizona State and San Diego State prior. Finally, White has a reputation as a good recruiter, having been named a top recruiter while at SDSU and with plenty of articles in recent history noting his recruiting prowess. Perhaps just as important, White spent last year getting a close look at Nebraska’s NIL machine, which just landed a top quarterback recruit in Dylan Raiola along with others for a recruiting class that is currently 18th in the country according to 247Sports with one five-star and seven four-stars.

There is always going to be some hesitancy to hire a head coach with no prior experience - after all, the last time the Bruins did this, we ended up with Karl Dorrell - but there is a lot to like about White’s resume and what he can bring to the program. As a former player with ties to the last truly great UCLA team, White can animate the older segments of the fanbase and get money flowing into UCLA’s NIL collective, and his defensive prowess would help continue the huge step forward made by the program last season.

Much of that still holds, though White has since moved to Florida State, where he already made an impact in shutting down Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama offense in the season opener.

The big con against Tony White is his lack of head coaching experience, and given what a disaster the Deshaun Foster era was, there may be some hesitancy with the decision-makers regarding giving another Bruin alum their first head coaching gig. But this is perhaps the only coordinator hire I think UCLA will seriously consider among the top-level candidates.

November Update: That season opener against Alabama is well in the rearview mirror now. Florida State has scuffled again this season, leading to very loud questions about the continued employment of Mike Norvell. White has not exactly covered himself in glory during this run, with his defense getting blown up to the tune of 46 points by Virginia, 28 points by Miami (in a game that Miami stopped playing at halftime, a sign of their own impending implosion), 34 points by Pitt, and 20 points by Stanford. They righted the ship against Wake Forest, but for White to get back into this race, he’s going to need to make the Seminoles’ defense look all-world again.

Dave Aranda

Current job: Head coach, Baylor

Dave Aranda has been a frequent name to pop up on UCLA coaching searches for the past few years, for a good reason. Aranda is a local boy (born in Kern County, went to school in Redlands, and played at Cal Lutheran) who has had a lot of success in the past; he was a highly sought-after defensive coach throughout the 2010s with huge success at both Wisconsin and LSU, and was able to parlay that into the Baylor job. Aranda found early success at Baylor, as in his second season, the Bears went 12-2, won the Big 12, and won the Sugar Bowl.

It’s been all downhill from there, as Baylor has failed to live up to expectations since that season, and the fanbase’s patience is starting to wear thin. Baylor scuffled to a 3-9 mark in 2023 and is scuffling again this year despite all of the hype and promise they had at the start of the season. More distressing is the Baylor defense, which is not good in the slightest - the Bears rank 93rd in SP+, and have given up 30+ points five times already on the season. Aranda has also not adjusted well to the changing college football landscape regarding NIL, which isn’t a great sign considering how deep the pockets are at Baylor compared to UCLA.

I think there is an open question of whether Baylor will fire Aranda at the end of this season; if they can win more and secure a bowl game, the powers that be in Waco may stick it out for another season to avoid joining the silly season, but a failure to do that might be too much for Aranda to overcome. I know Aranda has talked about being a good fit at UCLA in the past, but if he’s at UCLA, it might be as a rebound defensive coordinator rather than as head coach.

PJ Fleck

Current job: Head coach, Minnesota

File this one under “Unlikely, but not completely off the table.” We know Fleck was interested in the UCLA job the last time it opened, and while he ultimately decided the timing was not right to leave Minnesota then, the timing is certainly better now.

The problem for Fleck is that his program is still trending down since we last checked in with him. Minnesota was able to rebound last year to a 7-5 record, but last year’s team was decidedly average, and the continuity did not carry over into this year. You could make a reasonable argument that Minnesota is not set up to take advantage of the current NIL era, but if that is the case, it is hard to believe Fleck would be the coach to drag UCLA into relevance. I think Fleck would raise the floor of the program, but that might not be enough here.

November Update: If Jarmond had more control over the process, I would think Fleck has a legitimate shot here, even despite Minnesota’s middling season to date. But for him to be seriously considered, Fleck would need to get some big wins down the stretch.

Longshots

Tim Skipper

Current job: Interim head coach, UCLA

It’s a credit to Tim Skipper that he’s even on this list in the first place, but it is hard to deny that UCLA looks like a much more competent team with him at the helm than it did with Deshaun Foster in charge. But for Skipper to have a legitimate shot at this job, the Bruins would need to vastly overachieve, and that’s just not happening; even if you throw out the blowout loss to Indiana, UCLA did not look great against Maryland, and lost to Nebraska off a bye, which essentially killed his chances. Skipper is on this list as much as a historical footnote, and to acknowledge the job he did.

Tim Skipper’s tenure at UCLA has accomplished two things. One, it showed that if UCLA had just hired a competent head coach instead of Foster two years ago, they would not be in this mess, and that they should probably fire Martin Jarmond as a matter of principle. Two, it likely gets Skipper a real look at a G5 job opening, with Colorado State in particular standing out as a real option.

James Franklin

Current job: Former head coach, Penn State

James Franklin is in this section mostly because it seems like Virginia Tech is on the verge of hiring him. That said, if things fall through and UCLA has a legitimate shot at bringing him in, they absolutely should.

Let’s be adults about this: UCLA has not been in a good place for over two decades now. Sure, there was a brief respite during the early Jim Mora era, but for the most part, the program has not been run with any sort of competency. James Franklin, for all his faults, brings that competency in spades, and got the Penn State booster core to fall in line in the aftermath of the Joe Paterno scandal. This is a coach who (this season notwithstanding) created a baseline of competency at Penn State where the Nittany Lions were winning 9-10 games a year. If you’re a UCLA fan, you can look past his record against Top 10 opponents because achieving that sort of consistency is basically unheard of in the modern history of the program. If James Franklin did what he did at Penn State here, they would build a statue of him.

Matt Campbell

Current job: Head coach, Iowa State

Of all the names on this list, Matt Campbell is one of the most established and solid options around. The longtime Iowa State head coach has turned the normally moribund program into a perennial contender in the Big 12 after building Toledo into the MAC power it is today. Iowa State is again ranked this year and looks like an early frontrunner for the Big 12 yet again.

The reason Campbell is down in this spot and not in the category above is simple: no one knows if he’s willing to leave Ames. Campbell has coached at Iowa State for 10 years now, and while other programs have come calling, Campbell has yet to take them up on the offer. He’s a popular name thrown around the Midwest, especially should Michigan open up again, but he does seem to be patient and willing to wait for the right job to appear.

I think a few of the other knocks against Campbell (subpar recruiter, hasn’t won a conference title) can be handwaved away by the Iowa State of it all, but whether he’s willing to leave Ames is the biggest question, and the reason why Campbell will remain in this section.

November Update: Really, I considered taking Campbell off the list, but for journalistic integrity purposes, I’m leaving him here. Campbell isn’t coming to UCLA, and with Rhule and Cignetti signing extensions at their respective schools, Campbell likely becomes one of the top targets at Penn State (to say nothing of potential openings at Michigan State and Wisconsin). I also assume this is the time Campbell finally considers moving on from Ames, because his program has a clear ceiling.

Brent Brennan

Current job: Head coach, Arizona

Brennan is a weird mix of qualities that likely make him unappealing to the average UCLA fan. He’s a UCLA alum, which I know will leave a bad taste in many fans’ mouths following the Foster fiasco. He’s also fairly new to his current job, arriving in Arizona following the departure of Jedd Fisch to Washington, so everything we said about Smith and Fisch would apply to Brennan, too. And just as a hire, Brennan is not a flashy name that would get the fanbase excited. That does count for something.

There are positives to Brennan. His work at San Jose State almost feels deserving of a statue; while his overall record of 34-48 might seem bad, he’s also the only coach in school history to take the team to three bowl games and won the Mountain West during the 2020 COVID season, their first conference title since they played in the Big West conference. Brennan is also intimately familiar with the California recruiting scene, which is a point in his favor.

November Update: Brennan is already not a sexy name, and Arizona is again scuffling under him, to the point where he is a potential firing at the end of this season. If UCLA ended up with Brennan, that would be a sign that they struck out on a lot of names prior.

Kalani Sitake

Current job: Head coach, BYU

Of all the early names thrown out as possibilities for this job, Sitake’s is the name that feels the least plausible. It is almost a Matt Campbell situation, with Sitake sticking at his alma mater in BYU for the past 10 seasons despite garnering interest from other programs. He is paid very well, and BYU has shown a commitment to bringing in talent well above what UCLA currently has shown, so this name feels like a reach.

There’s no doubting that Sitake would instill a toughness to UCLA that has been lacking in the past decade, and his teams always play tenacious defense. But like Brennan, he’s not a sexy name and likely has a better job at the moment. This one feels like a leverage play for an extension.

November Update: BYU is sitting pretty at #8 in the country at the moment, and if Sitake’s name was being thrown around as a leverage play, then I’m not sure he knows that, as he’s made it clear he thinks the fit would be awkward at UCLA and has essentially turned down the job. Maybe a ton more money could get him to leave his alma mater, but I doubt it.

Other Names to Watch

Jason Ecks, Head coach, New Mexico

Spencer Danielson, Head coach, Boise State

Matt Entz, Head coach, Fresno State

Bob Chesney, Head coach, James Madison

I don’t have much new to say about this group. It’s a bunch of intriguing options (I especially like Chesney and think he’s a future star coach), but this group is likely well down UCLA’s initial list. Then again, Golesh and Sumrall were in this part of the list during the initial Hot Board, so anything is possible.

Go Bruins!

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