"Sources shared that UCLA has provided terms to Chesney and his reps; multiple sources said that the Bruins are discussing a formal offer in the "$6 to $7 million a year" range."
"Chesney's original, five-year pact with JMU had a staggered buyout-clause if Chesney elected to depart for another program that was tiered based on the conference affiliation of his next job; departing for UCLA would leave the Bruins on the hook for approximately $1.25 million to buy out Chesney's contract, per a review of the terms. "
All small change compared to what UCLA is apparently willing to spend on a move to SoFi isn't it. I was told by people close to what is going on that UCLA had a max of $10m, yes $10 million a year they could offer a new coach for 5 years. Not sure I believe this, but again this Athletic Dept seems to like spending money they don't have, so there is that. I don't think this coach will turn around UCLA quickly. It's such a toxic environment, he will need a couple of years at the very least. probably 4 to 6 wins year 1, which would be a very good year and perhaps 7-9 wins year 2. If he could pull off these impressive numbers (impressive for UCLA football at least), then the football program will have a brighter future. But he should make sure that Jelly 2.0 has nothing to do with the football program at all. Just like the men's and women's basketball programs, lock him out of all of it. If UCLA wants to build winning programs this is a 100% requirement... NO JELLY 2.0.
We know the $10 million number is real because that's what the UC Board of Trustees approved back in October. I'm sure that group is happy that UCLA is coming under that number.
Penn St is on the verge of hiring Sitake who is a great coach but an awkward fit at PSU so they might come calling in a couple of years if Chesney does well for us.
It must be, since he chose us over PSU. Would be interesting to hear his thoughts on his decision and why since PSU by all appearances has a superior culture, stadium, fan base....you name it. And I am sure they put a competitive offer on front of him. PSU is really the ones left holding the bag this hiring cycle.
If he does well for us and gets poached by Penn State that means we’ve gotten out of the hellhole this program has been in since we hired Chip Kelly and had 2 or 3 of the best seasons in the last 25 years. I’ll gladly take that if we can’t make it his worthwhile.
Penn State fans seems to think they will make a push for Chesney if the Sitake hire falls through. Hopefully Chesney is a man of his word like John Wooden was. Even if there’s a signed contract between Chesney and UCLA, Penn St can probably afford to pay his buyout and increase his salary over what UCLA is paying him ($6-7mil), considering the rumors of what they were willing to pay Sitake.
If he did pivot to Penn State last minute and cited the reason as a well (or even properly) run athletic department, we would all have to nod and say "can't blame him".
Nobody is going to cite “properly run athletic department” as a reason to go to Penn State. Their fans hate their AD just as much, if not more, than we hate Jarmond.
Considering Penn State is in the middle of a major stadium renovation and was one of the biggest pushers of the private equity deal to get some money in, I’d guess that they don’t have “pay a fresh buyout on a new contract that is probably around $30 mil (that UCLA def would require them to pay in full) then pay a coaching salary of $12 mil since you reportedly offered that to Sitake and Chesney isn’t going to break a contract for a small pay bump” money.
Is Chesney signed though? Now that Sitake has turned them down, they could be desperate and target Chesney if it’s only an agreement in principle. One point in our favour though is that Chesney is represented by Jimmy Sexton, who also represents Franklin, and apparently is pissed off at how PSU showed him the door. Crossing my fingers hoping it all holds (did we just beat Penn State twice this year, on and off the field?)
I’d also say that the amount that PSU would need to overpay to get Chesney at this point (there’s enough smoke that the deal has already been signed that I’m liable to believe it) is well past what would be considered a sane decision.
Easiest way I can say Chesney to UCLA is safe: Chesney is already calling recruits on behalf of UCLA, and got a flip tonight. That’s a pretty good indicator that he’s heading to Westwood.
Re "UCLA Finally Gets a Football Coaching Search Right": I sure hope in time that eventually becomes a true and indisputable statement! Hard to believe the jelly donut AD and his fellow HC search committee members were able to successfully sell the UCLA HC opening to JMU HC Chesney. In addition to whatever financial and organizational enticements they presented, I think it would be hard for him to ignore UCLA's academic prowess and rich sports history, the favorable SoCal weather, and the multitude of activities and events that can be experienced and enjoyed over here (do any of you relocated fellow Bruins miss any of that?). If he's successful at UCLA, I don't see him flipping to PSU, unless he gets homesick or the incompetent and dysfunctional UCLA administration does something to negatively impact the football program (maybe getting some useful tips from HC Cronin would help). The expectations for winning at PSU also seem much higher, as the Bruins would've looked pretty good if it had HC Franklin's record of accomplishments during his 12 seasons at PSU. Meanwhile, PSU seems to be really struggling to find their new HC (their AD must be pretty bad too!). Many thanks to interim-HC Skipper and his players for pulling off that unexpected upset of PSU and putting their football program into a tailspin!
Since the Bruins football season is mercifully over, the game between #25 JMU and Troy this Friday should attract interest from Bruins fans, so hope HC Chesney can beat those Trojans! Would be even more entertaining if JMU and U$C were to face off in some bowl game too, as those Trojans $UC!
Can't help but notice that no one is talking about UCLA's latest football disaster and that was their 2026 recruiting class (currently ranked 108th and dropping as we speak). No, I didn't expect anything less, but it is interesting when you begin to look deeper into the UCLA recruiting effort this past year. It was not bad before Foster was fired and terrible after, so of course this would seem expected and normal. But I always like to compare UCLA's football program with CAL's, since they are essentially sister schools within the same UC system and both rank very high academically and both are always in the situation of turning down a lot of new student prospects because they simply can't accommodate all the students who want to attend their schools. In addition, they have some of the same academic limitations, etc. So, CAL just recently fired their head coach, but it didn't seem to dramatically impact their recruiting? They are currently ranked 56th and seem stable within the top 75 in this current recruiting class. How is it that UCLA has a worse football program and a horrible recruiting record compared to CAL? No, CAL's 7-5 record and their blowout loss to a pathetic Stanford team, didn't look good (and in fact got their head coach Wilcox fired) but it just seems CAL doesn't have all the issues UCLA does when it comes to their football program. Added on top of all this for CAL is that Knowlton, who was the Athletic Director there for past 7 years retired in June, now they have a mess as an AD setup, I believe they currently have co-AD's! Of course, they could have put in a dead ant as AD and he or she would still run rings around our current Jelly 2.0 AD, at least the CAL AD's can READ THE ROOM. But I do think it's the AD's at each school that cause these discrepancies between the two programs, CAL's athletics are simply better run and operated. Jelly 2.0 has problems even finding the keys to his office. The good news, most football recruits (at least) realize that Jelly 2.0 is still there so they are steering far away from UCLA.
I do believe Chesney will bring players with him. And recruits that were interested in JMU are now commiting to UCLA.
Chesney is a great leader and recruiter. He is dynamic and has a presence that fills the room that Donut Head Jelly 2.0 is still trying to read 🤣
Chesney is highly intelligent, articulate, steady, charismatic and has an off the charts great track record.
But most importantly, he reminds me of Wooden: principled, high character, and a builder of young men, of champion human beings.
We are in good hands. NIL will grow, donations will grow, community will grow.
My point is... Chesney will lift our program up in ways we haven't seen in decades. He may one day be known as the best coach UCLA has ever had.
As for Donut Head Jelly 2.0, we have Blockhead 2.0 to solely blame. No one wants the Donut Hole so unless Block fires this room reading Hole, it will be up to Chesney to ban this slimebag from everything Football. Winning will allow him to do that. imho.
The SoFi folks seem to have a liking for local football teams that currently wear some form of blue and gold (Rams, Chargers, and now UCLA). My favorite colors too! ;-)
Looks like the City of Pasadena found a bigger source for compensation if they win their case. This Bruins offseason couldn't be more eventful...
Past performance is no guarantee of future performance How much did Chesney cost? Another Chip Kelly deal? Welcome to Westwood, Bob!
"Sources shared that UCLA has provided terms to Chesney and his reps; multiple sources said that the Bruins are discussing a formal offer in the "$6 to $7 million a year" range."
"Chesney's original, five-year pact with JMU had a staggered buyout-clause if Chesney elected to depart for another program that was tiered based on the conference affiliation of his next job; departing for UCLA would leave the Bruins on the hook for approximately $1.25 million to buy out Chesney's contract, per a review of the terms. "
https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/11/29/update-at-ucla-bruins-search-has-top-target-offer
All small change compared to what UCLA is apparently willing to spend on a move to SoFi isn't it. I was told by people close to what is going on that UCLA had a max of $10m, yes $10 million a year they could offer a new coach for 5 years. Not sure I believe this, but again this Athletic Dept seems to like spending money they don't have, so there is that. I don't think this coach will turn around UCLA quickly. It's such a toxic environment, he will need a couple of years at the very least. probably 4 to 6 wins year 1, which would be a very good year and perhaps 7-9 wins year 2. If he could pull off these impressive numbers (impressive for UCLA football at least), then the football program will have a brighter future. But he should make sure that Jelly 2.0 has nothing to do with the football program at all. Just like the men's and women's basketball programs, lock him out of all of it. If UCLA wants to build winning programs this is a 100% requirement... NO JELLY 2.0.
100%, Big888!
We know the $10 million number is real because that's what the UC Board of Trustees approved back in October. I'm sure that group is happy that UCLA is coming under that number.
don't worry, Dmitri, the 'change' will appear in a connected party's pocket!
He speaks like a coach you'd run through walls for.
Just glad it's a season and a process behind us. Best of luck to our new head coach and I'm on board with support!
But is UCLA a destination job for Chesney?
Penn St is on the verge of hiring Sitake who is a great coach but an awkward fit at PSU so they might come calling in a couple of years if Chesney does well for us.
It must be, since he chose us over PSU. Would be interesting to hear his thoughts on his decision and why since PSU by all appearances has a superior culture, stadium, fan base....you name it. And I am sure they put a competitive offer on front of him. PSU is really the ones left holding the bag this hiring cycle.
UCLA is not a destination job for anyone.
Well, he has to win at UCLA if he wants or intends to move on/up. And if we are winning, then likely we will be in a better spot than now.
It would be for Jerry Neuheisel if he’s ever qualified.
Amazingly, it appears that PSU is not a destination job for anyone.
If he does well for us and gets poached by Penn State that means we’ve gotten out of the hellhole this program has been in since we hired Chip Kelly and had 2 or 3 of the best seasons in the last 25 years. I’ll gladly take that if we can’t make it his worthwhile.
Penn State fans seems to think they will make a push for Chesney if the Sitake hire falls through. Hopefully Chesney is a man of his word like John Wooden was. Even if there’s a signed contract between Chesney and UCLA, Penn St can probably afford to pay his buyout and increase his salary over what UCLA is paying him ($6-7mil), considering the rumors of what they were willing to pay Sitake.
If he did pivot to Penn State last minute and cited the reason as a well (or even properly) run athletic department, we would all have to nod and say "can't blame him".
Nobody is going to cite “properly run athletic department” as a reason to go to Penn State. Their fans hate their AD just as much, if not more, than we hate Jarmond.
Oh? I didn't know that.
Considering Penn State is in the middle of a major stadium renovation and was one of the biggest pushers of the private equity deal to get some money in, I’d guess that they don’t have “pay a fresh buyout on a new contract that is probably around $30 mil (that UCLA def would require them to pay in full) then pay a coaching salary of $12 mil since you reportedly offered that to Sitake and Chesney isn’t going to break a contract for a small pay bump” money.
Is Chesney signed though? Now that Sitake has turned them down, they could be desperate and target Chesney if it’s only an agreement in principle. One point in our favour though is that Chesney is represented by Jimmy Sexton, who also represents Franklin, and apparently is pissed off at how PSU showed him the door. Crossing my fingers hoping it all holds (did we just beat Penn State twice this year, on and off the field?)
Chesney isn’t represented by Sexton.
I’d also say that the amount that PSU would need to overpay to get Chesney at this point (there’s enough smoke that the deal has already been signed that I’m liable to believe it) is well past what would be considered a sane decision.
Easiest way I can say Chesney to UCLA is safe: Chesney is already calling recruits on behalf of UCLA, and got a flip tonight. That’s a pretty good indicator that he’s heading to Westwood.
Hmm, definitely saw reports saying this, but I suppose you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the internet. 😆
Re "UCLA Finally Gets a Football Coaching Search Right": I sure hope in time that eventually becomes a true and indisputable statement! Hard to believe the jelly donut AD and his fellow HC search committee members were able to successfully sell the UCLA HC opening to JMU HC Chesney. In addition to whatever financial and organizational enticements they presented, I think it would be hard for him to ignore UCLA's academic prowess and rich sports history, the favorable SoCal weather, and the multitude of activities and events that can be experienced and enjoyed over here (do any of you relocated fellow Bruins miss any of that?). If he's successful at UCLA, I don't see him flipping to PSU, unless he gets homesick or the incompetent and dysfunctional UCLA administration does something to negatively impact the football program (maybe getting some useful tips from HC Cronin would help). The expectations for winning at PSU also seem much higher, as the Bruins would've looked pretty good if it had HC Franklin's record of accomplishments during his 12 seasons at PSU. Meanwhile, PSU seems to be really struggling to find their new HC (their AD must be pretty bad too!). Many thanks to interim-HC Skipper and his players for pulling off that unexpected upset of PSU and putting their football program into a tailspin!
Since the Bruins football season is mercifully over, the game between #25 JMU and Troy this Friday should attract interest from Bruins fans, so hope HC Chesney can beat those Trojans! Would be even more entertaining if JMU and U$C were to face off in some bowl game too, as those Trojans $UC!
Can't help but notice that no one is talking about UCLA's latest football disaster and that was their 2026 recruiting class (currently ranked 108th and dropping as we speak). No, I didn't expect anything less, but it is interesting when you begin to look deeper into the UCLA recruiting effort this past year. It was not bad before Foster was fired and terrible after, so of course this would seem expected and normal. But I always like to compare UCLA's football program with CAL's, since they are essentially sister schools within the same UC system and both rank very high academically and both are always in the situation of turning down a lot of new student prospects because they simply can't accommodate all the students who want to attend their schools. In addition, they have some of the same academic limitations, etc. So, CAL just recently fired their head coach, but it didn't seem to dramatically impact their recruiting? They are currently ranked 56th and seem stable within the top 75 in this current recruiting class. How is it that UCLA has a worse football program and a horrible recruiting record compared to CAL? No, CAL's 7-5 record and their blowout loss to a pathetic Stanford team, didn't look good (and in fact got their head coach Wilcox fired) but it just seems CAL doesn't have all the issues UCLA does when it comes to their football program. Added on top of all this for CAL is that Knowlton, who was the Athletic Director there for past 7 years retired in June, now they have a mess as an AD setup, I believe they currently have co-AD's! Of course, they could have put in a dead ant as AD and he or she would still run rings around our current Jelly 2.0 AD, at least the CAL AD's can READ THE ROOM. But I do think it's the AD's at each school that cause these discrepancies between the two programs, CAL's athletics are simply better run and operated. Jelly 2.0 has problems even finding the keys to his office. The good news, most football recruits (at least) realize that Jelly 2.0 is still there so they are steering far away from UCLA.
Makes you wonder whether Darlington will get the boot once Chesney is on board.
Though, I don't know if the hiring / firing of that role is responsibility of the coach or the AD. Maybe someone here can clarify?
I do believe Chesney will bring players with him. And recruits that were interested in JMU are now commiting to UCLA.
Chesney is a great leader and recruiter. He is dynamic and has a presence that fills the room that Donut Head Jelly 2.0 is still trying to read 🤣
Chesney is highly intelligent, articulate, steady, charismatic and has an off the charts great track record.
But most importantly, he reminds me of Wooden: principled, high character, and a builder of young men, of champion human beings.
We are in good hands. NIL will grow, donations will grow, community will grow.
My point is... Chesney will lift our program up in ways we haven't seen in decades. He may one day be known as the best coach UCLA has ever had.
As for Donut Head Jelly 2.0, we have Blockhead 2.0 to solely blame. No one wants the Donut Hole so unless Block fires this room reading Hole, it will be up to Chesney to ban this slimebag from everything Football. Winning will allow him to do that. imho.
Well the RB law suit has emerged from a period of silence...
SoFi and Kroenke Sports are now specified as defendants.
Piece by Bolch:
https://x.com/latbbolch/status/1996992304964686332?s=46
The SoFi folks seem to have a liking for local football teams that currently wear some form of blue and gold (Rams, Chargers, and now UCLA). My favorite colors too! ;-)
Looks like the City of Pasadena found a bigger source for compensation if they win their case. This Bruins offseason couldn't be more eventful...
Rose Bowl getting compensation means they actually lost their case, since what they really want is for ucla to stay at the Rose Bowl.
But you’re right, Kroenke and SoFi being added to the lawsuit does not bode well for UCLA’s future at the RB
Congrats to our future HC and JMU on beating the Trojans in a tough, defensive contest!
Chesney officially announced as UCLA’s football coach! The announcement email comes with a donation link for NIL too.