UCLA Football Introduces Bob Chesney at Press Conference
December 09, 2025 | Football
LOS ANGELES โ UCLA formally introduced Bob Chesney as the Bruins' new head football coach on Tuesday morning during a press conference on campus at Luskin Conference Center.
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Chesney was introduced at the press conference after remarks from UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk and Martin Jarmond, The Alice and Nahum Lanier Family Director of Athletics. Jarmond introduced Chesney, who spoke to a room full of media members, invited guests and UCLA coaches and staff before answering questions and greeting guests.
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Chesney has spent the past two seasons as the head coach at James Madison and brings more than 25 years of collegiate coaching experience to Westwood โ including 16 seasons as a head football coach. He has won eight conference championships and has compiled a career coaching record of 132-51 (.721). Chesney's teams have produced 13 All-America selections (2 FBS, 11 FCS) and two Academic All-Americans.
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"Success looks like winning," Chesney said. "That's what it looks like on a day-to-day basis. For us, it is what we do in this program. Every single thing we do has winners and losers, every single day. There will not be a day that goes by that we just kind of get by. That is really important. That was the underlying theme in everything we've done up to this point in time. We don't walk on the field on Saturdays, not having been there before, in almost every situational aspect you can imagine."
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This season, Chesney was honored as the 2025 Sun Belt Coach of the Year, having led James Madison to a 12-1 record and the school's first Sun Belt Conference title. Chesney has guided James Madison into the College Football Playoff (CFP), a 12-team bracketed format that kicks off next week. James Madison will play a first-round matchup at Oregon (11-1) on Saturday, Dec. 20, marking the school's first-ever appearance in the CFP.
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Last season, Chesney led James Madison to its first FBS bowl game victory, a 27-17 win over Western Kentucky in the Boca Raton Bowl. James Madison concluded the 2024 season with a 9-4 record.
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Chesney will continue to coach James Madison through the College Football Playoff, starting on Saturday, Dec. 20.
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"I think right now, in this day and age, the idea of the timing of when the portal opens, but understanding a lot of things will be done long before that portal even opens, is important for us to do and we will," said Chesney, in reference to juggling the coaching roles at JMU and UCLA this month. "We have to get that staff in place. I think we have a robust recruiting staff right now and I think those guys have to continue to work on it, and I have to make sure that I'm available in the moments when the work is done over at JMU as we continue to fight for this national championship. Those are all things that ultimately I have to juggle and I have to balance, but I'm very confident in my ability to do that."
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The 2026 football season will mark Chesney's 17th year as a collegiate head coach. He has produced 15 winning seasons as a head coach at four different levels of college football โ NCAA III, NCAA II, FCS and FBS. Prior to his time at James Madison, he served as head coach at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., for six seasons (2018-23). His teams at Holy Cross won the Patriot League title (or tied for the league title) in each of his final five seasons. He began his head coaching career in 2010 at Salve Regina (NCAA III) before moving to Assumption (NCAA II).
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