WORCESTER—Living a coaching journey that has often mirrored scenes from a Hollywood movie, Bob Chesney is going west to California in search of gold–and blue.
Chesney, who spent 11 years in Worcester revitalizing the football programs at the College of the Holy Cross and Assumption University, was formally introduced as the new head coach at UCLA at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
UCLA Chancellor Dr. Julio Frenk referred to Chesney as a “transformational hire” for the university. “We have found in coach Bob Chesney, exactly the right leader to help bring greatness, pride and a winning tradition back to UCLA football,” he said.
“Bob is a special guy,” added UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond. “He’s a force of nature and he’s the engine behind every program that he has touched. Bob has a strong conviction to win wherever he goes–that’s just who he is. And we’re thrilled that he is going to win with us.”
As the 20th head coach in program history, Chesney, 48, inherits a struggling Bruins team at UCLA that finished just 3-9 overall this season and 3-6 in the Big Ten under interim head coach Tim Skipper. The 2025 campaign marked the second straight losing season for UCLA who went 5-7 in 2024. The last time the Bruins were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll was three years ago in 2022. Chesney is the first sitting head coach hired by UCLA since Pepper Rodgers in 1971.
“There is zero doubt in my mind that we can win here at UCLA,” said Chesney. “I believe in the power of UCLA. I think that’s important for everyone in here to understand. It will be built on toughness. It will be built on competitiveness. Our players will be asked to compete on a day to day basis.”
Before fully beginning his new role at UCLA, Chesney will stay on as the head coach at James Madison University (JMU) until the conclusion of the season. The Dukes (12-1), champions of the Sun Belt Conference, are the No. 12 seed for the 2025 College Football Playoff (CFP) and will play at No. 5 seed Oregon in the opening round on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be the first CFP appearance for JMU in program history and will be televised live on TNT, truTV and HBO Max.
In two years at the helm of the Dukes, Chesney has compiled a 21-5 record, including a perfect 8-0 run in Sun Belt Conference play this fall. Earlier this month he was named the 2025 Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
Throughout his career, Chesney has become known for his unique ability to quickly turn losing programs around. At Salve Regina (Division 3), Assumption (Division 2), and Holy Cross (Division 1), he either won or took each of those programs to a conference championship within three years of being named head coach.
In the five seasons prior to Chesney’s arrival at Assumption, the Greyhounds went 24-38. From 2013 through 2017 with Chesney on board, they rebounded with an impressive 44-16 mark including three trips to the NCAA Division 2 Tournament over five winning seasons. In the 17 years prior to 2013, the Assumption program had just two winning records.
At Holy Cross, the Crusaders were 23-45 in five seasons before Chesney. But in six seasons with Chesney from 2018 through 2023, Holy Cross vaulted to 44-21 including a program-record five consecutive Patriot League titles and four appearances in the NCAA FCS tournament.
Overall, Chesney’s teams in Worcester won 70 percent (88 of 125) of their games through 11 seasons. He was named Patriot League Coach of the Year three times at Holy Cross (2022, 2021, 2019) and Northeast-10 Coach of the Year twice at Assumption (2017, 2015).
At both Assumption and Holy Cross, resources weren’t always plentiful when it came to building successful football programs on a national level. In his first year at Assumption, Chesney only had 12 scholarship players when other Division 2 programs had twice or even three times as many. He faced similar challenges at Holy Cross with a higher cost of admission and no availability to recruit graduate students or fifth-year players. Chesney believes that these barriers forced him to learn key elements of how to evaluate talent and then develop that talent at an elite level.
“Between those two places, those two schools, there was a lot of growth for me and there was a phenomenal community of blue-collar, tough people that loved football and that was really important for me as I went through it to understand the history and the care for those programs,” said Chesney in a Zoom media availability hosted by James Madison on December 7. “Eleven years–my kids realistically knew nothing else other than Worcester for all those years and there was a lot of growth personally and professionally for sure.”
Chesney’s overall record as a head coach is 132-51 (.721 winning percentage). He has been a head coach for 16 years and has enjoyed 15 winning seasons at four different levels of college football (Division 3, Division 2, FCS and FBS). During his tenure, Chesney has coached 13 All-Americans, including players that have gone on to play professionally in the NFL.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Chesney was joined by his wife Andea, daughters Lyla and Hudson and son Bo.
