Bob Chesney reportedly set to take over as head coach at UCLA

UCLA Football appears to have its guy.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, UCLA is set to hire James Madison University head coach Bob Chesney as its next head coach on a 5-year deal.

The announcement is set to become official after Saturday's Sun Belt championship game between James Madison and Troy. If they make it into the College Football Playoff, UCLA is expected to let him coach during the playoff.

The hiring of Chesney, 48, comes after he led James Madison to an 11-1 season where they ranked 21st in offense and 10th in defense, allowing an average of 16 points per game.

Chesney, a native of Pennsylvania, has spent the last 15 years as a head coach at multiple schools, including Salve Regina, Assumption, Holy Cross, and James Madison. He has a career record of 131-51.

Chesney will be coming in to replace UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper, who took over the reins as head coach after UCLA fired Deshaun Foster, following a 0-3 start to the year.

The team also agreed to mutually part ways with offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri and defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe.

After the departure of Foster and his coordinators, UCLA won its next three games, including a 42-39 win over No.7 Penn State. After the winning streak, they went and lost their next five games, including losses to No.1 Ohio State, No.2 Indiana, and No.17 USC.

The Bruins' season concluded on Saturday after a 29-10 loss to USC, finishing with a 3-9 record, making them ineligible to play in a bowl game for the second consecutive season.

The Bruins finished the season with the 117th-ranked offense, scoring 23 touchdowns. Defensively, they finished 123rd in the country, giving up an average of 334.42 points per game.