Why it will hurt extra for USC fans if Bob Chesney works out for UCLA

The Bruins got their guy. On Monday, news broke that former James Madison University head football coach Bob Chesney is set to sign a five-year deal with UCLA to become the Bruins' next head football coach.

This ends UCLA's coaching search after the school fired former head football coach DeShaun Foster back in mid-September following an 0-3 non conference start.

Chesney is an intriguing hire. His James Madison Dukes are 11-1 this season and 20-5 in Chesney's two seasons in Harrisonburg. There's in fact certainly a chance that James Madison makes the College Football Playoff this year based on how the Dukes perform in the Sun Belt title game against Troy and how other conference championship games shake out.

Context

His hire also comes in the context of Curt Cignetti's success at Indiana. Cignetti has turned the Hoosiers into a college football powerhouse just two years into his tenure. He will have led Indiana to two straight College Football Playoff appearances when the Hoosiers are inevitably included in the 12-team field regardless of how they perform in the Big Ten title game against Ohio State.

Chesney succeeded Cignetti at James Madison. Two years later he already has a big time job.

Chesney creates an interesting dynamic for the USC-UCLA rivalry because he is an anti-Lincoln Riley. Translated: If UCLA has success at or above USC's level anytime soon, Trojan fans will probably take out their anger on Riley, fair or not.

Let's talk about what I mean.

Lincoln Riley's contract, expectations

USC spent a pretty penny to bring Lincoln Riley to town back in 2021. 10 years and $110 million, to be exact. The school committed so much money to him because it wanted a proven commodity. Riley was as proven as it got. 3 CFP appearances, four Big 12 titles and four New Years Six bowls in five years at Oklahoma.

The expectations under Riley were clear: become a regular contender for the CFP. Especially after the postseason expanded to 12 teams.

But USC has not made the College Football Playoff after four years of Lincoln Riley. The Trojans got painstakingly, frustratingly close in 2022 and heartbreakingly close in 2025, with two mediocre years in the middle in 2023-24.

Program situation: Riley vs. Chesney

Lincoln Riley inherited a USC team that went 4-8 in 2021. The program was not exactly in a state of total health at the end of the Clay Helton era.

But it was a period of time where it became clear that USC could easily become nationally relevant again. With new NIL rules hitting the NCAA in 2021, a school with big money like USC could spend its way to the top.

Bob Chesney inherits a UCLA program in much rougher shape. The Bruins' were the laughingstock of college football at points this season, may be moving from the Rose Bowl to SoFi Stadium in a largely unpopular move, and generally have little brand momentum. There will be plenty of patience for Chesney. He does not need to succeed right away. Any fan ire for UCLA football will be directed to AD Martin Jarmond.

But if Chesney does succeed, you know UCLA fans will rub it into the faces of USC fans. The Bruins are investing less into Chesney than the Trojans are in Riley, so if they get better results, that would be very frustrating.

Can Chesney do it?

It's important to note that Bob Chesney never worked with Curt Cignetti. It's not like Chesney was witness to some sort of secret Cignetti sauce, unless that runs in the James Madison drinking fountains.

The only connecting tissue between the two men is that they coached at the same school at different times. However, writer Matt Zemek noted in his article about the Chesney hire that the situation at UCLA is better than Cignetti's was at Indiana for one key reason: history.

"UCLA hasn't done anything this century, but the Bruins do have a robust and very rich football tradition," Zemek wrote. "They won the national championship in 1954. Then-coach Red Sanders was one of the great coaches of his era and died of a heart attack in the midst of his flourishing career. UCLA had several great teams in the 1960s, beating unbeaten and No. 1 Michigan State in the classic 1966 Rose Bowl. UCLA's great 1967 team lost to USC 21-20 in the greatest Bruin-Trojan football game of all time.

"UCLA upset No. 1 Ohio State to win the 1976 Rose Bowl. The Bruins won three Rose Bowls in a four-year span under iconic coach Terry Donahue in the 1980s. They came one win away from playing in the first BCS championship game in the 1998 season. UCLA, unlike Indiana, has a rich history. If Curt Cignetti can do what he did in Indiana, Bob Chesney -- if he is the real deal -- can do the same in Westwood."

Potential scheduling advantages for UCLA

Zemek also pointed out that luck could significantly factor into UCLA's College Football Playoff chances in the next few years.

"Oregon made the playoff without playing Ohio State, without beating Indiana, and without playing Michigan," Zemek wrote. "Indiana and Michigan did not play. Indiana and USC did not play. Teams will -- and do -- avoid top opponents. If UCLA gets the right schedule rotation, the Bruins could rise more quickly than many think."

UCLA's schedule in 2025 was brutal. The Bruins had to play Ohio State, Indiana, USC, Utah, Penn State, Washington. There is no way it will be that tough every year, so Zemek has a point.

Fair criticism?

Coaching comparisons can be kind of unfair. Each situation, and each coach, is unique. Trojan fans should try to continue evaluating Lincoln Riley as a standalone figure as best as they can.

But I understand people who would be frustrated, just like people are frustrated that Oklahoma will almost certainly be back in the CFP under Brent Venables this season, before Lincoln Riley makes it at USC.

The only way to avoid more frustration is to keep building. Improve on the 9-3 mark next year.

And especially, keep beating the Bruins.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: UCLA football hires Bob Chesney as next head coach after USC game