In Reply to: The good news is Chesney couldn't, shouldn't be a candidate posted by LakerFanForLebronNotKobe on November 04, 2026 at 10:14:52
UCLA has benefited from a lot of good fortune.
We faced two of our toughest opponents without their starting quarterbacks, and their backups were terrible (Michigan State and Oklahoma). We still haven't beaten a truly great team.
Larger programs generally want a longer track record before hiring a head coach.
The fastest exception I can think of is someone like Urban Meyer, who left Utah after just two seasons. But look at what he accomplished: he took a Utah team that had gone 5–6 the previous year and led them to a 10–2 season, followed by an undefeated 12–0 season and a No. 4 national ranking.
Personally, if I had a choice among first-year head coaches, I'd take Utah's Morgan Scalley, as much as I like Chesney. Scalley has 10 years of experience as Utah's defensive coordinator at the D1 level. More importantly, Utah's spread-option offense is the closest thing I've seen to Urban Meyer's system since Meyer himself. His defense is 4-2-5 with a lot of press coverage and dynamic pass rushing schemes. His systems on both sides of the ball are perfect for teams with elite athletes.
Scalley also played under Meyer and was a captain on Utah's undefeated 12–0 Fiesta Bowl team.
Utah moved on from Kyle Whittingham, who had originally served as Meyer's defensive coordinator. Michigan is now paying Whittingham a base salary of $8 million a year.
Utah is also undefeated. At this point, I just don't think UCLA is in the same class.