Bob Chesney led James Madison to unprecedented success in the 2025 season and then had the temerity to raise his hand to tackle the UCLA Bruins rebuild.
For that new endeavor, Chesney has a pair of key, new defensive staff additions, FootballScoop has learned.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Chesney is adding a Big Ten Conference defensive line coach and a former ACC standout with NFL playing experience to his inaugural Bruins defensive coaching staff.
Ex-Michigan State defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa is set to join Chesney's UCLA staff, per sources, while Eddie Whitley Jr., a former Virginia Tech star who's coached a half-dozen years at James Madison with both Chesney and predecessor Curt Cignetti, also will accept an offer at UCLA, additional sources told FootballScoop.
The impending addition of Whitley Jr. to help work with the UCLA Bruins secondary is particularly noteworthy; sources indicated to FootballScoop that he also had been a target of new Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin.
A former All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection who spent time in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, among other franchises, Whitley Jr. stood as James Madison's longest-tenured football staff member as he wrapped up a half-dozen seasons on staff in 2025.
He's tutored multiple all-conference selections and future NFL players during his time with the Dukes.
As for Suiaunoa, he's set to return to the West Coast and the region he's spent the overwhelming majority of his career in college football. After concluding his playing career with the Nevada Wolf Pack, he also has coached at Eastern Oregon, Portland State, Hawaii and Oregon State, among several notable stops.
He was part of Jonathan Smith's ill-fated Michigan State staff in recent years after serving with great results under Smith at Oregon State.
Chesney was hired last month atop the UCLA program to replace the fired DeShaun Foster, who saw his brief tenure atop his alma mater ended after a 5-10 mark through 15 games.
A former head coach at Holy Cross, Chesney has zoomed through the coaching ranks this decade. A Pennsylvania native who also was interviewed for the Penn State job late last year after the Nittany Lions fired Franklin midseason, Chesney has posted 132 career wins as an NCAA head coach -- the last 65 spread between the Football Championship Subdivision Holy Cross program and 21 in two seasons atop James Madison.
UCLA, under Chesney, is scheduled to open its 2026 season Sept. 5 at in-state and former conference rival Cal, which also will be led by a first-year head coach in newcomer Tosh Lupoi.