LOS ANGELES — Bob Chesney is bringing his closest colleagues alongside him to Westwood.
James Madison defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler and offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy will assume the same roles at UCLA, the university announced Monday afternoon.
“Both Colin and Dean played integral parts to our historic success at James Madison,” Chesney said in a release. “I am thrilled that they have chosen to continue their coaching journeys in Westwood as part of our new Bruin Family. I have seen first-hand their abilities to develop elite talent and get the most out of their players over the years.”
Hitschler, whose relationship with UCLA head football coach Bob Chesney began at Salve Regina — Chesney’s first head coaching stop — as a co-special teams coordinator and defensive line coach in 2011, reunited with his former boss with the Dukes in 2025 after serving as co-defensive coordinator at Alabama in the year previous.
The 39-year-old, who is a Penn alumnus, spent most of his career at multi-year stops at South Alabama and Cincinnati – led James Madison to the top defense in the Sun Belt in 2025, ranking first in scoring defense (18.4 points), rushing defense (85.1 yards) and passing defense (181.6 yards). Hitschler’s unit produced a conference-high eight All-Sun Belt honorees – among 15 total Dukes – which included Sun Belt defensive player of the year linebacker Trent Kendrick and freshman of the year defensive lineman Sahir West.
Kennedy, who first became an offensive coordinator at Holy Cross in 2023 – after serving the previous season as quarterbacks coach – has brought James Madison to unprecedented highs across his two seasons with the Dukes. Kennedy has led James Madison to the 11th-best offense in the country in 2025, averaging 37.1 points per game – and has run one of the most efficient ground games, with the Dukes averaging 241.5 rushing yards per game (sixth overall) and 5.54 yards per carry (top 10 overall).
The 32-year-old will replace offensive playcaller Jerry Neuheisel – who was the longest-tenured staff member in Westwood. Neuheisel replaced Tino Sunseri as coordinator after Week 4 when UCLA fell to Northwestern.
Kennedy’s Dukes offense tallied 34 points against No. 5 Oregon in the College Football Playoff, the most the Ducks had allowed in a game in 2025 and recorded 509 total yards on offense. Last season, Kennedy led James Madison to 33.3 points per game (26th overall), 191.5 rushing yards per game (28th overall) and 30th in the nation in pass efficiency.
Hitschler began his career in low-level NFL assistant roles before coaching at Salve Regina and Widener, Division III programs. He served as a graduate assistant at Arkansas State and South Alabama before rising through the ranks there from 2014 to 2017.
At Cincinnati, Hitschler served in four separate roles before becoming co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach in 2022. He covered the same position on staff under Luke Fickell at Wisconsin and Kalen DeBoer at Alabama in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Now at UCLA, Hitschler will lead defensive play calling solo for the second time in his career.
Much like Chesney, Kennedy worked his way up the proverbial mountain from the bottom. Kennedy got his start as the quarterback at the University of Rochester in Division III, where he earned All-Liberty League first team honors as a senior. He then started his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at ASA College, a now-defunct junior college, in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Kennedy then became a graduate assistant at Mississippi State in 2017 before spending 2018 to 2021 at Florida, where he rose from graduate assistant to offensive quality control coach to assistant quarterbacks coach before taking the quarterbacks coach job at Holy Cross under Chesney in 2022 – which then led him to James Madison.
On the Bruin Insider Show – UCLA Athletics’ radio show and podcast – released the week of his hiring, Chesney expanded on what staffing strategies he’d take when building his coaching staff.
“I think that the assemblance of a staff is the most important part,” Chesney said. “There’s people that I have to be loyal to that have been loyal to me. I did not get here by myself, and I won’t pretend I did.”