LOS ANGELES — The post hoc of UCLA’s college football regular season leaves looming questions.
Who’s UCLA’s next head football coach?
How does the Bruins’ soon-to-be head honcho affect their incoming recruiting class – as signing day approaches – for better or worse?
But as Nico Iamaleava answered questions, left and right, after UCLA’s 29-10 defeat to No. 19 USC on Saturday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, one more question remained. Had Iamaleava, the redshirt sophomore transfer quarterback from Tennessee, thought about what lies ahead, whether with or without UCLA?
“No, I haven’t, man,” said Iamaleava, who completed 27 of 38 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown. “I was, you know, focused on, on this game and, you know, practice film. And, you know, I haven’t really thought of anything past that.”
Iamaleava had done everything – and then some – for the Bruins in 2025. He transferred in after spring camp, proverbially ousting then-quarterback Joey Aguilar away from Westwood into a one-for-one transfer portal swap to Tennessee.
Then, head coach DeShaun Foster named him a team captain. Players and coaches alike glowed about how the Bruins gravitated toward the Long Beach native, who returned home, he said, partially due to family ties back in Southern California. When UCLA began the season 0-3 and Foster was fired, Iamaleava remained a Bruin despite having the option to enter the transfer portal. When former offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri departed the program after the Bruins’ Sept. 27 loss to Northwestern that dropped them to 0-4, Iamaleava rallied his teammates in response.
“If y’all don’t want to be here, man, leave man,” Iamaleava said he told his teammates then. “I was basically telling the guys that, you know, whoever still believes that, that we’re still in this, and that we still got, you know, games ahead of us, that we can go in, man, let’s roll.”
Roll they did. UCLA defeated Penn State, Michigan State and Maryland consecutively. Iamaleava won a plethora of national quarterback of the week honors after the Bruins upset the Nittany Lions. He fought through concussion-like symptoms and even neck spasms ahead of the USC game on Saturday; he hardly practiced during the week as he recovered from ailments.
Iamaleava recorded 1,728 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 123.4 passer rating — below his 2024 totals with Tennessee — as UCLA stumbled to a 3-9 finish on a five-game losing skid. Regardless of Iamaleava’s future, one thing is for certain: interim coach Tim Skipper’s time coaching the star Bruins’ quarterback is over.
“I love that kid,” Skipper said of Iamaleava. “He’s a battler. He fought, and he kept leading us all the way to the end.”
UCLA’s coaching hire could be imminent as dominoes fall across the college football landscape. Iamaleava’s decision, less so. The 21-year-old, who played high school football at Warren High School, is eligible to be selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, not to mention the possibilities that now lie in the transfer portal for any player with a pulse.
Had Iamaleava thought about whether the Bruins’ new head coach would impact his decision to remain in Westwood? Too early to say, he said.
“I haven’t really even thought about that,” Iamaleava said. “I’m right here where my feet is, man. We just lost a tough game, and, you know, my mind (is) still on that one – what we could have did better to, you know, go out there and win that game.”