This post was updated Jan. 6 at 11:57 p.m.

Bob Chesney wasted no time bringing familiar faces to the West Coast.

First, it was offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy, who spent two seasons with the now-UCLA head coach at Holy Cross and the past two years at James Madison, where he led the 11th-highest scoring offense in the FBS.

[Related: Five Things: Analyzing coaching shakeups, roster changes and key returnees for UCLA football]

Then came defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler, a product of Luke Fickell – his mentor at Cincinnati and Wisconsin – who spent 2025 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and the year prior at Alabama as the co-defensive coordinator.

In 2025, the Dukes’ defense ranked fifth in the FBS in yards allowed per game, and Fickell has been touted for producing NFL-caliber defensive backs, including the likes of Sauce Gardner and Coby Bryant at Cincinnati.

[Related: UCLA rounds out coaching staff hires Colin Hitschler as defensive coordinator]

Chesney officially announced the rest of his coaching entourage Friday, many of whom joined Hitschler and Kennedy from the Dukes.

Without a doubt, the best addition to the staff is linebackers coach Vic So’oto. The former California co-defensive coordinator has a resume chock-full of Power Four experience, including stops at BYU, USC and Virginia. He also has a knack for winning, leading his teams to postseason berths in seven of the last nine seasons.

Cal’s defense ranked in the upper echelons in both rushing and passing defense last season, and So’oto will be a massive addition to a unit that has struggled to stop a nosebleed over the last two seasons.

Additionally, his Southern California ties, combined with his Polynesian background, are massive recruiting tools for a lackluster UCLA coaching staff, which – despite being situated in the heart of Southern California high school football teeming with Polynesian talent – has struggled to bring in top prospects.

One Cal linebacker has already committed to the Bruins in outside linebacker Ryan McCulloch, but inside linebacker Cade Uluave also remains in the portal, and both could make their way to Westwood, which would be a home run for a UCLA defense that lost both starting middle linebackers in JonJon Vaughns to graduation and Isaiah Chisom to the portal.

Offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Smith is another intriguing addition, having spent eight of the last nine seasons with Chesney across multiple schools.

The Bruins have had three different offensive line coaches in as many seasons, but they may have finally found their guy in Smith.

Smith not only has an NFL pedigree – serving as the New York Giants’ offensive line coach in 2023 – but also has offensive coaching experience outside of leading the front line.

Last season, all of Smith’s starters on the offensive front earned All-Sun Belt honors, including All-Sun Belt Second Team selection right guard Riley Robell, who committed to UCLA on Monday and instantly upgrades a depleted Bruin front.

And in the run, few other teams did it better than JMU. The Dukes’ running back, Wayne Knight – who is in the transfer portal and visited UCLA – ranked third in the FBS this season in all-purpose yards and seventh in the nation in ground yards.

Special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Drew Canan, another long-time Chesney assistant, also joined him in Westwood. Canan has been on Chesney’s staff since 2014, across stops at Assumption, Holy Cross and JMU.

A one-two punch in Anthony DiMichele and Eddie Whitley Jr. will help lead the UCLA secondary, with the former taking the safeties and the latter taking the defensive backs.

DiMichele has spent the last four seasons working under Chesney at Holy Cross and JMU, but his additional title of recruiting coordinator – which he held at both stops with Chesney – makes him an enticing addition to the staff.

The team retained redshirt sophomore strong safety Cole Martin and redshirt sophomore outside cornerback Rodrick Pleasant, and both junior cornerbacks Andre Jordan Jr. and Scooter Jackson have yet to commit anywhere since entering the portal.

There were very few bright spots from the 2025 campaign, but the UCLA secondary was consistently one of the Bruins’ most formidable position groups, and it could get even stronger under Whitley’s guidance.

While Whitley spent just two seasons with Chesney at JMU, he also worked under now-Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti in Harrisonburg, where the defense consistently ranked in the top-25 in total defense.

Defensive ends coach Sam Daniels will also join Chesney from JMU, and his addition to the staff is integral, as Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and the Dukes’ 2025 leader in sacks Sahir West remains in the transfer portal and would be an imperative addition to a defensive front that ranked dead last in the nation in sacks.

Outside of So’oto, Chesney added two non-JMU coaches to the staff, including wide receivers coach Colin Lockett, who served as a graduate assistant at Oregon and spent this past season at New Mexico, where the Lobos finished with a 9-3 record.

Legi Suiaunoa joins the UCLA coaching staff as the defensive line coach with 25 years of experience, most recently spending the last two seasons at Michigan State. Suiaunoa made a name for himself during his six-year stint at Oregon State, where he led one of the Pac-12’s stingiest defenses.

Under his leadership, the Beavers ranked first in the country in red zone defense in 2022, and in 2023, the unit ranked ninth in the FBS in sacks.

The only two coaches Chesney retained from former head coach DeShaun Foster’s staff are running backs coach AJ Steward and nickels coach Gabe Lynn.

While Steward’s running back room struggled last season – ranking No. 13 in the Big Ten with 1,676 rushing yards and Iamaleava as the team’s leading rusher – the addition of Smith and whoever he brings along with him, whether that be Knight or other pieces on the line, could immensely help the UCLA tailbacks.

Moreover, redshirt junior Anthony Woods and junior Jaivian Thomas have yet to enter the portal and would be two solid pieces to keep from the 2025 roster.

Lynn is an interesting return to the staff, not because of a lack of performance – the UCLA secondary ranked No. 34 in the nation in passing yards allowed per game – but because of the title he holds.