Four ideal candidates for UCLA football head-coaching job

It’s hard not to think that UCLA already had something worked out, and that’s part of why Kelly was working hard the last few weeks to find a new offensive coordinator job.

UCLA fans who are dreaming might be thinking of Big Ten coaches like Jonathan Smith, who left Oregon State for Michigan State, or PJ Fleck, who has been at Minnesota for seven seasons. Those do not seem like realistic options given UCLA’s significant financial constraints. The usual suspects like Chris Klieman or Matt Campbell, whose names have popped up in coaching searches the last two years, probably will not be in play. This does not seem to be that type of coaching search.

The more realistic move seems to be UCLA hiring a coach who has some previous ties to the program.

The more likely candidates probably include the following.

UCLA bringing back D'Anton Lynn

Lynn did an excellent job last season as UCLA’s defensive coordinator, which was his first ever season working as a DC. The 34-year-old is young, hungry, a good recruiter and he was so desired that crosstown rival USC doubled his salary and hired him away from UCLA. Many Bruins fans wanted Kelly gone and would likely have been happy with him fired and Lynn as the replacement.

UCLA did not have the resources to retain Lynn as its defensive coordinator, and it did not want to pay a buyout to Kelly. Now the Bruins no longer have to pay Kelly a buyout, and they could give Lynn a raise over what USC gave him.

It’s also easy to figure that Bruins fans would love this hire because it would be putting USC at a disadvantage in the process. Would Lynn leave USC after a month to go back to the rival school? UCLA has to at least make that call and find out.

Hiring ex-Stanford coach David Shaw

If UCLA will have a new coach within four days, that means it likely has been working on something behind the scenes. Shaw's son plays for UCLA. He would be someone easy to have worked something out with since he does not have any current coaching constraints.

While Shaw did great at Stanford from 2011-2018 after taking over for Jim Harbaugh, he completely fell off in 2021 and 2022, going 3-9 both years. NIL and the transfer portal both hurt an elite school like Stanford, which relies on its academic excellence as a draw — not NIL or transfers. The 51-year-old Shaw was accomplished at Stanford, but the way he finished his tenure would inspire little confidence that those same two issues would not be hurdles for him at UCLA.

Nebraska DC Tony White

The 44-year-old played linebacker at UCLA and was highly regarded for his intelligence. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant and then developed further coaching experience under Rocky Long at San Diego State and at Arizona State. He served as a defensive coordinator at Syracuse for three seasons before Matt Rhule hired him as Nebraska’s DC last season.

If UCLA wants someone who is young, motivated, has coordinator experience and ties to the Bruins, White would fit.

Pete Carroll

Just want to make sure you’re still reading. Carroll is available and still has interest in coaching. He is best known for rebuilding USC into an absolute monster in the 2000s. This would never happen, but he could probably step in for two years and give you the old Dennis Erickson quick turnaround.

If UCLA were looking for just an interim-type solution, some names to consider would be defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe or wide receivers coach Jerry Neuheisel. Another possibility would be former UCLA running back Deshaun Foster, who coached RBs at UCLA from 2017-2023. He just left to take the running backs job with the Raiders though.

Although UCLA historically has had a good program, it’s important to remember that replicating the success under the likes of Terry Donahue and those before him, is unlikely. UCLA operates under strict financial restrictions from the University of California public school system. The university has limitations on how much it can pay coaches and staffs. As of now, UCLA will likely be paying Cal an annual subsidy for leaving the Pac-12 (the “Calimony” payment). It doesn't have the same donor or NIL base as other big schools. Plus, UCLA is headed to the Big Ten, where it will face travel issues and possibly tougher competition. All of the aforementioned issues did not exist in the past when UCLA had its greatest levels of success. Winning enough to please the fan base will be a big challenge for whomever gets the job.