Can a Big Ten coach thrive without Power Four experience? UCLA's Bob Chesney offers a test case

One look at the newest members of the Big Ten’s head coaching fraternity reveals two distinct schools of thought regarding hiring strategies.

No. 19 Michigan, Michigan State and No. 14 Penn State chose coaches with at least a decade of Power Four head coaching experience. UCLA went in a different direction, showing the range of opinions on how much experience matters.

Nebraska’s Matt Rhule suggests another factor might mean more nowadays.

“I don’t know that you’ll see moving forward, schools when they hire a coach, caring about their experience,” Rhule said. “I think the No. 1 thing they’re going to worry about is the roster and what they’re going to bring with them.”

Any athletic director making that decision could cite Indiana’s stunning turnaround under Curt Cignetti as evidence it’s the right plan.

Cignetti was an assistant at N.C. State and Alabama before beginning a head coaching career that included stops at Division II Indiana University Pennsylvania, Championship Subdivision program Elon and James Madison. He had never been a Power Four head coach until Indiana took a chance on him.

His James Madison experience paid off when 13 of his players from that school followed Cignetti to Indiana. Those James Madison transfers helped Indiana reach the College Football Playoff in Cignetti’s first season, and several of them were part of the Hoosiers' national championship team last year.

Some of the Big Ten’s new coaches are following a similar formula.

Penn State’s Matt Campbell has two dozen of his former Iowa State players with him. Bob Chesney’s first team at UCLA has 12 players he coached at James Madison. Four former Utah players and one Utah signee followed coach Kyle Whittingham to Michigan.

Rhule speculated these types of arrangements could become more common.

“I don’t know how it will play out, but as I talk to guys in the business as they’ve had openings, they’re looking at not the coach not the assistants he’s bringing,” Rhule said. “(It’s) how many players are they bringing.”

The most recent hiring cycle suggests experience still means plenty.

Michigan and Michigan State hired veteran coaches to stabilize programs in turmoil. Whittingham coached 22 seasons and won 177 games at Utah. Michigan State’s Pat Fitzgerald is in his second Big Ten coaching stint after going 110-101 at Northwestern from 2006-22.

“I understand what it means to be a coach in this league and to compete in this league,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m just going to give everything I have and more.”

Campbell headed to Penn State after going 127-72 at Iowa State from 2016-25. He believes his Big 12 experience helps him understand the impact of all recent changes in the college football landscape.

“I’m not naïve to what the challenges are, from player retention to player acquisition to program development at this level and what it takes to sustain success at this level,” Campbell said.

The most successful recent Big Ten hires didn’t have previous Power Four head coaching experience.

Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Oregon’s Dan Lanning are first-time head coaches, and Cignetti’s head coaching experience before Indiana came at non-Power Four schools. All three coached playoff teams last year.

It’s worth noting that they all had Power Four experience as assistants. Day was a former offensive coordinator at Ohio State and Boston College. Lanning was a defensive coordinator on Georgia’s 2021 national championship team.

That’s what makes UCLA’s hire of Chesney such an intriguing gamble. Chesney is in his 17th year as a head coach. He led James Madison to a playoff berth last year after successful stints at the Division III (Salve Regina), Division II (Assumption) and FCS (Holy Cross) levels. But he had no Power Four experience whatsoever when UCLA hired him.

Before he had ever coached a game at UCLA, Chesney already could tell one major difference at this level.

“Just the full-contact nature of recruiting is just a little bit different,” Chesney said. “There’s no, ‘Hey, this kid is committed and everything’s good.’ It’s constant. It is constant. I think that’s probably the one thing for me. You can never relax, ever.”

Another reminder came recently, as UCLA fired athletic director Martin Jarmond less than a week before Chesney began his Bruins tenure with a 45-24 victory at California.

Chesney understands the skepticism that accompanied his arrival at UCLA because he heard similar questions every time he moved up a level. Chesney has still won everywhere he’s gone and believes he can do the same in the Big Ten.

“I think it’s my willingness and my ability to learn and be able to figure out exactly what needs to be done and did it in all those situations … where people never thought you possibly could,” Chesney said. “That’s what gives me confidence.”

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