Penn State Coaching Search: Another Candidate Could be Coming Off the Board

Another piece of the Penn State coaching search might be coming off the board soon.

Per a report by Matt Zenitz of CBSSports Saturday night, James Madison coach Bob Chesney is a “top person of interest for the UCLA head coaching job.”

Chesney, who multiple outlets have confirmed interviewed for the Penn State job and, at one point, was considered by many fans as the favorite, is in his second season at JMU and has been having plenty of success.

The 48-year-old from Kulpmont, Pennsylvania, is 20-5 so far at James Madison and 11-1 this season (8-0 in the Sun Belt).

James Madison isn’t the only place where Chesney has won. In fact, there isn’t a place where he hasn’t won. Chesney has been successful at the DIII level (23-9 at Slave Regina), the DII level (44-16 at Assumption) and FCS (44-21 at Holy Cross) before going to James Madison.

Now, it seems apparent that his intent is to see what he can do at the Power 4 level, it’s just a matter of which school,

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To be clear, Zenitz’s report didn’t mention how interest Chesney is in the UCLA job, but it is clear that Chesney to UCLA is a real possibility.

So if Chesney does end up at UCLA, where does Penn State go from there?

Well, Penn State has reportedly been interest in Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer for sometime. But with Alabama beating Auburn Saturday night and presumably clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff, the logistics of Penn State getting DeBoer to start the job soon become incredibly complicated, and that’s if it’s still a possibility at all.