Here is a look at four coaching candidates who will not become the next head coach at UCLA.
The first coaching candidate we will look at comes in at number four and was a former head coach of the Bruins.
No. 4 Chip Kelly
Chip Kelly will not return to his position as head coach at UCLA. In no scenario or situation will Kelly return to Westwood and become the head coach of UCLA again. He recently departed UCLA after the 2023 season. The most important reason that he will not be coming back to UCLA is that he left being a head coach in the Big Ten to become an offensive coordinator in the Big Ten, and both UCLA and Kelly do not want a reunion in Westwood.
From the 2018 season to the 2023 season, Kelly served as UCLA's head coach and didn't have great success, but UCLA won eight or more games in each of the last three seasons. He left being the offensive coordinator at Ohio State to become the offensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders. It is quite improbable that a coach who resigns often will be employed again at UCLA in the same role, particularly if their tenure as the Bruins' head coach had a mixed record.
The third person on our list who will not become the next head coach has not been a head coach since 2021.
No. 3 Jon Gruden
UCLA's next head coach won't be Jon Gruden. Following the disclosure of some of his emails, Gruden left his position as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021. His resignation as the Raiders' head coach was caused by the scandalous substance of those emails. Martin Jarmond, the athletic director of UCLA, has claimed that the "True Bruin Values" are crucial for the next head coach, and hiring a coach with this kind of history would be potentially a public relations headache.
Gruden hasn't been a college coach since 1991, when he was the wide receivers coach at Pitt. Since then, a lot has changed in college football, especially with the advent of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and the transfer portal. A program seeking consistency and success would be taking a significant risk if he returned to the collegiate level to become the head coach at UCLA.
The second person who will not be the next head coach at UCLA for some obvious reason.
No. 2 Jonathan Smith
He is Michigan State's head coach, and in late 2023, Michigan State University hired Jonathan Smith as its head football coach. In his second season with the Spartans, his team is doing fairly well so far. He is quite unlikely to leave a Power 4 head coaching position so quickly to accept another one, particularly one that is currently having trouble like UCLA and is heading into a rebuild mode.
Yes, he fits the profile, having coached on the West Coast for nearly a decade, and he was born and raised in Pasadena, the home of the Rose Bowl, and he graduated from Glendora High School in East Los Angeles County. It is not like a decent portion of Michigan State fans would really mind if he left to take the UCLA job, and his buyout was significantly reduced when the University parted ways with the athletic director who hired him. However, his star quarterback and wide receiver have another year of eligibility left, and it if very unlikely he would leave with the likelihood that both of them return next season in which would be year three of his tenure in East Lansing.
The first person we are very confident will not be the next head coach at UCLA for one major reason.
No. 1 D'Anton Lynn
He is the defensive coordinator for USC, UCLA's fiercest rival. D'Anton Lynn, just after one season as the defensive coordinator for the Bruins. He left UCLA to take the same coaching position at USC. Given his success at both institutions, he might be considered a head coach by some, but the UCLA fan base and, more importantly, the heads of the athletic department would find it extremely difficult to accept a coach who recently left for a rival school for the exact same coaching role.
Lynn is a highly respected defensive coordinator, yet he has never held the position of head coach. DeShaun Foster, a coach without head coaching experience prior to being named the head coach of UCLA, was recently hired and relieved of his duties by the university. It also appears that the athletic director's expressed preference for a coach with head coaching experience is a top priority. Even if UCLA were to hire a coach without head coaching experience it would be Florida State's defensive coordinator Tony White.