UCLA Hot Board: USA Today names 8 candidates to replace DeShaun Foster

The UCLA Bruins are one of the first teams looking for a new head coach in 2025. That comes following an 0-3 start to the season, and the subsequent firing of head coach DeShaun Foster after less than two seasons in place there.

Now, USA Today has shared eight different hot board candidates to potentially replace Foster at UCLA. Athletic director Martin Jarmond recently placed some heavy expectations on the program’s next coach, saying he wants someone who sees a vision to take the Bruins to the College Football Playoff. So, with that being the standard, he needs to nail this hire.

This also comes at a time when Pete Thamel is reporting that UCLA is ready “to pony up and make a big-boy investment.” So, the time is now to find a coach to build the program and win big there. It’s possible that USA Today has found that next coach on its list of candidates.

Tony White DC Florida State

Florida State defensive coordinator Tony White has turned himself into one of the best assistant coaches in the country over recent seasons. That’s included several West Coast stops as an assistant at San Diego State and Arizona State, among others. More recently, he thrived at Nebraska and is off to a quick start in his first season at Florida State.

Notably, Tony White was a player at UCLA who began to learn defense there, playing under Rocky Long. A three-year starter, he’d briefly return in 2007 as a graduate assistant but hasn’t been back with the program since then. A lot has changed, but he still knows the program.

Will Stein OC Oregon

It’s going to be difficult to find a team with a head coach opening this season that doesn’t look at Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein. Now in his third season with the Ducks, the Oregon offense has thrived under him. A former college quarterback at Louisville, he has ties to high school recruiting in Texas, and at 35 years old, still has plenty of energy.

The hope, in this case for UCLA, would be that the Bruins would find similar results to Arizona State, who hired their own former Dan Lanning assistant. That’s a young coach with an excellent offense that has learned to build a program from one of the biggest names in the game today.

David Shaw PGC Detroit Lions

David Shaw is best known as the long time head coach of Stanford. Today, however, he’s the passing game coordinator with the Detroit Lions. Still, his time at Stanford gave him experience at an academic-minded institution in California, and, for a time, it worked very well. So, you can see where the hope is that he’d be able to rebuild UCLA.

Shaw and Stanford parted ways in 2022 after what was, admittedly, a difficult final few seasons there. He’s been out of coaching up until the 2025 season, when he turned up in the NFL, a place he has plenty of experience. So, it seems he’s ready to roll again.

Jason Eck HC New Mexico

UCLA just got a very good look at Jason Eck. It was his New Mexico Lobos team that went into the Rose Bowl and beat the Bruins, effectively ending the DeShaun Foster tenure. So, if that’s something that UCLA liked what it saw, then it might make sense to look at someone like Eck, who has proven himself over the years at lower levels.

A longtime offensive line coach at the FCS level, Eck earned the head coach job at Idaho in 2022. In three seasons there, he’d lead them to a 26-13 record overall with three trips to the FCS playoffs. Twice, they’d go as far as the quarterfinal round. Now, he’s off to a 2-1 start at New Mexico.

Eric Bieniemy RBC Chicago Bears

At one point, Eric Bieniemy was one of the biggest names in coaching. A two-time Super Bowl champion as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, he hadn’t gotten a head coaching job from his time there, so he left for the Washington Commanders. Since then, however, he’s struggled to replicate that success and earn that head coaching opportunity.

Now the running backs coach of the Chicago Bears, Bieniemy has some deep ties to UCLA. From 2003 to 2005, he was actually the running backs coach of the Bruins. Then, in 2024, he’d become the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator under DeShaun Foster.

Dan Mullen HC UNLV

Dan Mullen is now in his first season as the head coach at UNLV, but he’s a long time coach who has been respected over the years as an offensive mind. Like Eck, Mullen is another coach who has already beaten UCLA this season. He’s also come up as a potential head coach there before, as he was available to replace Chip Kelly.

Mullen is a Pennsylvania native who is widely regarded as an Urban Meyer disciple. In 2009, he got his first head coaching job at Mississippi State, producing some of that program’s best teams. He’d then go to Florida and now UNLV. Overall, he’s 106-61 as a head coach.

PJ Fleck HC Minnesota

The USA Today hot board for UCLA turns its attention to fellow Big Ten schools. In this case, Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck. An Illinois native, Fleck has spent the majority of his career in the traditional Big Ten footprint, and has found some success at Minnesota. However, USA Today argued he’s hit that program’s ceiling and could be looking for a school that can provide a higher ceiling.

UCLA should be able to offer more resources than Minnesota. Certainly, the Bruins have a better footprint for recruiting and a strong program history to offer. So, Fleck, who is 90-62 between stops at Western Michigan and Minnesota, could potentially elevate the program further.

Barry Odom HC Purdue

Barry Odom is an experienced head coach who has SEC experience at Missouri and built UNLV into a Mountain West contender before heading to Purdue for a rebuild. Already, Odom has doubled the Boilermakers’ win total from last season with a 2-1 start. So, at this point, it’s clear he can spark a program.

The trick is convincing him to leave one Big Ten rebuild for another at UCLA. Again, that comes down to UCLA offering more resources than Purdue does. If the Bruins do that, Odom could be tempted by a higher ceiling program.