Iamaleava: Staying at UCLA easy decision after Chesney hiring - ESPN

CHICAGO — On the brink of having his third coach at UCLA in the span of just one calendar year, quarterback Nico Iamaleava did not want to go back into the transfer portal for a second straight season.

So once the Bruins' season concluded, Iamaleava decided to sit back and wait. And when UCLA hired former James Madison coach Bob Chesney to be their next head coach, he and Iamaleava immediately clicked, making Iamaleava's decision an easy one.

«The transfer portal was never where I wanted to be,» Iamaleava said at Big Ten media days Wednesday. «First meeting, we got on the same page and everything was good and we're here now.»

For Chesney, retaining Iamaleava was one of his top priorities, but as he found out soon after spending time around him, the fact that Iamaleava was home meant he was not interested in making another leap to a different school and starting over yet again. Chesney's arrival only solidified Iamaleava's choice.

«He did not want to go anywhere,» Chesney said. «This is where he wanted to be.»

Once he was hired Chesney brought five coaches and 10 players with him from JMU, but he knew that the quarterback position was a sensitive one and that it would better serve the team if there was some short-term continuity.

«Your quarterback needs to be your leader, and when you bring in an outsider, obviously, there's some friction that might occur at moments,» Chesney told ESPN. «Having [Iamaleava] already present in that community, in that school, all the things that come with it, I think he finally had a chance to just let his guard down and be like, 'All right, we got a program. We're stable now. Let's do this thing.'»

During his first season in Westwood, Iamaleava threw for 1,928 yards, 13 touchdowns and seven