UCLA football hires new quarterbacks and defensive line coaches

UCLA coach Chip Kelly announced the hiring of Billy Fessler and Tony Washington Jr. to his staff Friday.

Fessler was named as UCLA’s new quarterbacks coach after serving as Akron’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach on Joe Moorehead’s staff in 2023.

Akron’s offense averaged 18.5 points and 287.2 yards per game in 2023. Fessler joined the Akron program in 2022 after spending two seasons on the Ohio State coaching staff in 2020 and 2022 as an offensive graduate assistant on Ryan Day’s staff.

Fessler is no stranger to the Big Ten Conference, having played quarterback at Penn State from 2014-18. He replaces Ryan Gunderson, who left Westwood to become Oregon State’s offensive coordinator.

Washington is the new outside linebackers and defensive line coach. He was most recently an assistant coach working with the outside linebackers at Oregon for the past year. He’s also worked as a assistant defensive line coach and the director of player development at his alma mater.

Washington starred at Los Osos High in Rancho Cucamonga before playing for the Ducks from 2010-2015. He was named the Rose Bowl Game defensive MVP in 2015.

After college, he played for the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans. He started his coaching career at Nebraska as a graduate assistant.

Ikaika Malloe was previously the defensive line and outside linebacker coach for the past two seasons before Kelly promoted Malloe to defensive coordinator earlier this month.

The terms for Fessler and Washington’s deal were not disclosed.