UCLA officially announces new defensive coordinator

UCLA officially has a new defensive coordinator. The Bruins announced the latest addition to Chip Kelly’s staff on Thursday.

Bill McGovern is taking over for Jerry Azzinaro, who resigned last month. McGovern spent this past year as the Chicago Bears’ inside linebackers coach and brings a wealth of experience to Westwood. Terms of his deal with the Bruins weren’t disclosed.

A coach for almost 40 years, McGovern brings a blend of NFL and collegiate experience with him to UCLA. He spent most of his career at Boston College, where he worked as linebackers coach from 2000-08 before moving up to defensive coordinator. He’s also on the ballot for College Football Hall of Fame voting.

In the NFL, McGovern worked as outside linebackers coach for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013-15 and as New York Giants linebackers coach from 2016-18 and outside linebackers coach in 2019 before heading back to college at Nebraska as a defensive assistant.

Last year was McGovern’s only season on the Bears’ staff under head coach Matt Nagy and defensive coordinator Sean Desai. While there, he helped Roquan Smith turn in a career year for Chicago as he had a career-high 163 tackles to earn a Second Team All-Pro nomination.

Chicago fired Nagy after the season and brought in an entirely new coaching staff under new coach Matt Eberflus. Desai is heading to Seattle to be the Seahawks’ associate head coach for defense under Pete Carroll. Now, McGovern is making the trip out west to become UCLA’s defensive coordinator.

In 2021, UCLA had the No. 8 scoring defense in the Pac-12 and ranked No. 7 in total defense, allowing 26.8 points and 384.4 yards per game. The Bruins went 8-4 overall and 6-3 in Pac-12 action, and rumors swirled about what was next for Kelly and the program if they didn’t come to an agreement on a new contract. They worked it out, and he’s staying put.

Duke defensive lineman transfers to UCLA

Former Duke defensive lineman Gary Smith III entered the transfer portal on Dec. 2 and he announced his official destination on Twitter on Jan. 29. He’s going to play for the UCLA Bruins. The 6-foot-2, 320-pound defensive tackle was rated as a three-star prospect in the 2020 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

The mammoth defensive tackle chose UCLA over offers from Virginia, TCU, Minnesota, and Virginia Tech.

In just nine games during the 2021-2022 season, Smith racked up 24 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack. The Shelbyville, Tennessee native also had one pass breakup this season for the Blue Devils. Now, he’ll play for the Bruins and head coach Chip Kelly.