UCLA looks to hire former Penn State assistant coach Tom Bradley

Tom Bradley is in line to become as UCLA’s defensive coordinator, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not allowed to comment on the matter.

Bradley’s hire is awaiting approval from the University of California Board of Regents. He would replace Jeff Ulbrich, who left UCLA to become an assistant coach with the Atlanta Falcons.

Bradley was an assistant at Penn State from 1981 to 2011. He was named the Nittany Lions’ interim head coach in 2011 after Joe Paterno stepped down when scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky surfaced. Sandusky, a Penn State assistant from 1970 to 1999, was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 boys over a 15-year period.

Bradley was not retained as a coach when Bill O’Brien took over as Penn State’s coach in 2012. Bradley was hired as West Virginia’s senior associated head coach in charge of the defense a year ago. The Mountaineers gave up 33.3 points per game in 2013 and dropped to 27.6 under Bradley.

Penn State’s defenses ranked among the nation’s best from 2004 to 2011. The Nittany Lions surrendered only 16.4 points a game, third lowest in the nation, during that eight-year period. Bradley was named the defensive coordinator of the year by the Associated Press in 2005.