UCLA made two significant additions to its football coaching staff, hiring Andy Kwon as its offensive line coach and Gabe Lynn as its safeties coach, the program and head coach DeShaun Foster announced Thursday.
Kwon, 30, will take over for Juan Castillo after overseeing the offensive line for the past three seasons at Arkansas State.
“Coach Kwon is an up-and-coming young coach who has already shown an ability to effectively teach while relating to his players,” Foster said in a statement. “As a former center, he knows the ins and outs of the line and I know he can’t wait to put in work with our guys.”
Under Kwon’s guidance, Arkansas State averaged more than 150 rushing yards per game each of the past two seasons. He oversaw the Red Wolves’ tight ends in his first season in 2021. Before that, Kwon was an offensive line graduate assistant at Alabama.
Kwon was two-year team captain and All-Sun Belt selection as an offensive lineman at Georgia Southern.
Lynn, 33, spent the past two seasons working under head coach Deion Sanders at Colorado as a defensive analyst this season and the assistant player personnel director in 2023.
“Gabe Lynn has already grown tremendously as a coach,” Foster said. “He shows an enthusiasm to make young people better and a willingness to adapt with the different responsibilities he’s taken on in his career. We look forward to seeing him get to work with the safeties room.”
This year, Lynn primarily coached the Buffaloes’ safeties, who held opponents to just 204.7 passing yards per game.
A former three-year starter at defensive back at Oklahoma, Lynn has also coached at Houston Christian University (2019-22), Oklahoma Baptist (2018) and Central Oklahoma (2017).
Foster has been active filling holes on his staff. The Bruins recently added Tino Sunseri as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after the Bruins parted ways with Eric Bieniemy. On Tuesday, UCLA announced the return of Scott White, who coached the Bruins’ linebackers and special teams from 2011-17, as associate head coach and inside linebackers coach.
