Bob Chesney is nothing like his predecessor, and that’s a win for UCLA football

CHICAGO — DeShaun Foster mumbled. Bob Chesney articulated.

Foster went silent. Chesney barely paused.

Foster said little of substance. Chesney sold a tangible vision.

UCLA coach Bob Chesney addresses the media Wednesday at Big Ten media days in Chicago. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It’s just one opening monologue, and yes, it won’t gain his team a single yard, but man, oh man, did UCLA’s new football coach nail it Wednesday in his opening remarks at Big Ten media days.

Chesney was poised. He was confident. He completely mesmerized a ballroom filled with reporters with his ability to talk for more than four minutes without seemingly taking a breath.

This was wholly unlike what happened to another UCLA coach making his media days debut two years ago. Remember that unfortunate incident? The Ignominy in Indianapolis?

Foster muttered his way through 45 seconds of basically nothing before looking around like an anxious kid waiting for someone to yank him off the stage in a fifth-grade play.

To Foster’s credit, he delivered a credible monologue at the same event a year later, but it was already clear he wasn’t cut out for the job in demeanor — or much of anything else on the way to being sacked three games into his second season.

Enter Chesney, who exudes the confidence of a salesman who’s been told you’re going to take the deal before you take it.

Wearing a dark suit with a bluish-silver gray tie and powder blue socks, Chesney immediately acknowledged his belief in the brand he must rebuild.

“There’s no better place I’d rather be at this moment in time,” he said. “I strongly believe in the power of what UCLA is.”

Chesney has won everywhere he has coached, and he expects to continue that with the Bruins. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

He smartly didn’t box himself into a corner when asked about expectations for his first season, saying that he wouldn’t put any limits on what his team could achieve and intended to attack each day with urgency and relentlessness.

“To me,” Chesney said, “success looks like a united, disciplined group that continues to grow every moment they have. I want to lead the nation in development.” 

At the risk of making too much of his first seven months on the job, Chesney seems like the perfect blend of UCLA coaches past. He combines the charisma of Terry Donahue with the fire of Jim Mora and the emotional intelligence of Dick Vermeil.

Even before Chesney took the stage here, he was hailed by Big Ten Network analyst Jake Butt as “maybe the best hire of the offseason. Look for UCLA to take a major step forward.”

Belief in the Bruins doesn’t yet match the buzz around their coach. Even with star quarterback Nico Iamaleava among a sprinkling of accomplished returners, UCLA was picked to finish 12th in the 18-team Big Ten in one media poll and 13th in another.

It’s up to Chesney to make his first team one that exceeds expectations.

An important caveat in all this talk about Chesney as a savior is that Foster also won each of his first two offseasons. He sold fans with a welcoming approach prior to his first season and then made the necessary pivot to overhaul his coaching staff after going 5-7 in Year 1.

None of it made any difference for a coach who was gone after an 0-3 start to Year 2.

Certainly, there remain plenty of unknowns when it comes to Chesney.

Will the formula that has worked everywhere he’s been — from Assumption and Salve Regina to Holy Cross and James Madison — succeed in one of college football’s most cutthroat conferences? Chesney’s teams reached a bowl game or the playoffs by Year 2 at every previous stop, but those teams didn’t have to face Ohio State or Michigan to get there.

Can Chesney’s James Madison transfers elevate UCLA in the same way that Curt Cignetti’s JMU transplants made Indiana an immediate national title contender?

How will Chesney react to tough questions after a bad decision or a three-game losing streak? While the LA media may not be the toughest bunch out there, it’s far more skeptical than the largely fawning coverage Chesney received at JMU.

Chesney has some significant talent to work with in Year 1, including 10 players who accompanied Chesney on the cross-country move from Harrisonburg, Va. At least a handful are expected to be starters, most notably edge rusher Sahir West, wide receiver Landon Ellis and running back Wayne Knight.

Chesney also kept his staff largely intact, from offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy to defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler to the strength staff.

“The continuity part is really reassuring to me and sets you at ease just a little bit better when you know the offense that’s being run, you know how those players are being communicated with,” Chesney said. “You know the same thing on the defensive side, the special teams side. You also know the same thing in the strength and conditioning side. So I think all those elements are reassuring to me to know who we are, to know these guys speak our same language.”

The schedule should help Chesney reach a bowl game in his debut season. Nonconference games against California, San Diego State and Nevada are winnable, and only one Big Ten game — at Oregon — appears otherwise. Sure, beating Michigan on the road and USC at the Rose Bowl will be tough as well, but Chesney didn’t get here by only winning games in which his teams were favored.

When he was finished with his 11-minute spiel Wednesday, Chesney descended from the stage and received a handshake and pat on the shoulder from his boss, UCLA athletics director Martin Jarmond.

It was a job well done and perhaps the start of something special.