Those who care about UCLA football – and trust me, that number might be about to grow exponentially – might be asking themselves this question today:
“Where was this coach when the Bruins needed him nine years ago?”
This coach, Bob Chesney, has been a whirlwind ever since accepting the task of resurrecting the program in December. From the time he actually arrived on campus, after completing his duties at James Madison with a College Football Playoff appearance against Oregon, he has immersed himself in all things Bruin.
He has made a point of attending other UCLA events and saluting the school’s other national champions, invited high school coaches and players to watch spring practices, and similarly embraced Bruin alumni (and vice versa) as well as paying attention to the donors who will support his program.
It’s not reflected in the win-loss columns yet – that first true test isn’t until Sept. 5 when UCLA opens its season against Cal in Berkeley, a rivalry from the legacy Pac-12 renewed – but the buzz is growing louder. Chesney and his staff have made huge inroads in recruiting, surging to No. 4 nationally and No. 2 in the Big Ten behind USC in the 24/7 rankings and luring nine four-star recruits as of last weekend.
That would be nine more than the program recruited a year ago.
Moreover, the vibe is just different. Given where the program was coming from – six seasons with Chip Kelly, who never seemed enthusiastic about recruiting or publicizing the program or really much of everything beyond X’s and O’s, followed by the failed experiment with Deshaun Foster (5-7 in 2024, 0-3 before being fired last season) – this is a refreshing change. Here’s a coach who came from the outside but who instinctively understands that in this community you don’t just turn the lights on and expect people to show up.
Oh, and have we mentioned that the kerfuffle over where the Bruins will play home games in 2026 has subsided? They’ll be back at the Rose Bowl, where they belong, and maybe the new vibe will lead to crowds large enough to stuff that idea of attempting to move to SoFi Stadium back into the bottle.
So what, exactly, to make of Chesney’s transformation of a sleepy program into one bursting with energy? Maybe the first step in turning this program around was for him to to simply show others on campus that he cared.
“If you’re going to ask for support later, it’s important that you support other people as well,” Chesney told me in a recent one-on-one interview, describing how he tried to get to as many on-campus athletic events as he could. “I think it was really important, just try to do things like this and just make sure we’re getting the word out and making sure everybody understands that this time around it’ll be a little bit different for UCLA football.”
He’s getting a crash course on the standards elsewhere on campus. Already in this academic year, the men’s water polo, women’s basketball and beach volleyball teams have run the school’s total number of national championships to 127 (and to commemorate the first two, water polo coach Adam Wright and women’s basketball’s Cori Close were drafted as coaches on opposite sides for Saturday’s Spring Game at the Rose Bowl).
The day after that Spring Game, Jenny Johnson Jordan’s beach volleyball team won its title in Gulf Shores, Ala. Additionally, the softball and baseball teams could also contend for national titles. By next year’s Spring Game, the sidelines could be crowded with guest coaches from the school’s other sports.
“Six of our women’s basketball players were drafted (into the WNBA) in the first round, right?” Chesney said. “There’s two players on our baseball team that will go in the arguably first pick and third pick or fourth pick of the draft. Then you go into beach volleyball and one or two of those girls will end up on the Olympics team. You go to gymnastics and there’s Jordan Chiles and she’ll be on the U.S. Olympics team. Then you go over to men’s water polo and nine of those guys will appear on the U.S. national team. So when you just think about this, you’re walking around with first-round draft picks, Olympic athletes.
“And that’s in the athletic department. We’re not even talking about the students here that are going to go on and become major CEOs and presidents of companies and invent whatever it might be.”
When Chesney discovered that atmosphere on campus, he said he realized that “the one thing missing (in that scenario) is the football team. And it is my responsibility to make sure we get the football team back where it should be, and it’s my responsibility to find the right people to wear this uniform with the pride that it should be worn with.”
Wide receiver Landon Ellis played for Chesney at James Madison and came to UCLA via the transfer portal (and is expected to be a starter this fall). He said Chesney’s approach – all the way down to making sure players pick up after themselves and that the equipment shed is free of excess clutter – is no façade.
“That’s him every day,” Ellis told reporters after a practice. “That’s day in and day out. That’s what he does. … He’s just that same guy with that contagious energy and that fire every day.”
Imagine this shock: Linebacker Sammy Omosigho was in the weight room during winter workouts when he looked over and saw his coach lifting, too.
“I’ve never seen that before,” he said. “I’m over here doing my reps. I rack my weight, look to my left, and he’s doing his reps.”
Oh, and as for the equipment shed story?
“You felt like you’re on the show ‘Hoarders’” before it was cleaned up, Chesney said. But he’s a believer that what seem like little things in fact have a direct connection to big things.
“If you are going to not pay attention to the little things, they’re going to catch up with you,” he said. “And you’re going to very quickly realize the cost of not paying attention to the little things. So to me, there are no little things. There’s just things, and nothing is bigger than the other.”
Chesney, 48, came into coaching naturally, as the son of a coach. He has been a head coach for 16 seasons and, with a 132-52 career record, has been a winner at every previous level: Three years at Division III Salve Regina (Newport, R.I.), five seasons at Division II Assumption (Worcester, Mass.), six seasons at College of the Holy Cross (Worcester) of the Patriot League and two seasons at James Madison of the Sun Belt, with a 12-2 record and No. 19 spot in the AP Poll last season to draw UCLA’s attention.
But the foundation was formed at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School in Coal Township, Pa., where Bob Chesney Sr. was the head coach and the program was a full family affair.
“My uncle was my receivers coach,” Chesney said. “My grandfather was our O-line coach. Their brother-in-law was the A.D. and the basketball coach at the school. This was literally my relatives that were coaching this football team, so it was truly my family.
“And I’ve always been trying to build that environment ever since, where people really care about each other.”
Chesney grew up in Kulpmont, Pa., a small coal mining town, and that experience, too, helped form his attitude toward life and football.
“If you were my friend, Jim, I knew you,” he said. “I knew your brothers and sisters. I knew your mother and your father. I also knew both sets of your grandparents. And I knew what house they lived in. And we’d probably go over there while we’re riding bikes and stop in and grab iced tea or ice cream or a candy bar or something like that.
“It was just this community where people cared about other people and took care of other people … it just never seemed right to me to not care about people (or) to only care about what they could do for you.”
Do unto others, right?
As it turned out, one of the most important decisions following Chesney’s hiring was that of quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who could have bolted for the transfer portal again but instead stayed put.
“The first time after I met Coach Chesney, I was pretty sold on staying here, man,” Iamaleava said during an interview session after one of the Bruins’ spring practices. “When I met Coach Chesney, got to sit down and have a conversation, and then I got to meet with Coach Kennedy (offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy), it was a no-brainer.”
His overriding impression of the new head coach?
“High energy and just very charismatic,” Iamaleava said. “I didn’t really sense any fakeness from him.”
And if Chesney truly does preside over an atmosphere where people want to play for him, and people are drawn to come out and watch?
This is going to be fun.
jalexander@scng.com