Salve Regina, a small Division III university of just under 3,000 students, accomplished a feat that had felt unthinkable in the years before Bob Chesney arrived.
Eight consecutive losing seasons. Little hope. Chesney turned the page. Salve Regina finished 2010 with a 6-4 record, and Chesney, then 34, was hunting for a new offensive coordinator.
Kevin Gilmartin, fit in a suit and tie, sat at a meager circular table in the office that’s now his own and stared at Chesney, who was at his first stop creating success where victory seemed unlikely, 15 years before becoming the 20th coach in UCLA football history.
Bike racks were abound with the university’s rent-a-bike program, filling the room of the football coach’s multi-purpose office. Salve Regina players woke up at 4:30 a.m. to pad up and drive through Easton’s Beach to Gaudet Middle School for sunrise practices before the school bell rang at 8 a.m.
Chesney was the softball program’s administrator in the spring, raking the field, arranging the shortened fence and meeting with the umpires and visiting teams before games, among other duties – his first Salve Regina recruiting classes even served as student workers across the athletic department – as responsibilities beyond running the day-to-day of the football program.
Gilmartin needed just five minutes, he said – five minutes to identify Chesney’s weaknesses and determine whether Salve Regina was right for him.
“He’s energetic, he’s smart, he’s intelligent, he’s listening to other people,” said Gilmartin, who replaced Chesney at Salve Regina in 2013, where he still serves as head coach today.
“It was just those pieces right there where I was just like, ‘I don’t know what this guy’s flaw is.’”
Gilmartin was sold on Chesney. Since Chesney departed Salve Regina, the Seahawks have tallied just one losing season.
“Culture drives the behaviors, and behaviors determine the outcomes,” said Collin Sullivan, the former Salve Regina athletic director who first hired Chesney as head coach. “And Bob did that.”
‘Infectious enthusiasm’
Chesney, officially named UCLA’s head football coach on Saturday morning after compiling a 21-5 record in two seasons at James Madison, is a man of first impressions.
When Darwin Breaux first met Chesney, he was a do-it-all player for his father, Robert Chesney Sr., at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School in Edgewood, Pa., starting at quarterback with dual-threat skills and patrolling the secondary as a star safety. Chesney, who eventually captained Dickinson College in Carlisle about 180 miles to the east as a four-year varsity letter winner, was a “heck of a player,” said Breaux, who served as head football coach from 1993 to 2016.
Breaux identified his talent, but said it was how he uplifted his teammates and coaches that caused Chesney to shine.
“Just from a leadership standpoint, off the field, representing our program, he just had kind of infectious enthusiasm,” Breaux said. “Everybody around him realized that he was the ultimate type of competitor.”
Breaux, who was also – and still serves as – the men’s golf coach at Dickinson in 1999, had an opening during Chesney’s senior season. So, the football team captain obliged and picked up the clubs.
“I’m sure he’s gotten a lot better,” Breaux said of Chesney, the golfer.
Marcus Blossom didn’t hire Chesney. Holy Cross hired Blossom as its athletic director in June 2019 – and even before Chesney’s new boss connected with him, Blossom observed how individuals at every level of the administration praised the Crusaders coach.
“They spoke of him in such a positive way,” said Blossom, who is now Creighton’s athletic director. “It quickly caught my attention that I thought he was special.”
Chesney had already turned around Salve Regina, churning three consecutive winning seasons before taking a job at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, flexing five winning records in five seasons, along with three NCAA Division II Tournament berths. Before Chesney, Assumption had two winning seasons in 17 years.
“The surprise for me is how long it took the national landscape to figure this out, and to figure out that one of the best coaches in the country is just sitting right there,” said Dan Swanstrom, who worked alongside Chesney at Johns Hopkins and is the current Cornell head coach. “UCLA is gonna be the beneficiary of it.”
‘He’s a connector’
Holy Cross was next on Chesney’s turnaround tour.
C.J. Hanson welcomed Chesney into his home during Christmas week, his mom fixing a feast for the visit to the zero-star offensive line prospect who held just two offers. Hanson had hardly played before his senior year. He attended a Holy Cross camp and left with an offer.
Hanson’s high school coaches hinted at Chesney being a “great coach,” he said. But it was that Christmas dinner that sealed the deal, a firsthand look at his new head coach.
“It was the best decision of my life,” said Hanson, who would go on to become an FCS All-American at Holy Cross.
Chesney won in spades at Holy Cross. After a 5-6 record in his first season – Chesney’s only losing record as a head coach – the Crusaders won five straight Patriot League championships, becoming the first program in conference history to have done so.
“He took student athletes that others didn’t want,” Blossom said, “… and he made them feel like they were four stars.”
On Dec. 3, 2022, Holy Cross hosted New Hampshire in the second round of the NCAA FCS Tournament. Hanson, who called Chesney the “greatest pregame speech writer” that he’s come across in his football career, said the then-Holy Cross coach shared a speech about the pale white horse in Revelation 6:8 of the New Testament, inspiring the team to defeat New Hampshire 35-19 and advance to the FCS quarterfinal for the first time since 1983.
“Before the games, I would be screaming my heart out, because he’s that good,” said Hanson, now with the Kansas City Chiefs after being chosen in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL draft.
Blossom laughed when asked about Chesney’s locker-room speech acumen. He said it’s more than true, adding that Chesney is a “master motivator,” fully enriching himself in university culture.
“He gets you ready to run through a wall,” Blossom said. “It’s hard to put your finger on it, but he can get those student athletes hype and get them to believe, no matter who they play, that they’re about to win.”
Sullivan said Chesney’s commitment to the university he’s coaching at is paramount. Even at Salve Regina, Chesney and his family didn’t view Newport as a stepping stone; they bought a home and settled. Blossom said Chesney not only prided himself on doing community events in Worcester for Holy Cross, but was an avid fundraiser for the school – a face of sorts for the institution.
“He was one that helped raise the community profile of Worcester, just by his engagement and the time he spent in that community,” Blossom said. “Now, obviously, L.A. is a much bigger place, but I think he can do some similar things, at least on the UCLA campus. He’s a connector.”
‘No days off’
Chesney is not one to forget his roots. His current defensive coordinator at James Madison is Colin Hitschler, who was his assistant at Salve Regina in 2011. Four of his current assistants, including offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy, coached with Chesney at Holy Cross.
When Assumption kicker Cole Tracy, from Newbury Park High, transferred to LSU, becoming a second-team All-American in 2018, Chesney watched from the State Farm Stadium crowd at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, as Tracy and the Tigers took down undefeated UCF 40-32.
Hanson said that’s just the type of coach Chesney is; there for his former players and coaches, and vice versa.
“I don’t think I would be where I am without Coach Chesney,” Hanson said. “Every coach wants to stay with him. I’ve talked to multiple coaches who are no longer coaching with them, and they just say, like, ‘I wish I was back there.’”
Chesney, in short, is willing to do anything to win. In the summer of 2006, while the defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins, Chesney competed on ‘Cowboy U,’ a Country Music Television channel reality competition show, taking “city slickers” to a Colorado ranch to learn how to become cowboys for a $25,000 grand prize.
The new Bruins’ football coach didn’t win ‘Cowboy U.’
He came in second place, falling a bull ride short of reality television glory. Chesney, back in 2007, however, shared an apt comparison of the cowboy way of life with Johns Hopkins Magazine.
“You have to be strong to be a cowboy,” Chesney said. “You have to be tough. And you can’t be sick as a cowboy and have a day off. That correlates to being a football coach during football season – there are no days off.”
Chesney’s mounted a football program in Westwood – and his ride has just begun.