UCLA HC Bob Chesney Talks Bruins’ Football Recruiting & More with Rich

Bob Chesney walked into the Rich Eisen Show studio with a Southern California tan and a top-five recruiting class, and the new UCLA head coach made it clear he is not selling anything. He is presenting.

Chesney took the UCLA job mid-run, in the middle of his James Madison team's push toward a Sun Belt championship game and the College Football Playoff. He worked the time difference like a hack. Late Eastern nights were still early Pacific evenings, which gave him a couple extra hours to build a staff, install a GM, get a read on the roster, and start working the portal, all while finishing a season three time zones away.

His pitch in Westwood is the school. "It's the number one public school in the country." Olympic athletes. Three national champions on campus this year. An eight percent acceptance rate. "Out of 100 people applying, 92 don't get in." The job, he told Rich, is making sure football catches up to the rest of the athletic department, where everyone else is winning.

That integration was on display at the spring game, when UCLA women's basketball coach Cori Close came out to call plays alongside water polo coach Adam Wright. Close was one of the first people to reach out when Chesney got the job. "She was on the brink of doing some pretty special things at that moment and took time to reach out to me." They have been trading texts and motivational videos ever since. At the spring game she dialed up a flea flicker. Wright ran a reverse out of an I formation that turned into a throwback to the quarterback. The players, Chesney said, embraced both of them like they were on staff.

Chesney is a lifelong learner by his own description, and he name-dropped his curriculum without hesitation. He spent days at Notre Dame with Brian Kelly studying sports science, GPS player loads, nutrition, blood work. At Holy Cross he leaned on Amanda Bichc, the Patriots' women's lacrosse coach, for meeting structure and scheme. He has spent time around former Navy SEALs on leadership. He grew up in a tiny coal mining town in Pennsylvania, the same town that produced Chiefs GM Brett Veach. Veach picks up the phone.

What Chesney will not say is what makes him different. "No, I would not" tell Bruins fans to Google him. The philosophy, he told Rich, is more direct than that. Best players. Highest standards. Coach hard. Play disciplined, physical football. "That's what all those best teams do. They have elite athletes, high level coaches, and they just demand the most out of each other."

The recruiting class currently sits fourth nationally per 247Sports. Chesney's response to that ranking is on brand. "To be fourth in recruiting, you know, why not be third or second or find a way to be first?"

The alumni outreach has been strong, including Troy Aikman, who came back for a quarterbacks reunion benefiting the children's hospital. Maurice Jones-Drew's son was at the spring game and is heading to Westwood. The wins have not started yet. The architecture, Chesney told Rich, is being poured every day.