New UCLA Football head coach Bob Chesney has made quite an impact thus far during his short tenure in Westwood.
After leading James Madison to the 2025 College Football Playoff, Chesney headed to the West Coast in order to revive a program with considerable prestige and tradition. Chesney vowed to be a fixture in the community, and he’s been just that a few months into the job.
With Spring Football kicking off for the Bruins in April, Chesney’s had some free time on his hands to explore the area and further ingratiate himself within the culture of UCLA. As such, he’s been seen at virtually every on-campus sporting event over the last week.
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That’s included making appearances at a Women’s Basketball game, a Men’s Basketball game, a Men’s Tennis match, a Gymnastics meet, Water Polo matches, a Women’s Beach Volleyball match, and a baseball game.
For good measure, Chesney also met with ex-UCLA/current NFL player Jay Toia to discuss the program. Via his social media account, the head coach broke bread with multiple donor groups (one of which featured media mogul Bill Simmons). He attended the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities and was present at a team-led event supporting the Compton Food Pantry.
Chesney also hosted professional athletes Novak Djokovic and Charles ‘Peanut’ Tillman as the duo spoke to the team on separate days. All of this was achieved within a few weeks, and various accounts joked that Chesney had to have been cloned in order to be so accessible.
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UCLA Football’s social media account has been very active in aiming to showcase the newfound optimism around the program. Having a bit of fun with the ‘cloning’ narrative, Chesney filmed a truly hilarious short that has gone viral. It not only illustrates how good-natured Chesney is in general, but it represents a massive change from the last two coaches (Chip Kelly, DeShaun Foster) who seemingly were far more reserved and less dynamic in nature.
From a marketing standpoint, this can only help a program which has been beset by poor coaching and a lack of juice. Chesney is ardently trying to flip that script and bring the Bruins back to national relevancy for the first time since the Jim Mora era.