UCLA hires DeShaun Foster
UCLA has found their coach. They go the alum route and hired DeShaun Foster who agreed to join the Raider's as their RB coach less than two weeks ago. Foster coached RBs at UCLA from 17-23.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:32 AM ^
Probably will end up being better for them (long term) than having Chip Kelly linger further.
February 12th, 2024 at 3:59 PM ^
Idk about that. This hire leaves a lot to be desired especially when they could’ve hired another alum in Tony White who’s Nebraska’s DC.
UCLA is broke.
February 12th, 2024 at 6:41 PM ^
Not sure you're getting this right. Seems to be very popular, pretty successful to date. A five-year contract suggests he may have been the heir apparent:
February 12th, 2024 at 11:35 AM ^
A UCLA man will coach UCLA
February 12th, 2024 at 11:36 AM ^
WHAT ABOUT JEDD FISCH
also
fire Warde
February 12th, 2024 at 11:38 AM ^
That's kookie.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:15 PM ^
Ed Byrnes?
February 12th, 2024 at 12:16 PM ^
Lend me your comb.
You're the ginchiest.
February 12th, 2024 at 2:29 PM ^
You and Shoes are showing your age by those references. And so am I by recognizing them.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:40 AM ^
Seems like a solid choice. Let's hope he can do something about the enthusiasm around the program. Four-digit home attendance figures is a really bad look for UCLA and for the B1G.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:59 AM ^
Pretty hard being the second most popular university athletic program in a city that has multiple pro football, basketball, baseball, and hockey teams. UCLA enthusiasm has a low ceiling.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:07 PM ^
True, but they should at least try to make it look somewhat respectable. UCLA's attendance wasn't this bad in the 90's, and that was before the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders moved back to Oakland.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:16 PM ^
They really can't fix the stadium issue.
February 12th, 2024 at 10:15 PM ^
They could use the Drake Stadium area and the adjacent intramural fields to build a decent sized college football stadium anytime they feel like it.
February 12th, 2024 at 1:16 PM ^
On an absolute basis, the LA Kings don't have a ton of fans. Neither do the 2 local MLS teams.
But those fans that exist --- they CARE. A lot.
UCLA football's problem isn't their number of fans. Even if they only had 100K fans, they'd be fine if they all cared. Their problem is their fans are mostly of the wine-and-cheese variety.
February 12th, 2024 at 3:43 PM ^
I protest this characterization. Producing good wine and good cheese takes a great deal of care.
February 12th, 2024 at 6:43 PM ^
Whiny and cheesed off sounds like a lot of people around here, like all of internet America.
February 12th, 2024 at 1:22 PM ^
Seems like a solid choice.
He's been a coach for 8 years and has only ever coached RBs. This seems like an interim hire done as cheaply as possible. UCLA fans are not happy.
February 12th, 2024 at 6:33 PM ^
True, but it's mid-February. Realistically, their options are extremely limited.
February 12th, 2024 at 10:02 PM ^
That's what the money is for
February 12th, 2024 at 11:40 AM ^
Shameful. What will be left of the NFL if colleges keep poaching all their coaches two weeks after they come on board?
February 12th, 2024 at 1:03 PM ^
It seems that college is only able to poach NFL coaches if they give position coaches an upgrade. It’s much harder to wrestle away coordinators unless they are trending down or jobless.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:43 AM ^
I bet Jedd Fisch is pissed. This Foster guy took the job right out from under him.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:45 AM ^
geographically speaking
February 12th, 2024 at 11:45 AM ^
Well I hope for them he's more Harbaugh than Howard. But in reality I hope he's more Howard when UM plays them.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:51 AM ^
Say what you will about UCLA but at least they're cheap.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:51 AM ^
Nice to hire an alum and someone who's coached there, and best wishes to the guy, but I don't think his CV measures up even at a place that's not positioned to get a top-tier coach.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:57 AM ^
"Foster impressed the UCLA brass with his ability to lead and command a room. Per sources, school officials believe Foster can resonate in the Los Angeles market and emphasize recruiting and fundraising.
Foster was also the overwhelming choice of the current players, who believe in him as a connecter and leader, sources said. Foster has worked under Kliff Kingsbury, Jim Mora, Chip Kelly and played in a Super Bowl with the Carolina Panthers under John Fox. They see him as a modern CEO coach who can identify and develop players.
Foster spent a decade in various roles on the UCLA staff, including running backs coach from 2017 through this year."
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39512094/ucla-set-name-deshaun-foster-new-coach
February 12th, 2024 at 8:26 PM ^
Clearly a popular choice with the players https://x.com/uclafootball/status/1757135040100897046?s=61&t=FWdPjolLEsKsBy4p9r91ow
And in today’s day and age with the transfer portal that’s an important consideration. Same reason we had our key defensive guys spend some time talking to Wink during the interview process.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:00 PM ^
All depends on his coordinators. If he gets a pair of good ones, I could see this working. If not, it is more of a placeholder hire until their finances get into shape and a new chancellor is appointed. I am curious to what his assistant budget is.
February 12th, 2024 at 1:05 PM ^
Are there any good/proven coordinators that want the same title in college? Seems like this is a significant challenge nowadays. He’ll have to take an unproven position coach and promote him and hope he’s good.
February 12th, 2024 at 8:28 PM ^
A place like UCLA can also poach lower down the ladder still.
Imagine if they hire Brennon Marion from UNLV for instance.
February 12th, 2024 at 10:07 PM ^
is Marion still at UNLV?
February 12th, 2024 at 11:15 PM ^
Yes and he probably doesn’t make that much there. UCLA doesn’t have a great budget but it’s more than UNLV.
February 12th, 2024 at 7:29 PM ^
He doesn’t have an assistant budget lol. A few outlets have reported this, but Chip successfully got extensions for his assistants a few months ago. They made a hire who wouldn’t take umbrage w/ keeping the staff as is.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:53 AM ^
Good luck
February 12th, 2024 at 11:55 AM ^
Interesting. Never been a coordinator. Always been a running backs coach with last year being Associate Head Coach and Running Backs coach.
February 12th, 2024 at 11:58 AM ^
Time to start the Mike Hart to Raiders rumors!
February 12th, 2024 at 12:03 PM ^
Was Sam Webb right or wrong about this hire? Let's not miss what's really important. /s
February 12th, 2024 at 12:12 PM ^
Football at UCLA. Playing in the Rose Bowl can be great - but, having about an hour bus trip for students to attend a game - it's easy to see how that can impact attendance.
I think the one thing that will drive attendance at future games is - B1G alumni who live on the west coast - and, their interest in supporting their alma mater when they play there.
This season's schedule with "home" games for UCLA in the Rose Bowl:
- Indiana - September 14th - this will be interesting - not sure how IU football fans travel
- Oregon - September 28th - Oregon fans will flock - but, it's an "old" Pac-12 matchup
- Minnesota - October 12th - I have no idea on Gopher turn out
- Iowa - November 9th - I think Hawkeye fans will take advantage of the Rose Bowl
- USC - November 23rd - traditional rivalry - this should sell out, but - it's southern California - and USC actually ends their season (on November 30th) hosting Notre Dame. Most of us feel the same about ND. USC should NOT end their season with an OOC game - and, neither should UCLA.
- Fresno State - November 30th - not exactly a traditional matchup to end the
It's a new era in B1G football.
P.S. - a footnote - USC and UCLA are the only B1G teams that are scheduled to end the season (on November 30th this year) - with an OOC game.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:28 PM ^
I lived n LA and dated a UCLA PhD student who was a football fan, as were the rest of the people in her lab. None of them cared at all about UCLA football. LA didn't have any NFL teams at the time and for the most part most of the people I knew didn't care about sports. There were Dodgers fans and Lakers fans, but it was a much more casual relationship even among the LA natives. There are 9.83 million people in LA county (~3% of US population) so it is hard to generalize, but I don't think LA folk and UCLA people specifically are huge sports fans. It's been awhile since John Wooden swiped Kareem from Michigan.
RE: ND playing USC. I think the Big Ten should blackball ND. Let them play the ACC.
EDIT: I did know a few USC alum and they were football fans.
February 12th, 2024 at 2:06 PM ^
I did my grad work at UCLA. They still get very good attendance for basketball (although, it is a late arriving crowd). The crowds for the olympic sports are better than your typical college in my experience. The new subway connecting campus to other parts of the city will likely help too. The problem is football attendance and I don't see that changing unless an earthquake destroys half of westwood and they can get land for cheap. One other thing to note is that UCLA was largely a commuter campus through the 90s, so their on campus culture is still kind of weirdly quiet.
February 12th, 2024 at 2:50 PM ^
My nephew is a current UCLA undergrad. One of the bigger challenges (in general) was housing for students - balancing the costs, availability, etc. I believe it may have only been two or three years ago before UCLA guaranteed housing for students - all four years.
LA is very different from Ann Arbor - no question about it. And, I was just wondering - where did UCLA play their home games before their agreement with the Rose Bowl? And, a quick lookup reveals that the Bruins played their games at the LA Coliseum for a number of years - before moving to the Rose Bowl in 1982 - and, since '82 - that's forty (40) years of playing there. It also looks like UCLA attempted to build a stadium years ago - and, also had issues with the NFL Raiders.
It will be interesting to see what happens - the points about Minnesota and Iowa fans turning out - makes a lot of sense.
February 12th, 2024 at 1:22 PM ^
That schedule - it's truly possible that for EVERY game, it will be at least a 50-50 split for the opposition.
I was at the Cincinnati @ UCLA game in 2018. Shoot, that was a 20% Bearcat crowd --- for an AAC team that was 2000 miles away and was coming off of a 4-8 year!
IU & Minnesota, they haven't played in the Rose Bowl game in eons. Their fans will show up just for the novelty of it all.
Fresno fans will definitely make the trek south, just like they did in 2021.
February 12th, 2024 at 3:02 PM ^
having about an hour bus trip for students to attend a game - it's easy to see how that can impact attendance.
It's an issue for non-students, too. So much of the allure of going to college football games for alumni is the chance to revisit the campus and take a look at old hangouts and such. When the team plays an hour away from that campus, that whole aspect is gone. You're just going there for the game, and if the team isn't that good, maybe the game isn't enough to draw you to Pasadena.
UCLA-USC will sell out though. That one is a can't-miss game for both schools.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:18 PM ^
UCLA must have a few solid transfer candidates. And the academics match. Let's go raid 'em.
PS: I live near UCLA. Its support in the city is roughly akin to support for the Chargers. Angelenos who do like CFB -- and there are some -- generally root for USC. And having a stadium an hour from campus is a disaster. Plus the AD is cash-poor.
That being said, UCLA could be a sleeping giant given the right coach. There's SO MUCH talent in SoCal, and the school itself is great. Really bizarre nobody has been able to fix this.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^
Did not see this coming, but with Round 1 QBs graduating, and all of the turmoil, not clear which of our new Pac-10 joiners are going to be top of the conference. Seems clear it won't be UCLA, USC without their Heisman QB is going to struggle, I think. Tons of talent and a great coach leaves Washington. Oregon, less Bo Nix? Will be interesting.
February 13th, 2024 at 7:06 AM ^
Ummmm…. Did you see Caleb’s backup throw a zillion TDs setting a school record in the bowl game? They’ll be fine.
February 12th, 2024 at 12:55 PM ^
He is like Mike Hart but with less disappearing for 6 weeks?