Bob Chesney isn’t wasting any time making his presence felt in Westwood.
The new UCLA football head coach, barely a month into the job, stepped into the spotlight Saturday night-not on the gridiron, but at Pauley Pavilion during the Bruins’ double-overtime thriller against Indiana. The basketball team may have fallen just short in a 98-97 heartbreaker, but Chesney used the moment to deliver a message that had nothing to do with hoops and everything to do with what’s coming on the football field.
Let’s be honest: UCLA football hasn’t been truly relevant on the national stage in nearly three decades. That’s not a knock-it’s just the reality Chesney inherits.
And he’s not shying away from it. In fact, he’s embracing the challenge head-on.
Standing in front of the home crowd, Chesney introduced members of his new coaching staff-what he called “the best staff in the world”-and then got straight to the point. No fluff, no clichés. Just a clear vision and a bold promise.
“I’ve been here for about a month now, and I’ve looked around, and there’s nothing average that I’ve seen about UCLA,” Chesney told the crowd. “There is nothing average.
And I did not come here to be average. You did not come here.
I want you to support this thing, understand what we’re building and understand that we’re about to win a Big Ten Championship.”
That’s not just coach-speak. That’s a shot of adrenaline into a program that’s been searching for its identity in a rapidly shifting college football landscape. With UCLA now part of the Big Ten, the stakes are higher, the competition steeper, and the expectations-at least from Chesney’s perspective-sky high.
He didn’t go full Curt Cignetti with a fiery takedown of rival programs (Cignetti famously declared that Ohio State, Michigan, and Purdue “suck” during his own rallying cry), but the spirit was similar. Chesney made it clear: UCLA isn’t joining the Big Ten just to make up the numbers. They’re aiming to contend.
Of course, talk is easy. Execution is the hard part.
But Chesney’s track record suggests he’s not just here to stir the pot-he’s here to cook. And while the road to a Big Ten title is littered with powerhouse programs and recruiting battles, Chesney’s early message is simple: UCLA isn’t backing down.
It’s going to take more than words to turn around nearly 30 years of underachievement. But on Saturday night, Chesney gave Bruins fans a reason to believe that something different might finally be brewing in Westwood.
The rebuild is on. And if Chesney has his way, it won’t take long before UCLA is back in the national conversation-this time, as a legitimate contender.