LOS ANGELES — DeShaun Foster’s introductory – re-introductory? – news conference didn’t tell us what kind of head football coach he will ultimately be, but it should have assuaged any fears about his abilities as a salesman.
Because if I’m a recruit and I meet the man who sat at the dais Tuesday, beaming while wiping away tears, passion personified?
It would take a heck of a lot of willpower to stop myself from hopping up off the couch and shouting, “Westwood ho!”
If I’m a kid with pro aspirations and someone who was an NFL running back for seven seasons promises to prepare me for the big time like he did for Bruins running backs four consecutive years? As he did Joshua Kelley, a former walk-on who was drafted in 2020 by the Chargers and who remembers Foster fondly, for “knowing how to talk to people, how to make you feel special”?
You better believe Foster, UCLA’s new head football coach, has my attention.
If I’m a potential donor with an allegiance to UCLA and it’s Foster, the player whom I cheered for during his glory days on the gridiron, repeating Tuesday’s promise that he’ll hit the ground running like he did as a collegian in 1998? If that brought me gladly back to when he was a freshman and rushed for 10 touchdowns to help drive UCLA to a conference title and a Rose Bowl berth?
I might feel I owed him for the memories alone.
If I hear him promise that the Bruins will measure success next season by victories on the scoreboard and no other metric? And how important to him it will be to fill the Rose Bowl back to the brim like it was when he was bringing it every week in college?
I’d be keen to help.
If I heard him promise, with his whole broad chest, that he’s the right guy to lead UCLA’s turnaround – “This is something I’m built for, y’all; I can do this!” – I’d want to believe him.
The concern, of course, is that Foster is going to over-promise and underdeliver. That where UCLA is and where UCLA…
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