UCLA completed an exchange of head coaches on Monday morning, 24 hours ahead of its self-imposed deadline.
The Bruins finalized the swap of Chip Kelly, winner of 81 college games and one of the most respected playcallers in the sport, for DeShaun Foster, a former UCLA running back who has never been a head coach or coordinator.
That is, admittedly and intentionally, a gross oversimplification — for Kelly had a deeply flawed tenure in Westwood and Foster brings significant potential to the role.
But the juxtaposition helps frame the challenge in Westwood, where a once-proud program has gone 25 seasons without a conference title, burned through five head coaches this century and failed to generate traction heading into the Big Ten.
Kelly, who departed late last week to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, hated to recruit. He didn’t connect with players, failed to energize the fans and made little effort to cultivate donors for the purposes of creating an NIL (name, image and likeness) war chest.
He bears significant responsibility for the current state of affairs — but not all of it.
Foster, who coached under Kelly last season, bleeds blue and gold. He relates well to the players and has both the energy and passion necessary for high-level recruiting. But success in the Big Ten is about more than Foster — much more.
Upon announcing the news of Foster’s appointment on Monday morning, the Bruins described him as “a leader of young men.” To date, he has led the UCLA running backs as their position coach for the past seven years. Soon, we will know if he can lead a team, if he can engage donors and work with central campus and manage the media and handle all the tasks baked into running a major college football operation.
Foster gives UCLA a chance to keep the coaching staff intact and prevent an exodus of players into the transfer portal with the Big Ten opener seven short months away. Also, he’s cheap. The Bruins paid Kelly $6…
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