Head Coach Bob Chesney Introductory Press Conference Quotes
QUOTES
UCLA Football Head Coach Bob Chesney Introductory Press Conference
UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center (Westwood, Calif.)
December 9, 2025
Head Coach Bob Chesney
opening statement
“First, I just want to thank everyone involved in this search committee. Obviously, Chancellor (Julio) Frenk, it was phenomenal to get a chance to meet you and understand your vision for the program and the university. And the idea that it doesn’t have to be academics or athletics, but for both to be able to live in harmony and for both to be able to uplift one another is ultimately the mission we all need to understand and one that I am proud to be part of. Martin (Jarmond), I thought did just a phenomenal job of expressing his vision and his beliefs for what this program needs to be and where maybe it has come up a little bit short in the past and what he was looking for. ‘Alignment’ was a word that continued to show up over and over and over again.
"I think anywhere that you are, any opportunity you have when you think you can succeed or would like to succeed, it takes three things from the people really above you that you’re asking for. And the first one is ‘Do they understand?’ Do they have any idea of what you’re actually going through? What the team actually needs? The things that we need to move forward with quickly. The depth of understanding is important. And Martin certain does that. The second one is ‘Do you care?’ There’s a lot of times you say you might understand that, but that is irrelevant right now. I have 15 other things I need to worry about and your one thing is not a fire I’m ready to put out right now. So, there has to be this understanding. Then, there has to be this care. And when you finally understand and care, there has to be this willingness to work together. So, those three things became very apparent as I spoke to Martin in this process. He understands what it takes, he cares a lot about it and he has a willingness to work together more so anywhere else than I’ve ever been. I think that’s really important to understand. I want to thank the search committee as well. As you go through, the guys that were on that (search committee), was another thing that stood out to me. Obviously, it all starts with Martin, but as you go into the next group of guys from Casey (Wasserman) over to Bob (Myers) to Adam (Peters), the energy that they feel for UCLA and the belief that they have in UCLA is what stood out to me. There is zero chance that they are going to allow us to fail. They will do whatever takes to push this forward and to be supporters of what this program needs, and that is important to me. I don’t want to believe more in a place than a place believes in itself, and those are three men that believe in UCLA and the power of UCLA at huge levels.
"Going back to JMU where we have a huge task ahead of us right now, and we’re still playing in the 12-team playoff and I could not be more proud to actualize those dreams and take that program to a level where that becomes a reality. Those same exact dreams are dreams that we will have here. And those are things that we know that we can do and that we will have the blueprint for doing. We have to make sure we get the right people involved to see those dreams all the way through. I can’t thank enough everyone involved at JMU that allowed me this opportunity. Most importantly, the players. The players are the ones and the reason why I am standing here in front of you today. I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with them and get home and back to work. There will be a little juggling that is going to occur here in my life, so the multi-tasking skills are going to come in handy really quick. I think the three-hour time difference helps quite a bit as well. That will all be a part of it. Sleep was not an option for the past couple of days, and I’m sure it will really not be an option moving forward. To my family, I can’t thank you enough to share your father. That is not easy to do. And I don’t know how many in here are sons of coaches, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. You have to put your needs aside and share your father with a different side of a family with that team. I appreciate you all more than you can know.
"For me, as I’ve gone through some of these experiences before, it always starts with this question of ‘Can they win? Can they win at the place they are currently at?’ To me, there is zero doubt in my mind that we can win here at UCLA. I think when you go through and think about the history here, not only on the football field, but in all the other sports. Most recently, men’s water polo. The 125 national championships to be held here, 11 banners hanging in (Pauley) Pavilion. The things that come with it to me are that this is the expectation. What we are doing is not the norm in this current time. So, the expectation and norm is to win and that is what we will be able to do here. I believe in the power of UCLA. I think that’s important for everyone in here to understand. I, again, do not want to be the only one believing it. I know that we have a room full of people that do. The plan that we have in place will realize that. (The plan) will be built on toughness, it will be built on competitiveness. Our players will be asked to compete on a day-to-day basis with constant feedback coming back to them to allow them to succeed or fail. As (the players) succeed, they realize the leading cause of failure is mismanaged success and the leading cause of success is well-managed failure. But those have to be opportunities that they can compete every single day. That is something that I truly believe in, and the minute that we get here and get started, that will be exactly what we do. In closing, I just want to thank everybody in here. I want to thank the players for their belief in me (and) the administration and the search committee for their belief in me. But to our student body, we need you now more than ever. This is not just our team. This is your team. To the administrators, to the professors, as classes go on, I will be reaching out personally to make sure that those relationships are developed. I will be present on campus and make sure I go around personally and do class checks. This is also your team. For everybody in the L.A. area, this is a town that we could look at the Lakers, we could look at the Dodgers, we could look at so many other teams that are rich in history and winning. That is what we need to bring back here. We don’t need to be ‘the other school’ in this town, we need to be ‘the’ school in this town. And I promise that will happen here in the very near future.”
on if he feels pressure taking one of country’s elite jobs
“It was funny -- I was at a place called Johns Hopkins back in the day -- and our head coach would talk about pressure being reserved for soldiers and surgeons, is what he would say, that were life and death situations that those guys were involved in. We had a lot of guys that were pre-med and a lot of guys that went into the military after that. I feel in a similar way. I feel like, to me, if there is pressure, it’s a pressure. But ultimately, what do you do about that? I think walking into any game and understanding that you are prepared, is the number one thing you can do. Having no regrets. Having regrets that you did not prepare well. Having regrets that maybe you didn’t call the right plays at the end of it. You can’t have any regrets, but that ultimately comes from the preparation that leads into it. So, I feel like every time we walk onto that field – and I share this with our players quite a bit – you watch your foot hit that field, you want to know that it’s a prepared body, it’s a prepared mind, it’s a prepared soul, ultimately, and you did everything that you can. Then the pressure doesn’t really matter much. You have to go out there and perform, and I think it’s important within our program to build our competitions every single day for us to practice situational football at an elite level, to make sure that we were practicing tough with contact and everything that comes with it. That all has to be part of what you’re going to do on game day, so everything we do in this program from Day 1 until you’re finally lifting up that trophy – which we talked about the other week with our team: It takes a full year to put a trophy in a trophy case. That is the preparation, and in that preparation, you have to have no regrets, because you’ve done your job. Then, ultimately, you know when you walk on that field, the pressure doesn’t mean much at that moment in time and shouldn’t feel much because you’ve prepared the way you should.”
on what success looks like for him at UCLA
“Success looks like winning. That’s what it looks like on a day-to-day basis, Ben. For us, it is what we do in this program. Every single thing we do has winners and losers every single day. There will not be a day that goes by that we just kind of get by. That’s, I think, really important. And that was, I think, the underlying theme in everything we’ve done up to this point in time. We don’t walk on the field on Saturdays not having been there before, in almost every situational aspect you can imagine. Pressure on music playing at practice, right behind the quarterbacks. Those are all things that we have to do to prepare ourselves for game day. So, what does it look like? That’s, to me, a question that needs to be answered a little more when I can dig deeper into this roster. When I realize who’s staying and who’s going; and how quickly it needs to be built a different way, or rebuilt. That, ultimately, won’t be my decision. That will come from the players that stay or go. But, for me, in the past, I can just tell you that at James Madison, we ultimately had a center and a guard and a punter come back from the first year I got there and we had won our first bowl game ever in the history of the school. Then this next year, 60-something players later in the portal, then this year, 50-something players later in the portal, and here we are as one of those teams in the 12-team playoff. So, what does it look like? That will have to be determined by our team when we get that fully assembled and moving forward next year, but then whatever our expectations are is where we build our standards and then the day-to-day process. I see zero reason why we cannot be competing for a championship.”
on fan engagement and his involvement driving interest in the program
“I think, for me, there has to be a ton of engagement outside of the football building. Not only on campus, let’s start there, with our student body. We ultimately have to build those relationships. We talked about that in our team meeting just a few minutes before we came in here. Ultimately, that’s a big piece of what we need to be able to do. These players just can’t be football players on campus. They also have to be students and friends to the other members of the student body. That will be a big piece of what we’re able to accomplish. Maybe go to other peoples’ games, be involved in other things that occur on campus, so that they can have engagement, get to know other people on campus – not just those in the football building. Then, for myself, it’s a really important thing that I’m out in the community. I think whether it be community service initiatives with our players, maybe going to elementary schools or whatever it might be to get some more engagement from them. But then, I personally have to be able to do that, as well. Wherever I have to go and speak, whoever I have to go and talk to, we will be a ‘yes’ program where a majority of the time, if someone comes to us and says ‘Can you help us with this?,” my answer will be ‘yes’ and then I’ll figure out how to do it and how to manage it after that. That is ultimately one of the bigger things that we were able to do at James Madison University. That was a place that was sold out. Every single game was sold out. They received a lot of support, just didn’t give a lot back. Then, very quickly, we were involved in that community, which I think continued to lead to those deeper meaningful relationships. Then you see the results happening on the field because the community is also behind it. We need to do a better job there, not only with the student body, but with our local fanbase and in the whole L.A. area. And we will do that.”
on why UCLA will be able to leverage advantages differently this time
“I think, for me, the energy is right, ultimately, here. And the time, the moment is right. Those are things that I think are pretty important. I think back to my past and places I’ve been. There’s a place I was that was – I mentioned it earlier – one of the better medical schools in the country. You brought in a freshman to that medical school and you knew you were going to change his life forever – and you did. They became doctors and there are families that I still continue to be in contact with today, you’re extremely proud of. I went to a different place and it had a location that was very diverse with people coming from internationally over the summers and you knew that they would kind of understand a different world view and help them grow as people. I think that was one of the things I liked the most about that place. Then you go to a place like Holy Cross where I ended. The mentorship program, the alumni network, their investment in them. Everybody left there with a job when their football days were done. It was phenomenal. Those were three of the things that I felt we could present at different places, and then you come here to UCLA and every thing I loved about every place I’ve ever been is all packaged into one. It’s all here. It’s all present here. That is very easy, in my mind, to present to the right person, the right player. It can’t just be about the money. It can’t just be about one of those things. It has to be them fully understanding all of those things that come with it. I think, to me, when you’re passionate about it as a coach, when your staff’s about it and you know that you’re truly changing peoples’ lives – the administration cares about it, the alums are more motivated than ever in their ability to help mentor these guys in different ways. Those are the things that I think are different than anywhere else I’ve ever been. So, to me, all of that was spot on. I think that our ability to bring people here, present that to them – and we will find the right ones, there’s no doubt about it – and I think the timing is different, where all of that is aligned together for everyone involved in this organization.”
on what he sees as challenges being on west coast, especially when it comes to recruiting
“I think the geographic lines are a little bit skewed at this moment in time just because of the way recruiting works this day and age. Ultimately, we have to be the premier program in this state. There’s zero doubt about it. I have a much better understanding over the past few months of what exactly it’s going to take. I think we’ve got to make sure as we begin our hiring process that we make sure we have people that have deep ties here to the west coast, that certainly understand the players within this environment, understand the areas and understand the power players in it. Those are all things that are important. Then I need to make sure, with the high school coaches and all the other people that are involved in this, that we are accessible and open as humanly possible. We will have clinics, we will have open practices, we will do as many things as we can do so that they get a good idea of who we are as opposed to just sending someone to UCLA for all the reasons that you would, now I also know who those players are, I know who those coaches are, I know what that culture feels like, I know what the practice is like, I know how they’re going to develop my player. I know all the things that are going to come with it. Those are the things that we have to do a good job of opening the doors and building those relationships quickly. I will need people with a great knowledge of that and then I, myself, understand I have to adapt, I have to overcome and I have to continue to make sure that I am constantly learning as much as humanly possible about it. I have a good grasp on it, but I need to make sure that those connections are meaningful and open and that I’m always available to the coaches in this area.”
on how he plans to juggle two jobs
“It’s a little more challenging, right? No, I feel very good about it. I think right now, in this day and age, too, the idea of the timing of when the portal opens, but understanding a lot of things will be done long before that portal even opens, is important for us to do and we will. We have to get that staff in place. I think we have a robust recruiting staff right now and I think those guys have to continue to work on it and I have to make sure that I’m available in the moments when the work is done over at JMU as we continue to fight for this national championship. Those are all things that ultimately I have to juggle and I have to balance, but I’m very confident in my ability to do that.”
on who he has drawn from as a coach
“Just imagine getting here from a $5,000 job at a Division III partial-military college in Vermont. That’s how this whole thing ultimately started. Every step of the way, it’s just been the ability to learn and grow and share as many moments as I can with people. My ability to travel and find other people and be around them was always something I’ve done in my past. Then always trying to find a way to really run a program at a level higher than what you currently were at. That was a big piece of it. When I was at the Division III world, we ran it like a Division II program. I met with all those Division II programs and tried to figure out things they’re doing. When you got to Division II world, it became more like trying to run it like a FCS program. We started to introduce all the sport science, the Catapult, all the things that came with that. Having certain recruiters and a slight recruiting department and already building things like that at a level where nobody else was. Then getting to the next level and running more like an FBS program or an NFL program. For me, along the way, I was always looking for my own voice in trying to figure out how to do it my own way. I think that’s important. I don’t want to be like anybody else, I want to be me. There was a guy at Johns Hopkins named Jim Margraff that was phenomenal. He really enabled me to understand that you can treat people with dignity, you can be really demanding and you don’t have to be demeaning. Those were things that I think stood out to me initially, with him, and then fortunate enough, when I got to Holy Cross, our women’s lacrosse coach name was Amanda Belichick, so I had a chance to go over and spend so much time with the guys out at the (New England) Patriots and spending time with Bill (Belichick) at that point, too, was really important for me to understand how those programs worked. Growing up, I grew up with a guy by the name of Brett Veach, who’s the GM of the Kansas City Chiefs and he and I have a lot of deep and meaningful conversations. I go out and visit with him, as well, to just try to figure out exactly how it works at that level and things I need to know about and learn about and make sure we’re pursuing. There’s been a bunch. When I was at Assumption College, Brian Kelly actually graduated from there, so I’d go out to Notre Dame at that point in time and spend time learning about the science behind it. Just constantly trying to find ways to grow. I don’t want to be anybody else, though. I want to be me. That’s, I think, the most important thing. As many times as I would go to places and see what they did, I also saw things that ‘This would not work for me.’ I had to find the things that were most true to me, ultimately, and take a little bit of everybody along the way – even from our assistant coaches, I learned quite a bit. From our players, I learned quite a bit. It’s not just about the guy at the top that has all the answers. I’m constantly trying to be a lifelong learner. I’m trying to find better ways to do it. And I know every situation you walk into will not be exactly the same as the one you walked into before. That’s a big part of me being able to listen, adapt, learn and continue to grow with this team.”
“I did not mention this up there because I feel like it’s sometimes too long of a story, but, ultimately, my father was my high school football coach. My grandfather was our offensive line coach. My uncle, Bill, was our receivers coach. Joe Meyer, across the street, was actually the basketball coach and athletic director of that school. Every male in my life growing up was part of that football team or that organization. And honestly, I said it to Martin before and other people, I never saw this as a profession. I saw it as a way of life, if that makes sense. I think when you work ridiculous hours for – back then, very little pay – not many people would choose to go into this field, ultimately. Like a farmer, or a fisherman, or somebody like that, that just has a really hard, tough life, that’s what I watched my whole life growing up. But I just thought that’s what we did. I didn’t know any different that you could even call this a profession. To me, it was our ability to help young men on their journey grow and become who they need to become and understand that my job is to make sure – my father’s job from 14-18 was to help them grow and go through probably biggest physical changes of their life – and then my job from 18-22 was to help them grow spiritually and ultimately, by that, I mean who they are as people. Someday, they’re going to become someone’s employee and someone’s employer. Then they’re going to become someone’s husband and, the biggest one of them all, someone’s father. By then, they better have their stuff together and truly know who they are. That is what I feel like is probably my true North in my coaching journey is to share these moments with them and help them become whatever it is they need to and wish to become.”
on his secret to building programs into winners
“The first thing is who have to listen. That to me is, I think, one of my bigger superpowers is that I know how to do this and we’ve done it everywhere we’ve been. It’s not up for debate if we will or we will not here. We will. But how we do it, is going to be the bigger piece of it. I know the blueprint, I know the road map, I know the way that I wish it to work. But I also know that this recipe needs to be a little bit different. There are certain things that have to stay. There is non-negotiables. The competition that has to exist within this program, the physical and mental and emotional toughness that has to exist within this program is necessary. Holding each other accountable to the standard on a day-to-day basis – not just us as coaches, but as players – is necessary. Those are some of the main points of it. We can get into the offense and the defense and special teams and all of that, but that changes based on personnel that you have, as well. But those things have got to be at the root of it. Then, from there, there’s many things that can be done a lot of different ways. There’s no right or wrong, there’s just different. As long as you all believe in it and the alignment we talked about from administration to us as a football program has to exist within our own walls, as well, from position group to position group, to offensive, defense, special teams unit, to the overall team. Listening, to me, it gives you the idea of truly understanding what our players value, what our coaches value and making sure that on those sort of outside elements away from the core of who we need to be, there’s a lot of negotiables in there that we can work together on. And I think when everybody believes and you use somebody else’s idea other than your own, all of a sudden it creates ownership. Then when you create this ownership, you start to create this trust and people start to protect it just a little bit differently. That has been, truly to me, one of the biggest and most important and impactful parts of what I’ve done. If I come in here and run the exact JMU program, I don’t know if it’s fully successful. I know that there’s things and elements about it that we need to run, but at the same point in time, there’s a lot of other things that we have to adapt to fit our new moment in time that we are and who we want to become.”
on his ability to lead players and people through current climate of college football
“I think empathy might be the word. I think when you see things change so drastically, and I think when your players see so much others that they believe other people are getting – and they want to be in that same position – there are some that need to be in that position for family reasons or whatever it might be. The personal branding, I think that is part of where we’re going right now. I think the fact that you could sell a jersey in the bookstore or at the stadium and a player not see anything back for that, that was wrong, obviously, for all those years. I think that now those things have been righted a little bit more. There’s opportunities for these guys and I think that is excellent, but the main thing has to remain the main thing. And that has to be what we’re trying to do as a team on the field and as much as individualization may occur, and as much as there might be monetary gain for that – that’s great for that player and he’s earned it – but at the same point in time, that has to happen in hours outside of our obligations and has to be supported by our teammates and that person also has to understand if their name and their picture is going to be out there on a different level, they have a deeper responsibility now to help lead this team. Those are all things that I feel strongly that we need to understand as a group and we’ve got to continue with, but I welcome all those opportunities for those young men. They’ve earned it, they deserve it. But let’s just make sure we’re keeping the main thing, ultimately, the main thing.”
on when he realized coaching was in his DNA
“Honestly, I don’t know that I ever thought of anything different. I remember my friends – again, let’s play this out. It was 2000 and I was making $5,000 a year as a graduate assistant at a private military college in Vermont. A lot of my friends were making a god amount of money in the commercial real estate field and they’re like ‘Man, you’ve got to come with us. There’s a job open, I’d love for you …’ and I just couldn’t do it. I thought this is not it. This is my calling. This is my purpose. It wasn’t just because of X’s and O’s and football and winning games; that’s not only what it was. It was about helping these young men find the passion in this sport that I think could do wonders for your life, on and off the field. That’s the facts. That’s why I do this. This is one of the greatest teachers in life skills is this game of football. It’s different than every other sport out there. The physical demand, the different body types from your offensive tackle to your kicker to think that they could share this same field together and put on pads is one of the coolest things I think out there. And you’re all doing it with your own individual responsibility to a greater whole. And it’s not easy. Other sports, you play 40-50 games a year. This one, you play 12. Guaranteed, 12. That is it. The amount of work and the effort and the sacrifice and the physical nature of it, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. There’s never been a single thing other than I’ve thought about in my life other than coaching football.”
on why it was important to keep coaching James Madison and what it meant that UCLA allowed him to do that
“It means everything to me. There’s really zero chance I would be anywhere that wouldn’t allow you to finish a mission that you started. To me, that would just break everything, in my mind. It would break the trust of those players, it would break our relationship with them. I think it’s, again, empathy. I would not want my head coach walking out on us in the middle of a mission that we’re still committed to and finishing. To be honest, I feel funny being here a little bit, with them watching back at home. But ultimately, committed to that mission, and now I have to be dually committed to the other part of this responsibility and what it’s going to be like when we walk in this door here. That has to be done right, as well. But I don’t think it would be an option for me anywhere if someone said walk away from your team, you’ve got to be with us immediately. I understand the work will get harder, I understand the hours will get longer, but it was important for me to be able to do both.”
Martin Jarmond, The Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics
on why UCLA will be able to leverage advantages differently this time
“The first thing is, you have to look at your advantage and figure out how do you take advantage of those. When you look at our institution, we’re in the No. 2 media market in the country. We have a rich history in tradition. We’re highly academic – 1 or 2 in the country every year for the last 10, 11 years. You can have a high academic performance here, you’re competing now in the Big Ten Conference. You start with some of the things you do have. The weather, I can’t believe I didn’t remember that one. Then you start talking about how do we better utilize our alumni network. We have the best alumni network in the country and that’s something that we have started spending more time trying to figure out how do we utilize that. This search was a prime example. Casey Wasserman, Bob Myers, Doc Roberts – [Bob Chesney] mentioned talking to Doc Roberts on the phone. Eric Kendricks, Adam Peters, they all care and want this program to be successful, and we’ve got a lot of other people that are behind us now. I think, for me -- and I can only speak in my time here – what I’m excited and really enthused about, is we have a lot of alignment in a way that we have not had in the past. We have a great chancellor in Chancellor (Julio) Frenk that understands the importance of athletics bringing communities together, engaging alumni, wanting our student-athletes to be successful and understanding the commitment it takes at the university level for a football program to be competitive. We have investment now and we have leadership and vision. I don’t always feel we have had all of those together. I feel strongly we have all of those in place now. We’ve made a lot of changes. And you’ve got to remember, we’re in a heavily-evolving college landscape. Things are changing every year. Every month. Everyone’s trying to navigate that. Doesn’t mean you always get it right. But one thing we do at UCLA, we’re bold and we take action and we’re taking action right now. That’s what I’m excited about.”
on allowing Coach Chesney to continue coaching James Madison through College Football Playoff
“It was easy for me. You want to attract someone that’s loyal and that’s committed and that has a purpose. That aligns with our true Bruin values. To have someone that will leave in that kind of situation that you’re doing something special – when you sat in those young mens’ homes and said we’re going to compete and win a championship – I didn’t feel that was right. I want a guy that will want to stay with his team and we were going to support that. I let him know early on in our first conversation, no matter how long this season goes, you’re going to coach that team because that’s who he is. That’s the kind of person he is. You can figure out all the other stuff. Does that make it a little more challenging, does he not have to sleep a couple nights and do some things, absolutely. Does it put more on our administration, quite frankly, to have meetings with players, with Erin Adkins – shoutout to Erin, she’s out football sports administrator. She’s been meeting with student-athletes, meeting with coaches, meeting with a lot – does it put more on us to do? Absolutely. But it’s the right thing to do and it’s always time to do the right thing. That was an easy conversation we had. That was one conversation we had. And it was a matter of, as the process went on, we felt good about each other and we were trying to respect his pursuit of a championship and not being a distraction even though he knew how we felt about him and we knew how he felt about us.”
UCLA Freshman Defensive End Scott Taylor
on Chesney’s message in the team meeting
“Yeah, it was great. Obviously, it’s the start of a long process of getting to know him and everybody he brings here. It was nice to get to know what he’s about and what he plans on doing in the near future when he gets here.”
on if there was a them to Chesney’s message to the team
“It was more just about getting to know him and what he’s about and things we like here and that kind of stuff. It was very clear that he wants to win and he wants to do that in the near future.”
on his immediate reaction when Chesney was hired
“I like the hire, obviously. It’ll be good to know him a little bit more in the near future. You look at his track record and he’s won everywhere. That’s a real testament to him. Obviously, everyone is excited. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I know I’m excited. We’re just hopeful that he can come in here with a new sense of purpose and energy and bring us back to that success you talked about.”
on Chesney’s history of having instant success
“Obviously, the new thing in college football is rebuilding and retaining talent. He’s done a great job with that. That’s a big credit to him. We’re really excited he brings in that skillset and obviously it will be great when he’s here with us at UCLA.”
on if he knows if he’s returning to the team next year
“That’s not a decision I’m going to give you guys right now.”
on if he knows anything about Chesney’s defense
“I watched the Sun Belt Championship game once I knew he was our coach. I wanted to see what they’re all about. I don’t know the intricacies of his defense, but you see the aggressive play style, people running to the ball. All that stuff is good to see.”
on if the team will be watching James Madison vs. Oregon in the CFP First Round
“Of course. I don’t think we’ll be looking too closely (at how they play). It’ll more be just rooting on our next coach. Obviously, we’re all cheering for him and that’s a big thing.”
on if Chesney will be able to get fans excited
“I definitely think so. I mean, you can tell from hearing him talk once that he has a lot of energy and that he really cares about this place. I think that’s what a lot of people want to see. It’ll be good to have a coach that brings that energy, not only to the team, but to the fans as well. I think we’ll see a new sense of energy around the entire community very soon.”
Search Committee Member Bob Myers
on being selected for the search committee
“To be asked to do it along with Casey (Wasserman) and Adam (Peters) and Eric (Kendricks), it was an honor. This school has done a lot for me. I was involved in the search with Mick Cronin as well with Dan Guerrero, and I realized how hard it is. It’s a lot of work. UCLA has given me a lot and any chance I have to give back, I accept with open arms. You learn a lot in the process, and in this process, I got to meet a great guy, a great person in Bob (Chesney). I enjoyed it. And I think we got a great coach here at UCLA.”
on what made the committee focus on Chesney
“We tried to identify early what was the model that we were looking for. You’re right. For UCLA, it is a little unconventional to hire a guy like Bob that hasn’t been (like) the past hires or maybe high-profile names that people would have gotten the job. We had to find someone who had been around winning and maybe had built a program. What stood out with Bob is that he had done it at a variety of places and had shown the ability to lead and had been in places that are hard to win. And UCLA although has had all these national championships, we have struggled in the football arena. To get somebody we thought could build a program was important to us. Someone we thought could be here for 20 years and somebody who wanted to be here for 20 years. Bob was going to get a job somewhere, we thought. When we interviewed him, we said you’re likely to get a job or a higher-level job. What makes you want this job? Because he could have gotten, like I said, other jobs. And he answered he liked the idea of UCLA and what it offered, which to me, is everything. There’s nothing this university doesn’t offer a student, an athlete, people that are getting their law degrees, business degrees. This place has everything and he gravitated towards that and valued that. I heard him say that about places like Johns Hopkins where he’s been. We liked that model. Make your own opinion. We saw a lot of what you saw up there today on the podium.”
on involving Dodgers Head Coach Dave Roberts in the search process
“We kind of looped Dave in—I think they were still playing and he, obviously, was busy. We had a few in-person things and then he jumped on ZOOM. A lot of people in his position—we are all busy. You guys are busy. Everybody is busy. But for Dave to even take the time and jump on the ZOOM, it shows that he cared. And he does care about UCLA. We talked about the fact that there’s a lot of high-profile alumni that we don’t do a good enough job of corralling. We forget sometimes of the power of our alumni and the power of that network. For a guy like Dave to jump on to say, ‘How can I help?’ Even being as busy as he was, he had time to connect with the coach and offer his services which was great. And it all comes from—this is all pro-bono work. It’s just about helping our current students, our former students, the whole UCLA family be proud of a football coach that we think can win and be proud of a person and somebody that cares about his family like we all saw talk about. Dave was great. Again, a lot of people probably didn’t even know Dave went to UCLA. We just got to elevate what the perception of this place (is) and the profile. It’s great that he jumped in as well.”
on what he learned about UCLA football during the search process
“I learned there’s a lot of upside to this program. There’s a lot of untapped potential in this program. There’s a lot of questions as to why hasn’t it been better. I was here and we never lost to USC when I was a student in either basketball or football. Those were good football years. But it hasn’t been as good lately. We’ve had some ups and downs. I believe this university should be best-in-class at everything. And in many cases we are. When you look across the board at the education this place provides, like I said, the medical campus this place has, the graduate programs that it has, the diversity of Los Angeles, obviously the storied basketball program. All of the Olympic sports. You’re going to watch the Olympics come to L.A. and so many of those athletes will have come from UCLA. Go see the UCLA Hall of Fame. Put that up against any college hall of fame in the country. So why not the football program? What are we missing? Leadership is the best way to transform a program and I think we found a leader in Bob. It’s like buying a stock that’s down with a lot of potential, and I view the football program like that.”
on his comfort level when he first met Chesney
“I posed the question to Bob that I just mentioned to all of you: You’re going to get a job. Why this job? Because you can imagine being a college coach at James Madison and you’re getting a lot of people coming to you with multi-million dollar offers. Why this place? A lot of people take jobs for money, just the fact that it’s a higher conference, better opportunity. I believe Bob wanted this job. Specifically, this job at UCLA. Not a job in the Big Ten. Not a job in the SEC. Not a job paying a lot of money. This job. And we talked about all the things he thought UCLA provided. To raise his kids in the city of Los Angeles, it just resonated with him. I thought it resonated with the whole committee because I think he’s a genuine guy. I think he says what he means. That’s a powerful thing to hear.”
on if Adam Peters being close by with the Washington Commanders helped
“Adam has got a lot going on himself, but he did mention to me another day last week that ‘I might drive over to see him.’ They’ve had conversations. They’ve had good conversations. Just the fact that he’s right there. I don’t know if they had a chance to connect in-person, but they had a lot of good dialogue and shared the fact that they’re that close to each other. It is a shift. I imagine that they talked about Adam coming from UCLA going that way and Bob is doing (the opposite). Everybody that I spoke with, and I have my own opinion from just talking to Bob, it just speaks to who he is. You guys judge. You have interviewed a lot of coaches that have been around. You obviously got to win. But how they communicate, how they lead, how they inspire. All the things that maybe you saw, we saw. Again, he has to go out and do his job. I understand that winning is how we’re all graded in this process. He’s a guy you bet on. Bob is a guy you bet on. Especially with a first name like that.”
on if he the reason why UCLA football hasn’t won in the past
“I think that if you look and guess, because I wasn’t intimately involved with UCLA football and the twists and turns, but leadership is usually the reason why something succeeds or fails. We have new leadership. I think starting with Julio (Frenk). A chancellor that believes in sports. When I was at UCLA, we were fantastic at basketball. Obviously, this has always been a fantastic academic institution, but I think we were a little apologetic with our sports. We didn’t want to push our sports to the forefront, and I believe in the term ‘student-athlete’, but we also hesitated to celebrate the power of athletics. It doesn’t diminish the power of education. It can both be as prominent as each other. It doesn’t mean athletics are more important than education, but it does mean that we can celebrate it. And what better place to celebrate it? So, I think, in the past with football or basketball or any other sport, we wanted to make sure UCLA was viewed as an academic institution first. I think to succeed in anything you have to be unapologetic and say, ‘No, the football team matters to a high degree.’ It doesn’t mean the other stuff doesn’t matter. It’s not either or. It can be both. I think now, finally with Chancellor Julio and Martin and even the committee saying ‘Why not?’ And now maybe because it’s a business, it’s changed. Maybe because people are (believing) these are professionals in some respect. Maybe the fact to get on board in the Big Ten you need to compete, you have to embrace the fact of the power of football. If we’re being honest, the NFL is a monster. (With) college football, you’ve seen what happens. People go to school based on the football team. Forget about UCLA. People and kids pick colleges because of their football team. You can argue whether that’s right or wrong, but that’s a fact. Get on board and acknowledge that while at the same time you don’t need to lose anything educationally at all.”
on if there was a previous connection and how the search committee identified Chesney
“No, there was no kind of ‘I know this guy who knows that guy.’ It was just looking and young up-and-coming head coaches. (Curt) Cignetti and him didn’t overlap. Look no further than that if we can get close to that. If you look at a place like Indiana, a traditional basketball school. It’s a great model. (Indiana) hadn’t beaten Ohio State in 30 years? You probably would, if you were a student there or been around there, say we can’t beat these teams. Well, they just did. I believe UCLA has got as good if not better chance as a place like (Indiana). It showed us a model. It doesn’t mean that is going to be easy to do, but we like the idea of somebody that has coached and led and won that’s hard to win at and maybe we could grab some of that skill set in a coach like Coach Chesney and just elevate it at a place like UCLA with more resources, more ability to recruit high-level players. That’s the hope. That’s the goal.”
UCLA Football Head Coach Bob Chesney Introductory Press Conference
UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center (Westwood, Calif.)
December 9, 2025
Head Coach Bob Chesney
opening statement
“First, I just want to thank everyone involved in this search committee. Obviously, Chancellor (Julio) Frenk, it was phenomenal to get a chance to meet you and understand your vision for the program and the university. And the idea that it doesn’t have to be academics or athletics, but for both to be able to live in harmony and for both to be able to uplift one another is ultimately the mission we all need to understand and one that I am proud to be part of. Martin (Jarmond), I thought did just a phenomenal job of expressing his vision and his beliefs for what this program needs to be and where maybe it has come up a little bit short in the past and what he was looking for. ‘Alignment’ was a word that continued to show up over and over and over again.
"I think anywhere that you are, any opportunity you have when you think you can succeed or would like to succeed, it takes three things from the people really above you that you’re asking for. And the first one is ‘Do they understand?’ Do they have any idea of what you’re actually going through? What the team actually needs? The things that we need to move forward with quickly. The depth of understanding is important. And Martin certain does that. The second one is ‘Do you care?’ There’s a lot of times you say you might understand that, but that is irrelevant right now. I have 15 other things I need to worry about and your one thing is not a fire I’m ready to put out right now. So, there has to be this understanding. Then, there has to be this care. And when you finally understand and care, there has to be this willingness to work together. So, those three things became very apparent as I spoke to Martin in this process. He understands what it takes, he cares a lot about it and he has a willingness to work together more so anywhere else than I’ve ever been. I think that’s really important to understand. I want to thank the search committee as well. As you go through, the guys that were on that (search committee), was another thing that stood out to me. Obviously, it all starts with Martin, but as you go into the next group of guys from Casey (Wasserman) over to Bob (Myers) to Adam (Peters), the energy that they feel for UCLA and the belief that they have in UCLA is what stood out to me. There is zero chance that they are going to allow us to fail. They will do whatever takes to push this forward and to be supporters of what this program needs, and that is important to me. I don’t want to believe more in a place than a place believes in itself, and those are three men that believe in UCLA and the power of UCLA at huge levels.
"Going back to JMU where we have a huge task ahead of us right now, and we’re still playing in the 12-team playoff and I could not be more proud to actualize those dreams and take that program to a level where that becomes a reality. Those same exact dreams are dreams that we will have here. And those are things that we know that we can do and that we will have the blueprint for doing. We have to make sure we get the right people involved to see those dreams all the way through. I can’t thank enough everyone involved at JMU that allowed me this opportunity. Most importantly, the players. The players are the ones and the reason why I am standing here in front of you today. I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with them and get home and back to work. There will be a little juggling that is going to occur here in my life, so the multi-tasking skills are going to come in handy really quick. I think the three-hour time difference helps quite a bit as well. That will all be a part of it. Sleep was not an option for the past couple of days, and I’m sure it will really not be an option moving forward. To my family, I can’t thank you enough to share your father. That is not easy to do. And I don’t know how many in here are sons of coaches, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. You have to put your needs aside and share your father with a different side of a family with that team. I appreciate you all more than you can know.
"For me, as I’ve gone through some of these experiences before, it always starts with this question of ‘Can they win? Can they win at the place they are currently at?’ To me, there is zero doubt in my mind that we can win here at UCLA. I think when you go through and think about the history here, not only on the football field, but in all the other sports. Most recently, men’s water polo. The 125 national championships to be held here, 11 banners hanging in (Pauley) Pavilion. The things that come with it to me are that this is the expectation. What we are doing is not the norm in this current time. So, the expectation and norm is to win and that is what we will be able to do here. I believe in the power of UCLA. I think that’s important for everyone in here to understand. I, again, do not want to be the only one believing it. I know that we have a room full of people that do. The plan that we have in place will realize that. (The plan) will be built on toughness, it will be built on competitiveness. Our players will be asked to compete on a day-to-day basis with constant feedback coming back to them to allow them to succeed or fail. As (the players) succeed, they realize the leading cause of failure is mismanaged success and the leading cause of success is well-managed failure. But those have to be opportunities that they can compete every single day. That is something that I truly believe in, and the minute that we get here and get started, that will be exactly what we do. In closing, I just want to thank everybody in here. I want to thank the players for their belief in me (and) the administration and the search committee for their belief in me. But to our student body, we need you now more than ever. This is not just our team. This is your team. To the administrators, to the professors, as classes go on, I will be reaching out personally to make sure that those relationships are developed. I will be present on campus and make sure I go around personally and do class checks. This is also your team. For everybody in the L.A. area, this is a town that we could look at the Lakers, we could look at the Dodgers, we could look at so many other teams that are rich in history and winning. That is what we need to bring back here. We don’t need to be ‘the other school’ in this town, we need to be ‘the’ school in this town. And I promise that will happen here in the very near future.”
on if he feels pressure taking one of country’s elite jobs
“It was funny -- I was at a place called Johns Hopkins back in the day -- and our head coach would talk about pressure being reserved for soldiers and surgeons, is what he would say, that were life and death situations that those guys were involved in. We had a lot of guys that were pre-med and a lot of guys that went into the military after that. I feel in a similar way. I feel like, to me, if there is pressure, it’s a pressure. But ultimately, what do you do about that? I think walking into any game and understanding that you are prepared, is the number one thing you can do. Having no regrets. Having regrets that you did not prepare well. Having regrets that maybe you didn’t call the right plays at the end of it. You can’t have any regrets, but that ultimately comes from the preparation that leads into it. So, I feel like every time we walk onto that field – and I share this with our players quite a bit – you watch your foot hit that field, you want to know that it’s a prepared body, it’s a prepared mind, it’s a prepared soul, ultimately, and you did everything that you can. Then the pressure doesn’t really matter much. You have to go out there and perform, and I think it’s important within our program to build our competitions every single day for us to practice situational football at an elite level, to make sure that we were practicing tough with contact and everything that comes with it. That all has to be part of what you’re going to do on game day, so everything we do in this program from Day 1 until you’re finally lifting up that trophy – which we talked about the other week with our team: It takes a full year to put a trophy in a trophy case. That is the preparation, and in that preparation, you have to have no regrets, because you’ve done your job. Then, ultimately, you know when you walk on that field, the pressure doesn’t mean much at that moment in time and shouldn’t feel much because you’ve prepared the way you should.”
on what success looks like for him at UCLA
“Success looks like winning. That’s what it looks like on a day-to-day basis, Ben. For us, it is what we do in this program. Every single thing we do has winners and losers every single day. There will not be a day that goes by that we just kind of get by. That’s, I think, really important. And that was, I think, the underlying theme in everything we’ve done up to this point in time. We don’t walk on the field on Saturdays not having been there before, in almost every situational aspect you can imagine. Pressure on music playing at practice, right behind the quarterbacks. Those are all things that we have to do to prepare ourselves for game day. So, what does it look like? That’s, to me, a question that needs to be answered a little more when I can dig deeper into this roster. When I realize who’s staying and who’s going; and how quickly it needs to be built a different way, or rebuilt. That, ultimately, won’t be my decision. That will come from the players that stay or go. But, for me, in the past, I can just tell you that at James Madison, we ultimately had a center and a guard and a punter come back from the first year I got there and we had won our first bowl game ever in the history of the school. Then this next year, 60-something players later in the portal, then this year, 50-something players later in the portal, and here we are as one of those teams in the 12-team playoff. So, what does it look like? That will have to be determined by our team when we get that fully assembled and moving forward next year, but then whatever our expectations are is where we build our standards and then the day-to-day process. I see zero reason why we cannot be competing for a championship.”
on fan engagement and his involvement driving interest in the program
“I think, for me, there has to be a ton of engagement outside of the football building. Not only on campus, let’s start there, with our student body. We ultimately have to build those relationships. We talked about that in our team meeting just a few minutes before we came in here. Ultimately, that’s a big piece of what we need to be able to do. These players just can’t be football players on campus. They also have to be students and friends to the other members of the student body. That will be a big piece of what we’re able to accomplish. Maybe go to other peoples’ games, be involved in other things that occur on campus, so that they can have engagement, get to know other people on campus – not just those in the football building. Then, for myself, it’s a really important thing that I’m out in the community. I think whether it be community service initiatives with our players, maybe going to elementary schools or whatever it might be to get some more engagement from them. But then, I personally have to be able to do that, as well. Wherever I have to go and speak, whoever I have to go and talk to, we will be a ‘yes’ program where a majority of the time, if someone comes to us and says ‘Can you help us with this?,” my answer will be ‘yes’ and then I’ll figure out how to do it and how to manage it after that. That is ultimately one of the bigger things that we were able to do at James Madison University. That was a place that was sold out. Every single game was sold out. They received a lot of support, just didn’t give a lot back. Then, very quickly, we were involved in that community, which I think continued to lead to those deeper meaningful relationships. Then you see the results happening on the field because the community is also behind it. We need to do a better job there, not only with the student body, but with our local fanbase and in the whole L.A. area. And we will do that.”
on why UCLA will be able to leverage advantages differently this time
“I think, for me, the energy is right, ultimately, here. And the time, the moment is right. Those are things that I think are pretty important. I think back to my past and places I’ve been. There’s a place I was that was – I mentioned it earlier – one of the better medical schools in the country. You brought in a freshman to that medical school and you knew you were going to change his life forever – and you did. They became doctors and there are families that I still continue to be in contact with today, you’re extremely proud of. I went to a different place and it had a location that was very diverse with people coming from internationally over the summers and you knew that they would kind of understand a different world view and help them grow as people. I think that was one of the things I liked the most about that place. Then you go to a place like Holy Cross where I ended. The mentorship program, the alumni network, their investment in them. Everybody left there with a job when their football days were done. It was phenomenal. Those were three of the things that I felt we could present at different places, and then you come here to UCLA and every thing I loved about every place I’ve ever been is all packaged into one. It’s all here. It’s all present here. That is very easy, in my mind, to present to the right person, the right player. It can’t just be about the money. It can’t just be about one of those things. It has to be them fully understanding all of those things that come with it. I think, to me, when you’re passionate about it as a coach, when your staff’s about it and you know that you’re truly changing peoples’ lives – the administration cares about it, the alums are more motivated than ever in their ability to help mentor these guys in different ways. Those are the things that I think are different than anywhere else I’ve ever been. So, to me, all of that was spot on. I think that our ability to bring people here, present that to them – and we will find the right ones, there’s no doubt about it – and I think the timing is different, where all of that is aligned together for everyone involved in this organization.”
on what he sees as challenges being on west coast, especially when it comes to recruiting
“I think the geographic lines are a little bit skewed at this moment in time just because of the way recruiting works this day and age. Ultimately, we have to be the premier program in this state. There’s zero doubt about it. I have a much better understanding over the past few months of what exactly it’s going to take. I think we’ve got to make sure as we begin our hiring process that we make sure we have people that have deep ties here to the west coast, that certainly understand the players within this environment, understand the areas and understand the power players in it. Those are all things that are important. Then I need to make sure, with the high school coaches and all the other people that are involved in this, that we are accessible and open as humanly possible. We will have clinics, we will have open practices, we will do as many things as we can do so that they get a good idea of who we are as opposed to just sending someone to UCLA for all the reasons that you would, now I also know who those players are, I know who those coaches are, I know what that culture feels like, I know what the practice is like, I know how they’re going to develop my player. I know all the things that are going to come with it. Those are the things that we have to do a good job of opening the doors and building those relationships quickly. I will need people with a great knowledge of that and then I, myself, understand I have to adapt, I have to overcome and I have to continue to make sure that I am constantly learning as much as humanly possible about it. I have a good grasp on it, but I need to make sure that those connections are meaningful and open and that I’m always available to the coaches in this area.”
on how he plans to juggle two jobs
“It’s a little more challenging, right? No, I feel very good about it. I think right now, in this day and age, too, the idea of the timing of when the portal opens, but understanding a lot of things will be done long before that portal even opens, is important for us to do and we will. We have to get that staff in place. I think we have a robust recruiting staff right now and I think those guys have to continue to work on it and I have to make sure that I’m available in the moments when the work is done over at JMU as we continue to fight for this national championship. Those are all things that ultimately I have to juggle and I have to balance, but I’m very confident in my ability to do that.”
on who he has drawn from as a coach
“Just imagine getting here from a $5,000 job at a Division III partial-military college in Vermont. That’s how this whole thing ultimately started. Every step of the way, it’s just been the ability to learn and grow and share as many moments as I can with people. My ability to travel and find other people and be around them was always something I’ve done in my past. Then always trying to find a way to really run a program at a level higher than what you currently were at. That was a big piece of it. When I was at the Division III world, we ran it like a Division II program. I met with all those Division II programs and tried to figure out things they’re doing. When you got to Division II world, it became more like trying to run it like a FCS program. We started to introduce all the sport science, the Catapult, all the things that came with that. Having certain recruiters and a slight recruiting department and already building things like that at a level where nobody else was. Then getting to the next level and running more like an FBS program or an NFL program. For me, along the way, I was always looking for my own voice in trying to figure out how to do it my own way. I think that’s important. I don’t want to be like anybody else, I want to be me. There was a guy at Johns Hopkins named Jim Margraff that was phenomenal. He really enabled me to understand that you can treat people with dignity, you can be really demanding and you don’t have to be demeaning. Those were things that I think stood out to me initially, with him, and then fortunate enough, when I got to Holy Cross, our women’s lacrosse coach name was Amanda Belichick, so I had a chance to go over and spend so much time with the guys out at the (New England) Patriots and spending time with Bill (Belichick) at that point, too, was really important for me to understand how those programs worked. Growing up, I grew up with a guy by the name of Brett Veach, who’s the GM of the Kansas City Chiefs and he and I have a lot of deep and meaningful conversations. I go out and visit with him, as well, to just try to figure out exactly how it works at that level and things I need to know about and learn about and make sure we’re pursuing. There’s been a bunch. When I was at Assumption College, Brian Kelly actually graduated from there, so I’d go out to Notre Dame at that point in time and spend time learning about the science behind it. Just constantly trying to find ways to grow. I don’t want to be anybody else, though. I want to be me. That’s, I think, the most important thing. As many times as I would go to places and see what they did, I also saw things that ‘This would not work for me.’ I had to find the things that were most true to me, ultimately, and take a little bit of everybody along the way – even from our assistant coaches, I learned quite a bit. From our players, I learned quite a bit. It’s not just about the guy at the top that has all the answers. I’m constantly trying to be a lifelong learner. I’m trying to find better ways to do it. And I know every situation you walk into will not be exactly the same as the one you walked into before. That’s a big part of me being able to listen, adapt, learn and continue to grow with this team.”
“I did not mention this up there because I feel like it’s sometimes too long of a story, but, ultimately, my father was my high school football coach. My grandfather was our offensive line coach. My uncle, Bill, was our receivers coach. Joe Meyer, across the street, was actually the basketball coach and athletic director of that school. Every male in my life growing up was part of that football team or that organization. And honestly, I said it to Martin before and other people, I never saw this as a profession. I saw it as a way of life, if that makes sense. I think when you work ridiculous hours for – back then, very little pay – not many people would choose to go into this field, ultimately. Like a farmer, or a fisherman, or somebody like that, that just has a really hard, tough life, that’s what I watched my whole life growing up. But I just thought that’s what we did. I didn’t know any different that you could even call this a profession. To me, it was our ability to help young men on their journey grow and become who they need to become and understand that my job is to make sure – my father’s job from 14-18 was to help them grow and go through probably biggest physical changes of their life – and then my job from 18-22 was to help them grow spiritually and ultimately, by that, I mean who they are as people. Someday, they’re going to become someone’s employee and someone’s employer. Then they’re going to become someone’s husband and, the biggest one of them all, someone’s father. By then, they better have their stuff together and truly know who they are. That is what I feel like is probably my true North in my coaching journey is to share these moments with them and help them become whatever it is they need to and wish to become.”
on his secret to building programs into winners
“The first thing is who have to listen. That to me is, I think, one of my bigger superpowers is that I know how to do this and we’ve done it everywhere we’ve been. It’s not up for debate if we will or we will not here. We will. But how we do it, is going to be the bigger piece of it. I know the blueprint, I know the road map, I know the way that I wish it to work. But I also know that this recipe needs to be a little bit different. There are certain things that have to stay. There is non-negotiables. The competition that has to exist within this program, the physical and mental and emotional toughness that has to exist within this program is necessary. Holding each other accountable to the standard on a day-to-day basis – not just us as coaches, but as players – is necessary. Those are some of the main points of it. We can get into the offense and the defense and special teams and all of that, but that changes based on personnel that you have, as well. But those things have got to be at the root of it. Then, from there, there’s many things that can be done a lot of different ways. There’s no right or wrong, there’s just different. As long as you all believe in it and the alignment we talked about from administration to us as a football program has to exist within our own walls, as well, from position group to position group, to offensive, defense, special teams unit, to the overall team. Listening, to me, it gives you the idea of truly understanding what our players value, what our coaches value and making sure that on those sort of outside elements away from the core of who we need to be, there’s a lot of negotiables in there that we can work together on. And I think when everybody believes and you use somebody else’s idea other than your own, all of a sudden it creates ownership. Then when you create this ownership, you start to create this trust and people start to protect it just a little bit differently. That has been, truly to me, one of the biggest and most important and impactful parts of what I’ve done. If I come in here and run the exact JMU program, I don’t know if it’s fully successful. I know that there’s things and elements about it that we need to run, but at the same point in time, there’s a lot of other things that we have to adapt to fit our new moment in time that we are and who we want to become.”
on his ability to lead players and people through current climate of college football
“I think empathy might be the word. I think when you see things change so drastically, and I think when your players see so much others that they believe other people are getting – and they want to be in that same position – there are some that need to be in that position for family reasons or whatever it might be. The personal branding, I think that is part of where we’re going right now. I think the fact that you could sell a jersey in the bookstore or at the stadium and a player not see anything back for that, that was wrong, obviously, for all those years. I think that now those things have been righted a little bit more. There’s opportunities for these guys and I think that is excellent, but the main thing has to remain the main thing. And that has to be what we’re trying to do as a team on the field and as much as individualization may occur, and as much as there might be monetary gain for that – that’s great for that player and he’s earned it – but at the same point in time, that has to happen in hours outside of our obligations and has to be supported by our teammates and that person also has to understand if their name and their picture is going to be out there on a different level, they have a deeper responsibility now to help lead this team. Those are all things that I feel strongly that we need to understand as a group and we’ve got to continue with, but I welcome all those opportunities for those young men. They’ve earned it, they deserve it. But let’s just make sure we’re keeping the main thing, ultimately, the main thing.”
on when he realized coaching was in his DNA
“Honestly, I don’t know that I ever thought of anything different. I remember my friends – again, let’s play this out. It was 2000 and I was making $5,000 a year as a graduate assistant at a private military college in Vermont. A lot of my friends were making a god amount of money in the commercial real estate field and they’re like ‘Man, you’ve got to come with us. There’s a job open, I’d love for you …’ and I just couldn’t do it. I thought this is not it. This is my calling. This is my purpose. It wasn’t just because of X’s and O’s and football and winning games; that’s not only what it was. It was about helping these young men find the passion in this sport that I think could do wonders for your life, on and off the field. That’s the facts. That’s why I do this. This is one of the greatest teachers in life skills is this game of football. It’s different than every other sport out there. The physical demand, the different body types from your offensive tackle to your kicker to think that they could share this same field together and put on pads is one of the coolest things I think out there. And you’re all doing it with your own individual responsibility to a greater whole. And it’s not easy. Other sports, you play 40-50 games a year. This one, you play 12. Guaranteed, 12. That is it. The amount of work and the effort and the sacrifice and the physical nature of it, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. There’s never been a single thing other than I’ve thought about in my life other than coaching football.”
on why it was important to keep coaching James Madison and what it meant that UCLA allowed him to do that
“It means everything to me. There’s really zero chance I would be anywhere that wouldn’t allow you to finish a mission that you started. To me, that would just break everything, in my mind. It would break the trust of those players, it would break our relationship with them. I think it’s, again, empathy. I would not want my head coach walking out on us in the middle of a mission that we’re still committed to and finishing. To be honest, I feel funny being here a little bit, with them watching back at home. But ultimately, committed to that mission, and now I have to be dually committed to the other part of this responsibility and what it’s going to be like when we walk in this door here. That has to be done right, as well. But I don’t think it would be an option for me anywhere if someone said walk away from your team, you’ve got to be with us immediately. I understand the work will get harder, I understand the hours will get longer, but it was important for me to be able to do both.”
Martin Jarmond, The Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics
on why UCLA will be able to leverage advantages differently this time
“The first thing is, you have to look at your advantage and figure out how do you take advantage of those. When you look at our institution, we’re in the No. 2 media market in the country. We have a rich history in tradition. We’re highly academic – 1 or 2 in the country every year for the last 10, 11 years. You can have a high academic performance here, you’re competing now in the Big Ten Conference. You start with some of the things you do have. The weather, I can’t believe I didn’t remember that one. Then you start talking about how do we better utilize our alumni network. We have the best alumni network in the country and that’s something that we have started spending more time trying to figure out how do we utilize that. This search was a prime example. Casey Wasserman, Bob Myers, Doc Roberts – [Bob Chesney] mentioned talking to Doc Roberts on the phone. Eric Kendricks, Adam Peters, they all care and want this program to be successful, and we’ve got a lot of other people that are behind us now. I think, for me -- and I can only speak in my time here – what I’m excited and really enthused about, is we have a lot of alignment in a way that we have not had in the past. We have a great chancellor in Chancellor (Julio) Frenk that understands the importance of athletics bringing communities together, engaging alumni, wanting our student-athletes to be successful and understanding the commitment it takes at the university level for a football program to be competitive. We have investment now and we have leadership and vision. I don’t always feel we have had all of those together. I feel strongly we have all of those in place now. We’ve made a lot of changes. And you’ve got to remember, we’re in a heavily-evolving college landscape. Things are changing every year. Every month. Everyone’s trying to navigate that. Doesn’t mean you always get it right. But one thing we do at UCLA, we’re bold and we take action and we’re taking action right now. That’s what I’m excited about.”
on allowing Coach Chesney to continue coaching James Madison through College Football Playoff
“It was easy for me. You want to attract someone that’s loyal and that’s committed and that has a purpose. That aligns with our true Bruin values. To have someone that will leave in that kind of situation that you’re doing something special – when you sat in those young mens’ homes and said we’re going to compete and win a championship – I didn’t feel that was right. I want a guy that will want to stay with his team and we were going to support that. I let him know early on in our first conversation, no matter how long this season goes, you’re going to coach that team because that’s who he is. That’s the kind of person he is. You can figure out all the other stuff. Does that make it a little more challenging, does he not have to sleep a couple nights and do some things, absolutely. Does it put more on our administration, quite frankly, to have meetings with players, with Erin Adkins – shoutout to Erin, she’s out football sports administrator. She’s been meeting with student-athletes, meeting with coaches, meeting with a lot – does it put more on us to do? Absolutely. But it’s the right thing to do and it’s always time to do the right thing. That was an easy conversation we had. That was one conversation we had. And it was a matter of, as the process went on, we felt good about each other and we were trying to respect his pursuit of a championship and not being a distraction even though he knew how we felt about him and we knew how he felt about us.”
UCLA Freshman Defensive End Scott Taylor
on Chesney’s message in the team meeting
“Yeah, it was great. Obviously, it’s the start of a long process of getting to know him and everybody he brings here. It was nice to get to know what he’s about and what he plans on doing in the near future when he gets here.”
on if there was a them to Chesney’s message to the team
“It was more just about getting to know him and what he’s about and things we like here and that kind of stuff. It was very clear that he wants to win and he wants to do that in the near future.”
on his immediate reaction when Chesney was hired
“I like the hire, obviously. It’ll be good to know him a little bit more in the near future. You look at his track record and he’s won everywhere. That’s a real testament to him. Obviously, everyone is excited. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I know I’m excited. We’re just hopeful that he can come in here with a new sense of purpose and energy and bring us back to that success you talked about.”
on Chesney’s history of having instant success
“Obviously, the new thing in college football is rebuilding and retaining talent. He’s done a great job with that. That’s a big credit to him. We’re really excited he brings in that skillset and obviously it will be great when he’s here with us at UCLA.”
on if he knows if he’s returning to the team next year
“That’s not a decision I’m going to give you guys right now.”
on if he knows anything about Chesney’s defense
“I watched the Sun Belt Championship game once I knew he was our coach. I wanted to see what they’re all about. I don’t know the intricacies of his defense, but you see the aggressive play style, people running to the ball. All that stuff is good to see.”
on if the team will be watching James Madison vs. Oregon in the CFP First Round
“Of course. I don’t think we’ll be looking too closely (at how they play). It’ll more be just rooting on our next coach. Obviously, we’re all cheering for him and that’s a big thing.”
on if Chesney will be able to get fans excited
“I definitely think so. I mean, you can tell from hearing him talk once that he has a lot of energy and that he really cares about this place. I think that’s what a lot of people want to see. It’ll be good to have a coach that brings that energy, not only to the team, but to the fans as well. I think we’ll see a new sense of energy around the entire community very soon.”
Search Committee Member Bob Myers
on being selected for the search committee
“To be asked to do it along with Casey (Wasserman) and Adam (Peters) and Eric (Kendricks), it was an honor. This school has done a lot for me. I was involved in the search with Mick Cronin as well with Dan Guerrero, and I realized how hard it is. It’s a lot of work. UCLA has given me a lot and any chance I have to give back, I accept with open arms. You learn a lot in the process, and in this process, I got to meet a great guy, a great person in Bob (Chesney). I enjoyed it. And I think we got a great coach here at UCLA.”
on what made the committee focus on Chesney
“We tried to identify early what was the model that we were looking for. You’re right. For UCLA, it is a little unconventional to hire a guy like Bob that hasn’t been (like) the past hires or maybe high-profile names that people would have gotten the job. We had to find someone who had been around winning and maybe had built a program. What stood out with Bob is that he had done it at a variety of places and had shown the ability to lead and had been in places that are hard to win. And UCLA although has had all these national championships, we have struggled in the football arena. To get somebody we thought could build a program was important to us. Someone we thought could be here for 20 years and somebody who wanted to be here for 20 years. Bob was going to get a job somewhere, we thought. When we interviewed him, we said you’re likely to get a job or a higher-level job. What makes you want this job? Because he could have gotten, like I said, other jobs. And he answered he liked the idea of UCLA and what it offered, which to me, is everything. There’s nothing this university doesn’t offer a student, an athlete, people that are getting their law degrees, business degrees. This place has everything and he gravitated towards that and valued that. I heard him say that about places like Johns Hopkins where he’s been. We liked that model. Make your own opinion. We saw a lot of what you saw up there today on the podium.”
on involving Dodgers Head Coach Dave Roberts in the search process
“We kind of looped Dave in—I think they were still playing and he, obviously, was busy. We had a few in-person things and then he jumped on ZOOM. A lot of people in his position—we are all busy. You guys are busy. Everybody is busy. But for Dave to even take the time and jump on the ZOOM, it shows that he cared. And he does care about UCLA. We talked about the fact that there’s a lot of high-profile alumni that we don’t do a good enough job of corralling. We forget sometimes of the power of our alumni and the power of that network. For a guy like Dave to jump on to say, ‘How can I help?’ Even being as busy as he was, he had time to connect with the coach and offer his services which was great. And it all comes from—this is all pro-bono work. It’s just about helping our current students, our former students, the whole UCLA family be proud of a football coach that we think can win and be proud of a person and somebody that cares about his family like we all saw talk about. Dave was great. Again, a lot of people probably didn’t even know Dave went to UCLA. We just got to elevate what the perception of this place (is) and the profile. It’s great that he jumped in as well.”
on what he learned about UCLA football during the search process
“I learned there’s a lot of upside to this program. There’s a lot of untapped potential in this program. There’s a lot of questions as to why hasn’t it been better. I was here and we never lost to USC when I was a student in either basketball or football. Those were good football years. But it hasn’t been as good lately. We’ve had some ups and downs. I believe this university should be best-in-class at everything. And in many cases we are. When you look across the board at the education this place provides, like I said, the medical campus this place has, the graduate programs that it has, the diversity of Los Angeles, obviously the storied basketball program. All of the Olympic sports. You’re going to watch the Olympics come to L.A. and so many of those athletes will have come from UCLA. Go see the UCLA Hall of Fame. Put that up against any college hall of fame in the country. So why not the football program? What are we missing? Leadership is the best way to transform a program and I think we found a leader in Bob. It’s like buying a stock that’s down with a lot of potential, and I view the football program like that.”
on his comfort level when he first met Chesney
“I posed the question to Bob that I just mentioned to all of you: You’re going to get a job. Why this job? Because you can imagine being a college coach at James Madison and you’re getting a lot of people coming to you with multi-million dollar offers. Why this place? A lot of people take jobs for money, just the fact that it’s a higher conference, better opportunity. I believe Bob wanted this job. Specifically, this job at UCLA. Not a job in the Big Ten. Not a job in the SEC. Not a job paying a lot of money. This job. And we talked about all the things he thought UCLA provided. To raise his kids in the city of Los Angeles, it just resonated with him. I thought it resonated with the whole committee because I think he’s a genuine guy. I think he says what he means. That’s a powerful thing to hear.”
on if Adam Peters being close by with the Washington Commanders helped
“Adam has got a lot going on himself, but he did mention to me another day last week that ‘I might drive over to see him.’ They’ve had conversations. They’ve had good conversations. Just the fact that he’s right there. I don’t know if they had a chance to connect in-person, but they had a lot of good dialogue and shared the fact that they’re that close to each other. It is a shift. I imagine that they talked about Adam coming from UCLA going that way and Bob is doing (the opposite). Everybody that I spoke with, and I have my own opinion from just talking to Bob, it just speaks to who he is. You guys judge. You have interviewed a lot of coaches that have been around. You obviously got to win. But how they communicate, how they lead, how they inspire. All the things that maybe you saw, we saw. Again, he has to go out and do his job. I understand that winning is how we’re all graded in this process. He’s a guy you bet on. Bob is a guy you bet on. Especially with a first name like that.”
on if he the reason why UCLA football hasn’t won in the past
“I think that if you look and guess, because I wasn’t intimately involved with UCLA football and the twists and turns, but leadership is usually the reason why something succeeds or fails. We have new leadership. I think starting with Julio (Frenk). A chancellor that believes in sports. When I was at UCLA, we were fantastic at basketball. Obviously, this has always been a fantastic academic institution, but I think we were a little apologetic with our sports. We didn’t want to push our sports to the forefront, and I believe in the term ‘student-athlete’, but we also hesitated to celebrate the power of athletics. It doesn’t diminish the power of education. It can both be as prominent as each other. It doesn’t mean athletics are more important than education, but it does mean that we can celebrate it. And what better place to celebrate it? So, I think, in the past with football or basketball or any other sport, we wanted to make sure UCLA was viewed as an academic institution first. I think to succeed in anything you have to be unapologetic and say, ‘No, the football team matters to a high degree.’ It doesn’t mean the other stuff doesn’t matter. It’s not either or. It can be both. I think now, finally with Chancellor Julio and Martin and even the committee saying ‘Why not?’ And now maybe because it’s a business, it’s changed. Maybe because people are (believing) these are professionals in some respect. Maybe the fact to get on board in the Big Ten you need to compete, you have to embrace the fact of the power of football. If we’re being honest, the NFL is a monster. (With) college football, you’ve seen what happens. People go to school based on the football team. Forget about UCLA. People and kids pick colleges because of their football team. You can argue whether that’s right or wrong, but that’s a fact. Get on board and acknowledge that while at the same time you don’t need to lose anything educationally at all.”
on if there was a previous connection and how the search committee identified Chesney
“No, there was no kind of ‘I know this guy who knows that guy.’ It was just looking and young up-and-coming head coaches. (Curt) Cignetti and him didn’t overlap. Look no further than that if we can get close to that. If you look at a place like Indiana, a traditional basketball school. It’s a great model. (Indiana) hadn’t beaten Ohio State in 30 years? You probably would, if you were a student there or been around there, say we can’t beat these teams. Well, they just did. I believe UCLA has got as good if not better chance as a place like (Indiana). It showed us a model. It doesn’t mean that is going to be easy to do, but we like the idea of somebody that has coached and led and won that’s hard to win at and maybe we could grab some of that skill set in a coach like Coach Chesney and just elevate it at a place like UCLA with more resources, more ability to recruit high-level players. That’s the hope. That’s the goal.”