Bob Chesney may be taking over as the UCLA Bruins next head coach, but he isn’t infatuated with the glitz and glamour. Chesney is the same hard worker that climbed the ranks from Division III football to taking over a Big Ten program after leading James Madison to the College Football Playoffs.
UCLA, and West Coast college football teams in general, get labeled soft. It’s an unfair criticism as a whole but you can’t blame teams in California for rocking a tan, or enjoying the beach, rather than spending their winters in the frozen Midwest. Chesney isn’t a West Coaster at heart. Chesney comes from Kulpmont, Pennsylvania. Kulpmont has a population under 3,000 and from there, Chesney has had to grind to where he is today.
“A lot of really proud, hard-working, tough people come out of there,” Chesney said on the After Further Review show on Friday. “Over the summers, I’d literally mine coal. That was one of my jobs to do. That’s just what ya did, everyone kind of did it and bought in and believed in that town.”
UCLA is banking that Chesney’s toughness will carry over to his roster. Through two years in the Big Ten Conference, the Bruins have been out-worked in the trenches, which is partially why UCLA is coming off of two-straight losing seasons.
It’s still not entirely settled where Chesney and the Bruins will be hosting games in 2026 but with no agreement having been signed with SoFi Stadium, it looks like Chesney will get at least one season at the Rose Bowl.
“It’s the grandaddy of them all. When you look at that facility, when you walk through the tunnel, you just feel the aura that comes off of that place,” Chesney said. “I didn’t realize how it’s positioned, with the hills around it and it just sits in the most beautiful area.”
Chesney has made it through his first portal opening with the Bruins, now he’s tasked with instilling the Kulpmont toughness into his first UCLA team.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Bob Chesney tries to make UCLA Bruins Pennsylvania-tough
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
