It’s easy to forget but there was once a time where the UCLA Bruins had a respected football program. Those days are behind us but Saturday’s humiliation against Washington served as a good reminder that it didn’t have to be like this for the Bruins.
Other former Pac-12 teams aren’t having these types of hardships
Things were always going to be tough for the Bruins entering the talented Big Ten Conference but the switch didn’t have to be as hard as UCLA is making it look. Oregon has established itself as a premier team in the country, USC keeps bringing in great recruiting classes which will eventually lead to some sort of success, even Washington has produced respectable results in recent years.
UCLA is back to being a joke but we’ll have those three weeks forever
Then there’s the Bruins, who have returned to being a punchline after a brief mid-season hot streak. UCLA will hire a new head coach this offseason and while it’s nearly impossible it goes worse than the DeShaun Foster hiring, the same person, Martin Jarmond, is helping make the decision.
The Bruins speeding through head coaches isn’t helping the cause
The coaching staff turnover only hurts recruiting. UCLA has landed some recruits this year despite the question mark at head coach but compared to other Big Ten teams, UCLA is falling behind. UCLA’s NIL collective isn’t up to par either, even if it’s tax deductible, which makes it harder to attract talent to Westwood.
SoFi Stadium isn’t fixing this
UCLA’s shortcomings aren’t just on the field either. The Bruins play at a field miles off of campus and are in a lease through the 2043 season. UCLA disregarded that lease to try and move to another field that’s also miles off of campus but at least UCLA Athletics can make some money off of suite revenue!
UCLA needs to start moving in the right direction
These things take time to turn around but UCLA better get things going because currently they’re just falling behind. A winning team can fix a whole lot of these issues but right now the Bruins are not a winning team and possess all of the indicators of a losing program.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Life in Big Ten has been tough for UCLA, but Washington’s doing fine
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
