After leading James Madison to their first-ever College Football Playoffs, Bob Chesney departed from the Sun Belt Conference to join the UCLA Bruins out west in the Big Ten Conference. But why did Chesney make the jump?
For as much success as Chesney had at James Madison, a CFP appearance was about as far as the Dukes could push it against Power Four competition. While UCLA hasn’t accomplished much of anything in the CFP era, the belief is that under Chesney, UCLA can return to national relevance.
Chesney entered Westwood with more playoff appearances than the UCLA program but there were still plenty of things about the Bruins program that enticed Chesney to lead UCLA. Chesney sat down with the Big Ten Conference Network about why he chose the Bruins.
“Everywhere I’d been prior to this, there were certain things, aspects, about that school that I liked. I liked the town that one was in, I liked the mentorship of the alums from another. I liked the education, at Johns Hopkins when I was there, it was the No. 1 pre-med school in the world,” Chesney said. “Then when I looked at UCLA, they had all of those things in one. That really was it for me.”
Chesney added that he can’t stroll through campus without feeling inspired.
“I walked through that campus and I’d look at the athletic department and there’s first round draft picks, gold medalists in the Olympics,” Chesney said. “Then the regular students get involved and you think about the 8% acceptance rate, what that means for the quality of person walking around that campus.”
Chesney and Bruin fans hope that he’ll be able to add some national champions to the UCLA campus.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: What made head coach Bob Chesney choose to join the UCLA Bruins?
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire | USA TODAY Network
