College football is entering the end of the regular season. One school no one expected among the title contenders: UCLA. The sudden emergence is credited to dynamic first-year coach Bob Chesney.
Transcript
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Maybe the biggest surprise in college football this year is UCLA. Last year, the Bruins were dismal. This year, they are perfect, 9 and 0 and ranked fourth in the nation. The person behind the turnaround is UCLA’s first year head coach Bob Chesney. After years of coaching in lower divisions and smaller schools, Chesney seems to be a perfect fit, as Steve Futterman reports from Los Angeles.
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STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: At the UCLA practice this week, players were hyping it up, preparing for tonight’s game against Illinois.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (inaudible).
FUTTERMAN: In the middle of all this, Bob Chesney was doing what he loves – coaching football. It’s been part of his life as long as he can remember. He grew up in a family of high school coaches in the small coal mining town of Kulpmont, Pennsylvania.
BOB CHESNEY: I was actually born into this. Not even it seems, I really was. My father – he was the head coach. My grandfather was our offensive line coach. My uncle was our receivers coach.
FUTTERMAN: This year, that lifetime of preparation is paying off.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: It’s UCLA’s win…
FUTTERMAN: Chesney’s signature win, heard here on CBS, came against Oregon, the preseason No. 2 ranked team.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: …And the biggest win of year one for Bob Chesney.
FUTTERMAN: What has Chesney done? UCLA’s defensive back Scooter Jackson says he can’t really explain it.
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SCOOTER JACKSON: As we would say, his aura. He just has – it’s just something about him that I really can’t explain. You just have to be around him.
FUTTERMAN: Can you try to explain?
JACKSON: I can’t. I’m sorry.
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FUTTERMAN: Some of it is simply getting his players to believe, as he told them last week after their win against Minnesota.
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CHESNEY: The history will be made by the guys in this room.
CHESNEY: History will be made by the guys in this room. I don’t care who believes in you and who doesn’t believe in you. The only thing that matters is that you believe in you.
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FUTTERMAN: Bob Myers is the former general manager for the NBA Golden State Warriors. He was on the hiring committee that recommended Chesney. Myers has a history of hiring great coaches. In 2014, he selected first-time coach Steve Kerr to lead Golden State. Kerr has since won four NBA titles. Myers saw something in Chesney.
BOB MYERS: In college, when I was at UCLA, you had certain professors that had written books and done research and had the skill set and competency but didn’t have the elite communication, where Chesney, I believe, has both.
FUTTERMAN: With UCLA’s perfect record, Chesney has become the darling of football pundits and podcasters, like former NFL tight end George Wrighster.
GEORGE WRIGHSTER: Bob Chesney has some magic juju that’s rubbing off on people, but he got the sauce.
FUTTERMAN: It hasn’t been a fast ride to the top. In 2000, just out of college, Chesney was a graduate assistant at Norwich University. Salary – $5,000 a year. Like many young coaches, he needed a second job. One still stands out.
CHESNEY: So the first one was probably – I worked for a vault and burial company, right? So it was – you would dig graves and host the funeral, but you’re also in charge of cutting all the grass, Weedwacking around every single stone in that – those cemeteries.
FUTTERMAN: UCLA hasn’t won a conference title since 1998, and long-suffering fans like Jack Morgan hope this is their time.
JACK MORGAN: I think that he changed everything. Well, I mean, you got a team that’s 9 and 0.
FUTTERMAN: Many coaches, including Chesney, are fond of using cliches to crystallize what they want to accomplish. He told us one of his favorites.
CHESNEY: Well, I think compete or complain is one of the biggest ones ’cause I do think there’s two types of people in this world. There’s those that compete, and there’s those that complain. And that is it, and you can’t do both. You got to pick which one you’re going to be, one or the other.
FUTTERMAN: It is way too early to reach definitive conclusions. This is only Chesney’s first year, and a lot of things have gone UCLA’s way. But boy, has it been a good start. For NPR News, I’m Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.
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