One other coach has wandered into Westwood saying he’ll awaken the Sleeping Big.
Bob Chesney has a welcoming demeanor. He articulates his ideas nicely. And if the individuals who employed him are proper, the small-school marvel will likely be a transformative determine in Los Angeles sports activities.
Formally launched on Tuesday as UCLA’s new soccer coach, the 48-year-old Chesney has a new-age vibe about him. His opening remarks lasted about seven minutes and he answered questions for almost 30 extra, however that wasn’t sufficient to inform whether or not he’ll be one other Sean McVay or one other Brandon Staley.
Right here’s the extra essential query: Does it matter?
Bob Chesney is launched as the brand new UCLA head soccer coach on the Luskin convention middle on the Bruins campus on Tuesday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Occasions)
The Sleeping Big of a soccer program has been hibernating for thus lengthy that nobody will be sure it’s nonetheless hibernating.
The Sleeping Big may very well be a Lifeless Big.
Bob Toledo couldn’t construct a constant winner at UCLA. Rick Neuheisel, Jim Mora and Chip Kelly couldn’t both.
None of them have been capable of construct a nationally related program by leveraging UCLA’s quite a few benefits — the high-profile conferences during which its groups competed, the second-largest media market within the nation, the college’s educational popularity, the Southern California climate.
Sooner or later, it’s solely pure to marvel if the issue was the college or its strict admission requirements quite than the coaches.
Chesney clearly doesn’t suppose so, and he’s now the chief of a broader mission to show that soccer can matter at UCLA.
“It’s not up for debate — if we will [win] or we will not — we will,” he mentioned.
Chesney mentioned that when he was being courted by UCLA, he was struck by how a lot the members of the six-person search committee believed the Bruins may very well be winners.
“There is zero chance that they’re going to allow us to fail,” Chesney mentioned.
UCLA soccer coach Bob Chesney takes an image with household whereas holding a Bruins jersey throughout his introductory information convention Tuesday. Bob Chesney is joined by his mother and father, Robert Chesney Sr. and Claudia; brothers, Vincent and Nicholas; spouse, Andrea; and youngsters, Lyla, Hudson and Bo.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Occasions)
An instance: Chesney may have the wherewithal to construct a considerably dearer teaching employees than his predecessors.
Sports activities govt Bob Myers, who was on the search committee, recalled how at one stage Chesney requested concerning the monetary assets that might be made accessible to this system.
UCLA will likely be within the prime third within the Massive Ten, maybe even the highest quartile, Chensey was instructed. Chesney himself will likely be paid a median of $6.75 million a 12 months.
Myers credited the funding in soccer to chancellor Julio Frenk.
“Leadership,” Myers mentioned, “is usually the reason why something succeeds or fails.”
Myers is conversant in success. He was a reserve on UCLA’s nationwide champion basketball crew in 1994-95. He spent almost twenty years as an agent, after which he turned a celebrated common supervisor of the Golden State Warriors dynasty.
Myers mentioned he’s observed a cultural shift at UCLA within the wake of Frenk’s arrival earlier this 12 months.
“When I was at UCLA, we were fantastic in basketball,” Myers mentioned. “Obviously, this has always been a fantastic academic institution, but I think we were a little apologetic about our sports. We didn’t want to push our sports into the forefront. We hesitated to celebrate the power of athletics.”
Frenk doesn’t have any such reservations, in keeping with Myers.
UCLA head soccer coach Bob Chesney and athletic director Martin Jarmon sit behind a desk throughout Chesney’s introductory information convention Tuesday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Occasions)
The elevated emphasis on athletics was crucial in Myers’ view.
“I think to succeed in anything, you have to be unapologetic and say, no, the football team matters to a high degree,” Myers mentioned.
Myers acknowledged the likelihood that UCLA was compelled into this mentality by its transfer to the Massive Ten. To compete in such a aggressive convention, he mentioned, “you have to embrace the power of football.”
Myers pointed to Indiana for example of what a extra bold mindset may do for a program. The No. 1 crew within the nation, Indiana is in its second season beneath Curt Cignetti, who like Chesney coached at James Madison.
“You look at a place like Indiana, traditional basketball school,” Myers mentioned. “It’s a great model where you might have asked that question, ‘Why isn’t Indiana football …?’ They hadn’t beaten, what, Ohio State in 30 years? If you were a student there or been around there, alumni, you’d say, ‘Well, we can’t beat these teams.’ Well, they just did. So I believe UCLA has got as good or better chance than a place like that.”
So the Bruins are again to this acquainted place, as soon as once more believing they might win soccer video games, as soon as once more putting their religion in a coach who isn’t just like the coaches who got here earlier than him.
Solely this time, they’re giving the coach greater than a small stick with poke the Sleeping Big. They’ve armed him with a metallic bat and a few sirens.
