why not westwood?

Before being named UCLA’s 20th head football coach, Bob Chesney already understood something that every Bruin knows all too well.

UCLA is special.

So, when approached with the opportunity to awaken the sleeping giant that is UCLA Football, Chesney’s response was simple:

“Why not Westwood?”

Bruin alumni and fans have been asking that question for years, especially as the football program has posted just three winning seasons over the past decade. With the wealth of professional and athletic opportunities Los Angeles has to offer, it’s fair to wonder why UCLA Football has struggled to reach its full potential in recent years.

“Our starting lineup for our women’s basketball team was practically drafted in the first round of the last WNBA Draft,” said Chesney. “Roch [Cholowsky] was the first pick in the entire MLB Draft. Members of our beach volleyball team and men’s water polo team will both represent their respective countries and UCLA in the upcoming Olympics. Jordan Chiles already won a gold medal in the last Olympics, and she probably will win another!

“So you walk around our athletic facility with first-round draft picks, Olympic gold medalists and Olympic athletes — how special is that? Everyone is winning. Why not UCLA Football? Why not Westwood? Why would you not want to be part of the history and tradition of this place?”

Before arriving in Westwood, Chesney spent two seasons as head coach at James Madison University (2024–25), leading the Dukes to a 21–5 record, the program’s first Sun Belt Conference Football Championship and its first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff in 2025. Chesney brings to UCLA more than 25 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 16 seasons as a head coach. Entering the 2026 season, Chesney has won eight conference championships and boasts a career record of 132–51 (.721), while coaching 13 All-Americans, including two at the FBS level and 11 at the FCS level, as well as two Academic All-Americans.

When Chesney was named UCLA’s 20th head coach on Dec. 6, he was ready to answer his own question: “Why not Westwood?”

Just a month later, UCLA Alumni hosted a Bruin Bash pregame party before UCLA Men’s Basketball took on the Indiana Hoosiers. At the event, Chesney addressed a room full of alumni and fans, sharing his expectations for the football program and making one thing clear: He didn’t come to UCLA to be average.

“Not settling for average is a mindset,” said Chesney. “It’s a day-to-day process. Most people want to be comfortable and want to just live their life at ease. We have to embrace the discomfort on a day-to-day basis. If we want to really reach our goals, it’s important our guys understand that and come out with a competitive drive and passion for not only this game, but for their teammates, and for this university. There’s nothing average about this place. If we handle our business properly on a day-to-day basis, you’ll see the same thing on the field.”

Over the past nine months, a period Chesney has described as an inspiring time, the first-year Bruin head coach has taken the time to understand the culture and traditions of not only UCLA Football, but the University as a whole.

“The amount of connections that I’ve made with alumni and supporters in a short period of time who are so passionate about this football team has been very inspiring to me. It’s inspiring to continue and know that we have something that a lot of people here are really proud of and want to see succeed.”

A subtle example of Chesney embracing UCLA’s culture and traditions can be heard in the school’s fight songs, particularly “The Mighty Bruins.” Shortly after Chesney took the helm of the program, fans began to notice that the fight song became a key part of the football team’s routine, sung before and after practices and team meetings. While learning a fight song may seem like a small detail, Chesney’s embrace of the tradition speaks to a larger goal: building a football program that is deeply connected to the University and proud to represent UCLA.

“We intend to sing our fight song after we win football games…and we intend to win football games,” said Chesney. “I always thought it was interesting and a little odd when you’d go to sing the fight song, and nobody knew the words to it. I want to make sure our guys know it inside and out, are proud of that song, and make sure they’re prepared for the moment when we get to do that together, on the field with the band. Just as much as we’re practicing for games, we have to practice our fight song.”

And for those wondering, Chesney says he’s also mastered one of the most recognizable UCLA traditions: the 8-Clap, which fittingly brings “The Mighty Bruins” to a close.

Chesney also knows there’s more to building a team culture than learning fight songs and mastering 8-Claps. For him, it starts with competition, a willingness to embrace both success and failure, and a commitment to continually grow.

“I want these men to be as competitive as possible. I want them to compete every single day and find joy in the competition, find lessons in the losses, and find confidence in the wins. I want them to understand that we’re never a finished product. We need to have a growth mindset going into every day. I’ve quoted Mark Batterson before and I’ll say it again: ‘The leading cause of success is well-managed failure, and the leading cause of failure is mismanaged success.’”

That mindset, Chesney believes, is what ultimately creates the confidence necessary to build a winning program.

“I understand that we’re going to be tested in fire on a day-to-day basis, where you can both succeed and fail. That failure can be the greatest lesson that we’ve ever learned if we use it properly. The wins can continue to boost our confidence, which will continue to boost our production. You can’t have success without confidence. You need more confidence to have more success, and when you have more success, your confidence grows. Your confidence then leads to more success. And once you get in that spiral, it starts spinning at a rate of speed that usually happens within the best teams in America.”

Chesney and the Bruins will have an opportunity to put their new culture to the test against some of the best teams in the country during the 2026 campaign. While UCLA’s schedule is favorable overall for the first-year head coach, it includes three games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of publication: at No. 21 Oregon on Oct. 10, at No. 19 Michigan on Nov. 21 and No. 12 USC at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 28.

While attendance has been a topic of discussion for media outlets in recent years – not just in Pasadena but throughout college football – a visit to the iconic Rose Bowl on a home game day reveals a passionate UCLA fan base eager to see the Bruins return to national prominence. Coach Bob Chesney has a message for these Bruin faithful:

“My message is to not waste game day…be there! Do whatever you can to be present and to be part of this program. We’ve got to put the product on the field, but alums’ support has to be felt in many different ways. For us to continue to raise this program the way that it should be, alums need to understand that it takes a village and that we’re all part of that.”

To Chesney’s point, a sea change in the culture and direction of the program can only go so far without the support of UCLA’s alumni and fans.

“Now more than ever, alumni have an opportunity to truly affect your team’s success. The best teams out there, the ones that you’ll see in the top five in the country, their alums understand that. There’s a battle to be won every single day between alumni groups — UCLA has nearly 700,000 living alums — I think it is Indiana, Michigan, Penn State, and then us (in that order). Look at that and just think that if everybody got involved a little bit, and I don’t want anybody to hurt [financially], I want them to be in a situation where they feel like they can help support. But if everybody helped, the strength that we have in numbers is significant. I would hope they understand that it will be different this time around and we need them more than ever.”

“I want these men to be as competitive as possible. I want them to compete every single day and find joy in the competition, find lessons in the losses, and find confidence in the wins. I want them to understand that we’re never a finished product. We need to have a growth mindset going into every day”

While alumni can certainly support the program by filling the stands on game day and supporting NIL efforts, Chesney also knows that off-the-field support is just as crucial to the program’s overall success.

“There’s so much to be done as far as mentorship for our players off the field and even in the offseason. Our guys have a chance to brush shoulders with some of the most elite people in the entire world, the ones that are going to go on and do magnificent things. Whatever their field of play might be, I think that’s really important to keep perspective and not waste one of those opportunities.”

Looking ahead, Chesney hopes that five years from now, this season will be remembered as the beginning of a new era, one that restored pride in Westwood.

“I want these guys five years from now to be wildly successful on the field, but also understand this period in their lives wasn’t just about football. I hope these men have amazing starts to their NFL careers, and if they don’t, they are fortunate enough to have made meaningful connections here and become contributing members of society. I hope all those things I said to be true. I hope they leave this place better than when they came in. But also, I hope this place leaves them better than it found them.”

For now, however, Chesney and his staff know there is plenty of work to be done to bring UCLA Football back to prominence. Just three games into the season, the Bruins have already matched last year’s win total with a spotless 3-0 record. Last week’s XX-XX victory over conference opponent Purdue marked their most recent step forward.

“Be proud of this team and the work being done,” said Chesney. “I’ve heard all the thoughts and concerns: ‘If it could go wrong for UCLA Football, it’s going to.’ That implies that we’re always the underdog, and we’re also going to be the underdog. But again, this community has the chance to directly impact and affect this program on a day-to-day basis. We’ll do our part on the field, but we need the support of alumni and fans to understand and know what it takes to be an elite program in the modern college football era. We’re either competing or we’re complaining, and we can’t do both. So we’ve got to pick one… and I choose to compete.”

So, to echo Coach Chesney’s original question: Why not Westwood?

Well, show up on the next game day and see for yourself. Something special is Bruin in Westwood.

For more information on UCLA Football, and to purchase tickets for the remainder of the 2026 season, visit the UCLA Football website.hen Chesney was named UC

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Banner image: Young Galaxy Cluster, MACS J0553.4-3342 – Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, S. Fujimoto

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