Bob Chesney had them before hello.
As the new UCLA football coach walked onto the court Saturday afternoon during a timeout in the Bruins’ basketball game against Indiana, the Pauley Pavilion crowd rose to serenade him with cheers.
What he said made the decibel level soar.
“I want you to support this team, understand what we’re building,” Chesney said, “and understand that we’re about to win a Big Ten championship.”
As the fans roared, loving what they were hearing, Chesney looked around and nodded before waving his arms to whip everyone into a greater frenzy.
“This is the team of the future,” Chesney continued. “That future starts now. Go Bruins.”
They were bold words given the history of UCLA football. Chesney is taking over a team that has not won a conference championship since 1998 and went just 8-16 over the last two seasons.
But Chesney has the pedigree to back up his promise. He’s won big everywhere he’s been, from the Division III level to his most recent stop at James Madison, where he took the Dukes to a Sun Belt Conference championship and the College Football Playoff.
He has similar aspirations with the Bruins.
“I’ve been here for about a month now and there’s nothing average that I’ve seen out of UCLA,” Chesney said, “there’s nothing average and I did not come here to be average.”
The 48-year-old coach also gave a shout-out to his assistant coaches who joined him on the court, calling them “the best staff in the world.” Several dozen players later took the court and participated in a T-shirt toss.
Chesney drew a final round of cheers when he was shown on the video board sitting next to Jim Harrick, coach of the school’s last national basketball championship team in 1995.
