UCLA Announces Next Head Coach After Sudden Departure of Chip Kelly

Originally posted on Men's Journal | By Caleb Skinner | Last updated 2/14/24

Chip Kelly departed the UCLA Bruins football team as their head coach after six seasons to join the staff at Ohio State as their next offensive coordinator after Bill O'Brien left to become the head coach of the Boston College Eagles.

The move by Kelly to leave a head coaching gig for an offensive coordinator position was head-scratching, but it also goes a ways into what is thought of about the UCLA head coaching job. With Kelly off to Columbus, Ohio, the UCLA Bruins needed to do some work to figure out who their next coach would be.

It didn't take long, however, as they decided to hire from within promoting Running backs coach DeShaun Foster to head coach on Monday.

Sources: UCLA is set to hire DeShaun Foster as the school’s next head coach. He’s is in the UCLA Hall of Fame as a player, worked as an assistant coach there since 2017 and played seven seasons in the NFL. pic.twitter.com/MiGPayT4Jj
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 12, 2024

Foster is in the UCLA Hall of Fame from his time as a running back for the program. Following his collegiate playing days, Foster wound up being drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers where he played for six seasons before heading back to California to play for the 49ers in 2008. Following the 2008 season, Foster hung up the cleats and in 2013 decided to enter the coaching realm of football.

He spent three seasons as a student and grad assistant with the Bruins to begin his career before getting the running backs coach job with Texas Tech in 2016. After his one-year stint at Tech, Foster made his way back to UCLA becoming their running backs coach for the next seven seasons.

Foster is widely respected amongst his peers at UCLA and drew the acceptance of his players once he was announced as the Bruins' head coach. Foster will have some tough days ahead of him as the jump from RB coach to head coach is a big one, but if the reaction from the Bruins says anything it is that they believe in him 100%.