UCLA is hiring running backs coach Deshaun Foster to be the school’s next head coach, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
The school’s head coach job became vacant when Chip Kelly left to take the offensive coordinator position at Ohio State. The coaching carousel musical chairs are complicated. Kelly took Bill O’Brien’s position at Ohio State, which he held for three weeks before leaving for the Boston College vacancy. That vacancy at BC was open because former head coach Jeff Hafley took the defensive coordinator job with the Green Bay Packers.
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The chain of events are complicated, but they’ve led to Foster getting the UCLA job.
Foster was a second-round pick out of UCLA in the 2002 NFL draft. He played in the league for seven years, six with the Carolina Panthers (2002-2007) and one with the San Francisco 49ers (2008).
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The young coach began his coaching career at UCLA as a graduate assistant in 2014. He spent 2016 as running backs coach at Texas Tech before returning to UCLA, where he has been the running backs coach since 2017.
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
Kelly, meanwhile, was on thin ice throughout last season and had been seeking NFL coordinator jobs for weeks. His move to Ohio State shouldn’t have surprised anybody.
The Bruins will rely on Foster, someone with zero head coaching experience, to guide the program into the new era of the Big Ten.