The Future of UCLA Football With Bob Chesney

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See ahs.com slash contracts for coverage details, including service fees, limitations, and exclusions. Welcome to Ringer Tailgate, a very special edition. We're here at the Rose Bowl. I'm your host, Tate Frazier. We've got a great show for you. A lot of UCLA spring football content. We've got some fun stuff to show you. But first and foremost, let's say what's up to our guys. Van Latham, what up, Van? What up, what up, what up, Ray? It's that room, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here at UCLA having fun with my guys. Yeah, we're having a great time. We also got Joel Anderson flew in. What's up, Joel? What's up, man? What's up, man? Joel, the mic. Use the mic. Oh, yeah, sorry. Y'all didn't say nothing about me having this cap on before I got started. This is just to carry it, not to have it. But anyway, it's good, man. I'm happy to be here. LA is lovely. Yeah, nice Rose Bowl cap that we got. In the flesh. The Duke. The Duke. We love to see it. We got a fun show. We're going to talk about the UCLA spring game. We got some shots around the stadium. We went to the Hall of Fame. We went to, like, the new field club that they're building. Joel, what did you learn here from the Rose Bowl? That OJ Simpson is still in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. He has not let this go the entire day. We have tried to have a nice day here in Pasadena. How does bringing up OJ ruin the day? I don't understand. You stopped the tour. Yeah, you stopped the tour. The guide left the room, and you held it up. It's a fine OJ Simpson. A lot of goofing, a lot of lollygagging. There's no need in erasing history. Yeah. Goofing and gagging. Goofing and gagging. Goofing and gagging. That was Joel's day. I learned a lot about the Rose Bowl. Joel was only obsessed with the most problematic parts of the Rose Bowl. Yes. Finding OJ Simpson, how segregated it was, all different types of aspects. He was really trying to ruin the tour single-handedly. I caught a glimpse, because Joel was trying to partake in the festivities. Joel brought a notepad, because he's a journalist. Yeah, big J. So he has an old journalistic notepad. He handed it to me while he was doing some sort of photography, so I took a look at his notepad. You looked at my notepad? It was open. Can you show Van what the two things on your notepad are? He has two words written down. He took two notes for the entire day on your notepad. Two words. His notepad says, news reporter's notebook. Just in case you didn't know. Oh, yeah. You know he's a J. Here are the two words. Read them, Joel. Okay. Okay. Ice. I have to ask them, did they have to reach some sort of agreement with ice to keep them on the ground? Problematic, yep. All right. And then, so they have this nice new area that they're building for fans, you know, like a luxury suite or whatever. Right. And I was like, why wouldn't they have a hot tub there? So the two words, I guess three in total, because it's two words. The three words that you had on your news notepad were ice. And hot tub idea. And hot tub. Yeah. So there you have it. I'm serious. Gagging. A breakdown of the Rose Bowl. A lot of gagging. A lot of gagging and goofing around. A lot of goofing around. Also, we had T.J. Husmanzada come hang out with us. We had T.J. Husmanzada. He gave me some tips on what to do with my son, man. So we got all that coming up. This is Ringer Tailgate. Very special edition here at the Rose Bowl. Thanks for tuning in. Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, everywhere else. And come hang out with us and raise the roof. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Goofing and gagging. Did you play Pop Warner? Yeah. How good was your team take? I was a quarterback. Okay, how good were y'all? They were all right. Did y'all win every game? All right, we're here with a special guest, T.J. Husmanzada, out here just coaching the kids. This is like your son's team, right? And you guys are having a little halftime here at UCLA. I mean, how fun is it for you to kind of see these kids out here? Take my son out of it. Just for these kids to get this experience. Because there's a lot of kids that will never step foot on a college football field, let alone a premier program. And so many will, but a lot of them won't. And so for that point of it, they'll always remember this. They'll always remember this. And that's why I love sports. It's the best. We were talking amongst ourselves. We talked a little bit about the difference in the skill and technique that we see out of the kids now that didn't exist when we was playing at that level of football. Talk a little bit about how y'all train and why they throwing spirals and routing people up and mossing people. What has changed in the game? Social media has made it easier for kids to get access to guys that really know what they're doing. And there's some guys that don't know what the fuck they're doing, but it's a lot of dudes that do. And so the kids coming up now are more skilled. They're better than we've ever been. The problem is, can you figure out who's good for you and who isn't good for you? Do you understand the game from a mental perspective? Because there's a lot of kids that are really good physically, but mentally they don't get it. Yeah. How important is it to be good at this age? Because I was kind of wondering, because it doesn't really. I have a saying. For the most part, the best kid at this age is never the best kid when it matters. Never. Never. Because you get comfortable. You know you stop working, and the guy that's at the bottom is saying, I got to get him. And he runs right by you, and you're standing still. And so you want to be. It's the tortoise and the hare. You want to be good. But if you're the best, you better have a maniac of a mind that you're going to continue to work. If not, these kids that are below you are going to pass you up. So then what's the most important thing for a kid this age? If it's not physical tools, what's the most important thing to make sure that you don't get complacent and that you're not passed up by the people behind you? Do you have parents that understand, I got to push him, but he's a kid. I got to let him be a kid. I can't have my child working out five, six days a week, 11 months out the year, and he's a star in middle school, then he gets to high school, he don't want to work out no more, he's burnt out, his body is banged up. Who cares where they are now if football is something they want to do long-term in a future college in the NFL. Speaking of college football, NFL football, obviously you're dealing with these young kids and you love the game so much, but how much do you keep watching these games? Do you keep up with the NFL, do you keep up with college football? That's all I do. Okay, good. That's all. I train a lot of guys for the Combine. Right. I've been knowing Niko since Niko was probably eight years old. Wow. I've worked out with Niko a ton, his brother Madden. We love Madden. So I've trained a couple guys that play at UCLA, but yeah, I started training guys for the Combine about seven years ago, six years ago, COVID, and it's been fun. So what do you think is going to happen with Niko this year then? Because obviously he's a new coach, a whole new system, he's coming off an injury, but what do you think people should expect out of him this year? I like the coaching staff. I like the way Chesney, he's a winner. He won at James Madison, and then you look at the recruits that he's bringing in. So when you live out here or you have a team, who the hell don't want to come out here and play in California? You just got to go get the kid, and so I believe they're going to be successful. I believe if they're successful, they're going to be successful. That means Niko is successful. Niko has so much physical talent, so much physical talent. I think this coaching staff will unlock them. Last question from me. What do you put in the hair? What's the routine? What's the product? No lie. Is it juices and berries, or what are we going for? You know what I put in my hair? I got a brush. Okay. This morning. Put it under the seat with some water. I hate it. I hate it. I brushed it back. I hate it. I don't put it under the seat. What about Oregon State, man, what do you think? Cuz I mean, y'all are in. I like Shep, man. With this NIL, it's just different, bro. If you're not paying these kids, it's hard to get the best kids. Wazoo and Oregon State. And if you get an under-the-radar type of guy, he's leaving. And he should leave. He should leave because you've got to get this money. These coaches, they're going to get this money. They're going to leave. If they get a better offer, why wouldn't the player? That's all. Yeah, we've seen it. Cam Ward leaving Wazoo. They're gone. Yeah, exactly. So it happens. But, TJ, we appreciate you. Thank you, man. Good luck with the rest of the season. Appreciate you, brother. Yeah, man. I've got to go talk to one of these UCLA coaches. I need his son on my tackle team if he wants me to help him get players at UCLA. Did you ask if Bob Stiles was at the spring game? I should have. I really want him. This episode is brought to you by Tic Tac. Lace up and get your game on because the Tic Tac lineup just got a new teammate, Dr. Pepper Tic Tac. This new double threat puts two of your favorite flavors into one box of mints. And when two iconic flavors come together, the result can only be iconic. Score big. Try Dr. Pepper Tic Tac today. Somewhere out there is a Chevy truck. And the person who drives it, well, that's a Chevy person. You probably know one. Your buddy. Your sister. Ones who always show up. They're the first to rise, the last to leave. They always have that little extra something. And maybe you've got it too. Chevrolet. Together let's drive. Visit chevy.com slash trucks to explore the lineup. This episode is brought to you by Paramount Plus. On September 18th, prepare for uncivil war. Mobland, the hit crime series from the underworld of Guy Ritchie, returns to Paramount Plus. The Harrigans are back and their empire is spiraling into chaos from the inside out. As power plays, fractured loyalties, and reckless decisions collide, fixer Harry is left to clean up the fallout. Don't miss Mobland starring Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren. Let chaos reign. September 18th on Paramount Plus. No more Darnay Holmes was there. Not Darnay Holmes. I think Darnay's from down here. All right, as promised, joining us now, UCLA football head coach Bob Chesney. Coach Chesney, thanks so much for taking the time. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate you guys being here. I understand you were at the spring game the other day. Yeah, I had a great time. Appreciate you being there too, and thanks for coming out. Oh, man, it was a lot of fun. A lot of energy around it too. You know, it was a lot of people, you know. We were learning about Terry Donahue, and his legendary coaching career here, and all, like, the different staples of the Rose Bowl, and a lot of energy just about UCLA football, which obviously, you know, typically a basketball school, but it feels like it's moving in the right direction. And we just saw a basketball school win the national championship, and a former JMU coach did it. So, you're kind of like, you got the blueprint now. Sounds good to me. So, piggybacking off that, UCLA has always been a very proud football tradition, but it's had its ups and downs in terms of, you know, competing at the highest level. Now, being in one of the major conferences, with you coming in, hopes are high that they can become, like, a really stable, excellent football program. What do you feel you can do to make that happen? And how can, how would you say delivering, how important is delivering on the promise of UCLA football that hasn't really been, like, recognized over the years? How important is that to you? Well, I mean, it's very important. I mean, to me, it's very important, but I also know to our community it's important. To our alums it's important. To everybody involved in this program, you know, it's very, very important. To our students it's important. I think that's a big piece of the reason why I'm here, is to, I did not look at this, and I know what the outside world thinks about this job and everything else that comes with it, but to me, I didn't feel that way. I felt like this is a sleeping giant. I felt like there is zero reason why this can't be done here. When you talk about the academics, you talk about the other sports teams, 127, you know, national championships have been won here, number two in the entire country, and we have three this year. We might have, what, four or five. We'll have a million, not a million, we'll have a bunch of first-round draft picks, the whole women's basketball team plus one went in the first round of the WNBA. Baseball will be the same. A bunch of Olympic athletes here on this campus as well, and I just think that that's just in the athletic side, and then you go take a walk down the campus and you start to go into the future CEOs and the future engineers and doctors and lawyers, and it's just a place that, to me, it should be. Everything is winning. Everything's winning at the elite level, except for football, and that's what we got to get done. Well, Coach, when you were, you know, considering whether or not to come here, and without, you know, talking about any of the coaches that came, that preceded you or whatever, but what do you think was holding UCLA back? Because obviously that's something you're looking at, and you're like, I'm going to have to fix that when I get there. So what do you think was going on? I think a belief. Like, I think a strong belief and an energy that just has to permeate everything within this program. You know, doing this, to being in the community, to walking around and help pizzas at frat parties, to try to get, you know, people excited again, and I think that's it. But I, so it's one of two ways, right? We can't play a game just yet, so we can't get excited about winning because it's not going to happen for a little while. So now you've got to make it a little more personal, and there's got to be moments where our team's out in the community, where I'm out in the community, where we're accessible all of a sudden for the first time in a long time, and that we're not here to be served. We're here to serve other people, and I think, you know, we're not looking to just keep taking. We're looking to give, and the more you give, I think then in the end, the more you probably get. So our guys understand that. I understand that, and I feel like, you know, that energy and just a relentless effort that's going to be poured into every little thing and every person on this campus, our alums included, that's all part of what we have to do to actualize this. You are having an enormous amount of success right now on the recruiting trail, right? And you look outside the window, and you would think, why not? Like, why would someone not want to come play here? That's what we said when we walked in. Yeah, like. Every time we're on camera, it's like, whoa. What would you say. What would you say is the secret sauce into you being able to communicate what you want to do to recruits? Well, I think that ultimately, you're. I say it all the time, but we're matchmaking here, right? That's really realistically what we're doing. We're presenting what we are, what we have, what we're capable of becoming, and then add in the fact that you probably could play early here, right? Probably get on that field a little bit earlier here, and I think the quickest way to develop is to play, but then add in all of the things that this program at once was, and then show them. You know, they've all come to practices. They've all been to the weight room, sessions with us. They all understand, again, the energy and the excitement that we're going to bring to it every single day, no matter what. That's the type of people that we need here, and that's the biggest thing that we're finding with a lot of these recruits, is that they go to other practices, and they like them. They come here, and they love them, right? And that passion for the game is what I need to bring every day. I need our coaches to bring every day, and I need that trickle down to our players, and then bring it every day. And then, you know, we hold each other to that standard at a high level and just never relent, and I think that's the thing to me, is you want to be part of people that love football, that want to be the best at it, right, in this area, you know, that also could set you up for life long after football, and I think that's really the big thing to me, is you can make this decision on UCLA, and the 17-year-old, you will be happy about it, but the 40-year-old, you will be really happy about it, you know, and then eventually the 60-year-old, you will be extremely happy about it, and I just think you're entering into this, you know, brotherhood and even sisterhood, given, you know, everybody else on campus with some pretty elite people, and I think that's just what we have to present and get out there, and I think we're doing a decent job of that. They're asking you to do some sort of different, something different, though, because when you're at JMU, and you're at Holy Cross, and you're going out to recruit, you're not getting the four or five stars, right? You're looking at guys and you're saying, I, in three years, this guy is going to be a really, yeah, an all-conference player or whatever, right? And that's how you get, like, a Sahir West, right, when you bring him out here, and he looks pretty good. So, like, would, like, this is a change in recruiting strategy for you, too, right? Because you can't, it's not really possible at this level to just take all development guys, right? No, it's not possible, and I think that this is the truth of the matter, though, for me, is that when we were at Division III, we weren't trying to recruit Division III kids and run that program like a Division III program. We were trying to run it like a Division II program. Division II, we were trying to run more like an FCS. FCS, we were trying to run more like an FBS. You got to James Madison, we were trying to run as close to an NFL team, you know, as you possibly can, and that's got to be the same that gets held true here. So, you think back to those teams at Holy Cross, you know, we beat UConn, we beat Buffalo, you know, we were toe-to-toe with BC and Army, you know, in the same year. You know, there was a lot of things that we overachieved, you know, on people that had a whole lot more than us. We were doing more with less, and I think now, in this moment, you're giving us an opportunity to do more with more, and that's what, you know, I think all of our coaches, our players in this community is excited about, is that now we are attractive to a four-star kid and a five-star kid, where before, we never even could talk about that. You know, I think that's the reality of what's happening now. There are a lot of awesome rivalries in college football. Sometimes you have rivalries that are in state, in conference. You have one that is in city, so, you know, right down there to the south, you have one of the blue bloods in the history of college football, and they have a major share of the consciousness of L.A. college football fans. How much, how important, should I say, is that rivalry to you, year in and year out, being able to beat SC and, like, give Bruins pride that they can beat them? Yeah, a lot. I think that you're probably sharing offices with people if you're a Bruin that were a Trojan, right? I think you're probably sharing a community with people. Probably your church is full of, you know, people that understand either side of that equation. There's neighborhoods that support one over the other, and I think that's all just part of, you know, what it is right now. So I think, you know, us putting a product on the field that can compete with them, which we haven't done in the past little bit of time, is just, is what it is, and that's what we should be doing, and we should be looking forward to doing. And I think when you get to that game, final game of the season, throw the records out the window, right? That's a whole different ballgame when you get a chance to play, you know, that team, and they get a chance to play you. So I just think we have a lot of work to do. They had the number one recruiting class in the country a year ago. They'll probably have the number one recruiting class again this year. And we've got to step up our game a whole bunch, right, to make sure that we can compete at a level that we want to compete against them. I do want to ask, Coach, as far as, like, people that you look up to, as far as mentors in the coaching game, you've climbed up every single level. Like you said, D3, D2, went to Holy Cross, turned that into a powerhouse, what you did at JMU, following now a national championship coach. But, like, who did you look up to? What mentors did you have? And, like, what kind of is your coaching philosophy? Yeah, so for me, it starts the day I was born. My father was my high school coach. There you go. So I had a chance to, like, understand what this profession was all about. I had the ability to really know how just tiring and relentless it is and that you just can never have bad days. My dad was my coach, too, so I never stopped. You know, you're just like, leave me alone. Exactly, exactly. Or him waking me up in the middle of the night being like, you've got to come see this on film. I was like, dude, I am trying to sleep right now. But it was just part of that, like, that was pretty exciting, you know, growing up that way. So then he was very impactful, obviously. And then I went on into my – started my college career. And, you know, just – I had a chance to run into a guy named Jim Margraf, who was at Johns Hopkins University. Yeah, yeah. He was a legendary coach and just recently going to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Like, just a superhuman who's no longer with us, but that we think about every day. Then after that, I had a chance to kind of move on up. And when I got to Assumption College, Brian Kelly from Notre Dame at the time was an alum. So I'd go out there and spend, you know, a couple days out there, you know, three years in a row, I think. And that was interesting because it's – obviously, we had different coaching styles, but learning the sports science behind it and learning about the volume that you were going to dictate for practices, understanding nutrition and sports science. Like, going through all those things really allowed me to take a different leap and execute some of that at the Division II level, which not a lot of people were doing. And at that Division II level, nine guys from our team went to the NFL, you know, which was unheard of at a team that had never won before. And then when I got to Holy Cross, Amanda Belichick was the women's lacrosse coach. So I got to get pretty comfortable and friendly with Coach Belichick. And I spent a lot of time over there, and we'd text often and just share a lot of ideas together over the years when I was up in New England. And then when I got down to JMU, I got really close with Coach Harbaugh. And then where I grew up in the little town in Pennsylvania, Brett Veach, who's the GM of the Chiefs, he grew up – we're the same age. We both grew up together in this tiny little town in the middle of the mountains of Pennsylvania. So there's a lot of people that I've been, you know, able to learn a lot from. And then I would just visit as many places as I could and just still will try to do that. I'll try to get over to the Chargers and the Rams. And just be a lifelong learner and just know that you're never a finished product. And the minute you think you got it, you're wrong because it's all about to change because this game is very different right now than when I got into it at the very beginning. Yeah, that's a great list of guys. And you've got Jim Harbaugh out here with the Chargers right now. So a lot of people to kind of reach off and make things happen. Joel, you're ready. What, ready for what? Look, you're ready to ask a question. Oh, I thought you were talking about LA or something. I was like, what are you talking about? No, but Coach, so you – this is – I mean, you're at East Coast. You're an East Coast guy. Like, you've never really been out here on the West Coast or whatever. And I'm imagining that when you're at JMU and you're having the success you are, and you're probably thinking, oh, these are the jobs that are going to be the right fit for me and this is what I'm ultimately going to end up. It must have been really disorienting to be out here. How did that even happen? Like, how does that happen that you come all the way out here? Yeah, well, first, I wasn't looking for any jobs. I was trying to do our best. And we were in a situation where we were going to be undefeated in the Sun Belt, hopefully hosting our first-ever championship. And making the playoffs. And we were fortunate enough to do all those things. But then as the year goes on and you keep doing well, obviously your agent starts getting some fielding, some phone calls, and figuring things out. And then I had a chance to do a couple of Zooms during a bye week and some other moments later. And I just felt the energy here. Like, I felt this was just a different place. I felt like everywhere else, you know, as I was talking to them, they weren't sure about me. They weren't 100 – like, how is he going to do it? Like, he's never been at this level. And there was a group of people here that just really believed in what we could accomplish. That was cool to be someone's, you know, top choice and for them to express that and them to follow through with it. But then that sends you into this thing of like, all right, I've got to learn about this program. And you start digging deep into this program. And you're like, what you said. You walked on this campus and go, how are they not? Like, how are they not? And then you start looking at the alums. You start looking at the history of this. You start looking at the people outside of football. You know, it's just – it's remarkable the people that have walked through this campus. It's different than almost anywhere else. It's different than almost anywhere else in the world. And, again, 127 national championships around here. You know, that's the difference is this is a place that wins. We just need to do it in football. I understood I was not from the West Coast. I understood I did not know people out here. I understood all the things that come with that and the criticisms that are going to occur early. And for me, it's where does any relationship start? At the beginning, right? So it was important that we got a bunch of coaches out here. And we left every one of our practices open to them, which I knew they needed to see us practice. They needed to see us lift weights. They needed to sit in meetings and watch the way we coach and talk to our players because all of that was going to be the ability for them to trust us. And it's not necessarily the quantity of time that you spend. It's the quality of time that you spend with them. And I think we did a really good job of making sure that our quality of time, you know, was impactful for them and things they could take back to their programs but then staying connected to them on a personal level. I think that's really important. So I feel great about a lot of the relationships we have here. I think it's showing up in recruiting, and we just got to continue to foster those. And build those to what they should be. There's a name I didn't hear because, you know, I know a guy who thinks that he had something to do with getting you out here and stuff like that. I talked to him. You know this guy, Bill Simmons? Bill Simmons. Yeah, you heard that guy before? Heard that guy. Like, I'm glad you didn't say his name. He's got some feather in his cap. Now he's all UCLA. He's never cared about college football before. He's got like a UCLA t-shirt. Oh, it's great over there. The guy's got a UCLA. I can't wait. UCLA is going all the way. He's been, you know, I think they have a real shot at the playoffs. I'm like, okay, Bill. I had to beg him to do this, and now he's Mr. College Football. Let me ask you a question about the current landscape of the sport. NIL, the transfer portal. I imagine when you first got into coaching, of course, it's impossible for those things to have been a part of college football because we're just getting used to them now. How do those two things change your calculus in the way you go about the process of building a program that you can sustain over time? Yeah, so there's a couple things in there. The first thing is, we're talking about really talent acquisition is really what that has to deal with, and then talent retention is really the other thing holding on to your own team. So those two things, when you have great ones, you've got to keep them, right? And you've got to find a way to keep them. There's zero rules about tampering right now. You can do whatever you want. And even if you get caught, nothing's going to happen. Yeah, and you've got like Snapchat, Instagram, coaches are everywhere. It's really out of control. So you've got to understand that they're coming for your guys, right? If he's a good player, they're coming for him. So are you prepared to have money set aside or just – or do whatever you have to do to retain? But then as far as acquiring them, this is the hardest part for me because back in the day, it was about me and you having a relationship. And then me with your family having a relationship. Who's the trigger person helping you make your decision? I've got to have a relationship with them. Those were all things that used to happen. Now I can't even talk to you until we get through the agent first. And are we even in the ballpark? Are we even in the general vicinity of what you think he thinks you're worth? And we might be the perfect match for each other, but we're never even going to talk to each other because we can't get – numbers right on the front end. So that's all part of, you know, where the whole thing starts. I will say this. I thought initially when we got into this, I thought, oh, man, I'm going to look at you as a player and I'm going to have this, like, bubble above your head with a number in it. And I'm going to be like, we're paying you that much and you can't do what we're asking you to do out here. I thought I would almost take that personally. But you're just right back to coaching. So it becomes the retention and acquisition. When that is done, they're just guys on the team. And you're just running the team how you would normally run the team. And I don't worry about, you know, any of that stuff necessarily when you're coaching the guys. You've got to be true to the process. Quick follow-up on that. When you say retention and having the relationships, how much of the relationship with keeping a guy on your team is about making sure you have the money that he might command and how much of it is about the connection to the actual player? Well, I think that it's got to be both. No one's giving up money, you know, if they don't like it here or they don't feel you truly care about them, you know, and they don't truly feel connected to you. But there is, you know – it's hard to move. It's hard to just pick up in the middle of your college career and move somewhere and find yourself losing credits, probably not graduating on time, making new friends. You don't necessarily know where you're going. And if what they're telling you is true, and if they're bringing you in, they're obviously bringing in other transfers. And it was interesting because I had that conversation with some of our players when we first got here because we were bringing in, wait, 17 transfers the first weekend. And our team was here at that moment lifting weights and running and doing those things as we're hosting 17 people. So I just said to them, look, I get it. It's uncomfortable right now. We don't know each other enough, but just stay the course. If you've got to go, go. But if you're going to stay, we need you to, you know, commit to staying. If you want to go, just let's get it over with quickly so we can figure it out. But just know wherever you go, they're going to have 10 linebackers on the team. They're going to have five quarterbacks. You know, they're going to have their six running backs. They're going to have their five tight ends. They're going to have their 20 offensive line. Like, it's 105 is the roster, and now there's ways to be a little bit over. But that's really it. So it's not like – It's not like you're leaving some – You're like, oh, they're bringing in these guys. Well, so is everybody else. We're all getting the roster to the same numbers. Do you like it here? Do you see the value in staying here? Do you understand it? And that's the retention piece that I think it's not that easy to just pick up and walk into the unknowns. So you do need the money to be able to match a lot of those things out there. But if you came up a little bit short, I imagine it still works in your favor just because it's not worth it to leave if you don't have to. Also, L.A. is pretty nice. Yeah. Well, speaking of the retention piece, you may not know this. We're the foremost. MECO podcast in the country. big well i'm a big fan of nico he loves me i've been on i've been on nico's side the whole time because i thought he caught kind of a bad deal i thought a lot of people were rooting for him to fail after the tennessee thing didn't work out so you had a chance to get to know him this time what do you think about nico and what's your relationship with like did you was it a conversation of like we want you to stay or how did that go yeah that was the first conversation is the minute that it went the minute that it went public was the first thing that i did was call nico and just say look we need you you know we need you to stay we need you to do this uh the right way and i think you know just think back to the year that he had so first when he got here was like mid-summer almost towards the end of summer so he's got a couple weeks with the guys and then football camp starts so he gets through the four weeks of football camp they start playing he gets here he is the first with his new team the first game of the season he gets through three of them and all of a sudden the whole coaching staff is gone yep so now like when that happens you could imagine everybody starts to kind of pull away to their corners and protects themselves so could he become the leader that he he needed to become and i don't know that you can in that environment that's a challenge if you could you're obviously you're phenomenal at it but it's hard when everybody else is protecting their interests and it's not about the team it starts to become about them you know and i think that's a hard uh world to live in and i admired those guys that were able to do it you know through the rest of the year come up with those three games in a row and win some big ones and uh just at the end lost steam but ultimately what i said to him is look it's different this time around you're the leader and you need to know that you're the leader of this team don't don't wonder do these guys think you're the leader because we did a leadership vote and by far he there was you know 85 of the votes were for him you know he just is viewed that way and perceived that way so it's important that he carried himself that way and that's something i shared with him back in the winter and uh he's been lights out ever since our colleague todd mcshay says that the nfl feels a lot differently about nico than a lot of other people do right that they think six foot six very athletic a lot to work with what do you think he can be one of those big name top end of the draft guys like from what you've seen so far i do i mean you you said it he's he is a big dude he's got a 42 inch vertical he was like a unbelievable volleyball player you know growing up so this kid could jump out of the gym right and then you watch him run when he pulls this ball down and runs he is not easy to tackle he's fast he's elusive he's explosive and then watch him just throw this ball down the field like he's got a giant arm there's a really the first year you know that system at tennessee is a little different you spread it out really far and just chuck it around here he's in a little bit more of a pro style offense so i think it'll serve him well and i think the first couple games will give us a pretty good indication in the you know what where he's at but i love everything that he's done up to this point in time but he has every you know physical attribute to to be a high level guy coach as i listen to you talk you seem to be obviously the mark of uh any good coach successful coaches you're into the individual stories and experiences of your players and a lot of people are wondering i'm a college football purist i'm not a purist about anything except for college football i love tradition i love culture i love all of those things how much is it still about developing young people about having a relationship with young people about giving young people stability introducing them to the world teaching them guiding them molding them when we have such a professional standard and a professional archetype and construction of the sport right now well i think that's everything and i think that that you know it's it's interesting because there was probably a crossroads i hit when i got to jmu uh but there was you know we brought in 67 new players you know to jmu in one season the season i got there so that's not even 105 team man roster is that right that's right so yeah so matt just imagine this for a second okay so you're at holy cross at holy cross i was saying it before there's not grad school there's no fifth years if you were going to do a fifth year you needed a compelling academic reason so you had to double major right in something if you wanted to stay for a fifth year because there was no grad school um we had i think one transfer over the six years i was there so then i go to jmu and i'm like i can't wait to meet the team you know i go there they're in bowl prep we go to play the bowl game it's the i think the 23rd of december and i fly home they fly where they fly the next day i just look all over twitter i'm going i'm going i'm leaving i'm like damn i thought they were all talking to me like that was the calipari i went to meet with the team there is no team there's no team there's no team that's the truth right so that so then i'm looking going like oh damn like this is different now what are we going to do and then i was like all right how much money do we have in this nil you know field and that we can handle and we had like nothing right so okay well let's go find some players we got to find 67 of them so we find 67 players we bring them in not one of them for money if you sat down and said i need this much money it was over like there was nothing we could do about it so every single kid that came in here was about i just want a chance to play i know the history of you know let's get this done so that was a big part of it so i had to do that right 67 new guys as we went into it was ultimately what we were dealing with and then i got here and it was very similar so it was this whole balance of trying to figure it all out of just exactly how do you not allow it to be just transactional and that was probably the biggest thing for me because right there at that the after the jmu 67 one a bunch left anyway the next year and it was just poaching you know and they were getting better offers i was like you know what if this is just business let's just make it business i'm not going to do that i'm not going to do that i'm not going to do that i'm not going to care about these kids they're not going to care about me let's just make it transactional and move on and i i thought about it for a day and i tried it for a day and i was like no i can't do it it's not me you know and i really was like i'm going to do like a lot of other people do and i just could not do it i couldn't look at someone you know and not truly care about their growth and and their best interest and i you know this is a little bit of a segue from this but it's going to lead me back to the same thing you cut out whatever you got to cut out if it's too long of an answer but ultimately right it was i'm standing in the in the conference championship game right we're hosting the conference championship game in the in the sunbelt and i'm out on the field we're warming up and i look over the sideline i see a kid from johns hopkins university who now works in the cia and he is on the sideline his little son this is from 20 years ago uh that i coached him and then you go look over and there's you know five guys from the d3 school where i was initially the head coach standing on the sideline two of them have their sons then i go over from the from the d2 school there's two kids then i look from holy god and i'm like oh my god i'm gonna be the head coach and i'm like oh my god i'm gonna be the head coach and i'm like oh my god i'm gonna be the head coach and i'm like oh my god i'm gonna be the head there's still a purity in this and there still is the help that these young men need like there's a lot of people pulling them a lot of different ways from agents to their family to whatever a lot of people using these guys for their own benefit and it's important that you can be the stability and you could help develop them you could provide you know that that sense of becoming for them and also be a role model for them to understand what it what they need to be because i hope everybody on this team 20 years from now i'm standing on some sideline hopefully still here and i look over and i see all of them that we've impacted because we're going to share journey and i don't want to sell anybody short because to me the worst thing someone could come back and say to you is hey i had more to give and you never got it out of me right that that would be the kiss of death to me in this profession coach what do you think of ucla's fit in the big tent right because it's obviously it's awkward most people that grew up watching college football you know we like the pac-12 pac-12 after dark all of that and now they're in this conference you know kind of far-flung and i mean again money has been an issue with ucla for for years so like what do you think you're going to be able to do to to you know make that fit work and what do you think about it period like is that do you see that as like a long-term thing where you're just like yeah i don't even think about that i don't i don't think that far ahead or like think i don't have these grandiose ideas i just you know it's you know really day by day week by week how can i do the best i can possibly every single day i walk in here that's all i could control and ultimately for me uh i do think that there you know there there is a lot of things that i can do that i can't do that i can't do that i can't do that there's a lot of benefit to being in it and that's financial you know there's a whole lot of reasons why you would want to be in this league uh i think it is now the premier league yeah nice straight championship that exists and it's not it's not only in football like look at the other sports going on out here you know that basketball just won michigan you might just say it means more yeah he's an scc park so yeah so yeah so i i think for me there's a lot in there that um you know i i'm proud to be part of this and i just think what is our place um places whatever we're going to make of it and how we're going to handle it on a day-to-day basis and i think we're off to a good start with the recruiting is there a way specifically when you talk about not just the the culture of being in the pac-12 or the big 10 or whatever but being a school that's this far west and playing games in minnesota and ohio and michigan because you what you see now is i can think of a couple of games in particular when penn state came out and played sc and the first half of the game they were in quicksand second half of the game they woke up a little bit and you can see these performances from middle school and middle school and middle school and middle and western schools coming west and western schools going east that seem to be not the best football that you get out of the young men is there a strategy or a way that you can kind of mitigate all of that travel when you're so far away from the heart of the conference yeah so i i think that you know if when it's a week-to-week base if you're doing it like you back two up you know or god forbid three in a row up which nobody's doing you know i think that's really hard you know if if that's the case but that's not the way this one works and i think you just got to prep it properly and there's a lot of sports science that comes in and out of it and i think that's really important to this there's a lot of you know how you're going to say more about that yeah yeah so i think the ability to fly on thursday is a big deal right we actually have um yeah there's like these supplements you can take on the plane too that helps really reduce jet lag and and help you with that you got to keep yourself hydrated you got to get to bed a little bit earlier you know you get back out there and all those things that come with it just trying to prepare you know prepare yourself but then it's also important throughout the week that you try to find a window to practice at the same time you're going to be playing to start to get your body used to some of those things i think the hardest one is probably going east to west and playing a seven o'clock at night game yeah right you're finished at 10 11 12 one o'clock you're finishing that game for yourself uh i think going that way playing a noon game is now 9 a.m but a lot of teams practice at 9 a.m right us ourselves included so there there's things in there that i think you know you could be right with what you're saying but i think if you manage it well you keep yourself hydrated you you start to you know acclimate yourself to exactly those sleep cycles that have to occur there's just you know things that that we got to look at a little differently where does a nap fit in there how does these things work uh those are all things that you just got to do to to keep yourself on a on on the right trajectory so by the time you get to game day you're not exhausted last question for me how do you what do you think of los angeles like la man like you're out here i moved from baton rouge to la must be like 20 years ago and was like right away just enthralled i'm deep into it i'm looking at the stars on the ground i'm looking at the mountains it's like you can go up and ski and you can go to the beach like what's your la well have you fallen in love have you got the opportunity to fall in love with los angeles just yet yeah so there's not a ton of free time but at the same point in time i think that when you bring people through here and you start talking to them you know as recruits and you start making sure that they see all the things that they need to see it and you understand here's the other thing is i mean you look over poly pavilion up the hill that's bel air right you come down we're at the bottom of bel air you go three miles on that mountain range that way you end up in beverly hills in hollywood you go three hours this or three miles this way you end up in santa monica and malibu like it's a whole different ball game like it is the most sought after area code and it's a whole different ball game it's a whole different area code and it's a whole different area and it's a whole different ball game in the entire almost united states of america i would imagine and i think that that provides a lot of really positives to it not only that those people choose to live here the people that could live anywhere in the world choose to live here that also affords this accessibility to some of the best accountants in the world some of the best builders in the world some of the best commercial real estate guys in the world some of the best agents in the world some of the best doctors lawyers whatever it is in the world and that's important too for our guys to be able to you know have that mentorship for life after football as well so all of it really works together for me i love where i'm at i love you know getting a chance we're in harrisonburg and i loved my time in virginia and harrisonburg and we had you know two or three restaurants that we frequent here it is to go out me and my wife just started to try to do it on thursdays like let's sneak out and and try to find a new place to go to dinner and and uh we're three uh thursdays in at this point in time and um just excited to just keep exploring this town because it is as special as they come coach have there have there been any conversations or phone calls or even just interactions with somebody since you've been here and you're like god damn i'm here in la for real like this is you say like like just something that you know that you just like that clearly wouldn't have happened at holy cross there's a there's a ton uh there's a ton i think you know getting the job and troy acheman reaching out immediately was one that stood out to me that i was like damn like you know he's like look i'm i'm here i know there's a lot of i don't like the way that thing went down you know that i was involved in and i was publicizing it and i was like about not liking it but i'm here man i i will always be a supporter and i got your back and that was really important you know and then there's just added up there's a lot of things we've we've done since we've been here from movie premieres to you know watching comedians to getting a chance to meet a lot of different people uh yeah it wouldn't happen in holy cross wouldn't happen in virginia so there's a lot of really cool things that you have a chance to do which uh when when you have the moments well coach we appreciate you coming on the show we're going to be rude oh you got one more are we not are we not going to talk about it oh my what we'll ruin we did our top five oh where we have any time that joel wants to talk about something nobody's cut why don't you calm down let me tell coach coach as far as tailgate we did something here uh and you were voted the inaugural hottest coach in the entire college football tailgate we did a top five most handsome i don't know if the coach doesn't like that like we did top five most handsome man you were number one coach joel wanted to make sure that you knew that oh yeah i appreciate that it's very important should help it should help us win a lot of games oh coach we appreciate you coming on the show you're welcome anytime and we'll be supporting ucla football this season good luck in year one and we're trying to see how it looks yeah i appreciate you appreciate you guys being here you're welcome back anytime especially you live in here anytime i live right up the street yeah come back yeah we're trying to get him to la yeah i live in the dmv so yeah a little tougher for you but seriously over the summer when we're lifting running if you just want to come back and and hang out a little bit and just see absolutely for sure behind the scenes i'd love for you to be we'll have the opportunity to do it of course perfect there you have it coach bob chesney thanks so much for coming on the show must be 21 or older and president select states for kansas in affiliation with kansas star casino or 18 and older and president dc kentucky or wyoming gambling problem call 1-800 gambler or 1-800 my reset call 1-887-89777 or visit ccpg.org chat in connecticut or visit md gambling help.org in maryland hope is here visit gambling helpline ma.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text hope in y in new york for louisiana call 1-877-7-7-8-HOPE-NY or text hope in y in new york for louisiana call 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