Dave Roberts might have just contributed to another monumental steal.
UCLA landed what could be the coup of the college football coaching carousel with some assistance from the celebrated Dodgers manager and Boston folk hero whose stolen base in the 2004 playoffs sparked the Red Sox’s run to their first World Series title in nearly a century.
This time, Roberts came out of the advisory bullpen to help his alma mater snag what it hopes is a championship coach in Bob Chesney.
“I just see him as a guy that failure’s not an option,” Roberts told The Times of the coach who has agreed to a five-year, $33.75-million contract. “He’s gonna win. I think I have a pretty good gut and read on people and I couldn’t have more conviction in coach Chesney.”
Though he wasn’t formally a part of UCLA’s search committee, Roberts was enlisted to speak with candidates and give his perspective. And it’s a valuable one considering Roberts’ standing as a prominent Bruins alumnus and manager of the two-time defending World Series champions.
“I went to UCLA, I’m proud of that,” said Roberts, an outfielder who graduated as the school’s all-time stolen bases leader, “and I just felt that with my role in Los Angeles, there’s some opportunities and I’ve also got some experience and understanding of the university, understanding of the city of Los Angeles and felt that as an alum, I could add some value. I’m all in on trying to revive this football program, and I feel like I want to do my part to help out in any way I can.”
Roberts said he spoke with Chesney on three occasions and exchanged text messages a few times a week during UCLA’s courtship of the outgoing James Madison coach who has guided his team to the College Football Playoff. The 12th-seeded Dukes (12-1) will face fifth-seeded Oregon (11-1) in an opening-round game on Dec. 20 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore.
Bob Myers, the former Golden State Warriors general manager who was on the search committee, said Roberts contributed input even while the Dodgers were in the playoffs.
“Everybody’s busy,” Myers said, “but for Dave to even take the time to jump on a Zoom, it showed that he cared.”
Like everyone on the search committee, Roberts said he was impressed with Chesney’s history of reviving programs and vision for a similar turnaround with the Bruins, who have achieved nothing of national significance in more than a quarter of a century.
But their conversations weren’t solely rooted in selling one another; Roberts said he asked pointed questions as well.
“I also challenged him on, ‘Does he have the bandwidth to not only recruit to get his players to perform at a high level but also reintroduce the student body and the alumni back into and get us all excited about UCLA football?’” said Roberts, alluding to sagging attendance at home games. “And he didn’t bat an eye. … He was really adamant that he has enough energy and motivation to do that and understands the value of all of that together.”
During his introductory remarks this week, Chesney mentioned the importance of engaging students and fans, suggesting the possibility of community service initiatives and appearances at elementary schools.
“Wherever I have to go and speak, whoever I have to go and talk to,” Chesney said, “we will be a, you know, a ‘yes’ program, where, the majority of the time, if someone comes to us and says, ‘Can you help us with this?’ My answer will be yes, and then I’ll figure out how to do it and how to manage it after that.”
UCLA has committed to providing its new coach with a heightened level of resources. Myers said Chesney would be given financial support that ranked in the top third or top quartile of Big Ten teams.
“It’s crucial because he’s not a magician,” Roberts said. “He’s a very good football coach, he’s a tremendous individual, but he needs the resources, the support of the university, especially when you’re talking about the Big Ten. So I know Casey [Wasserman] and Bob were really letting him know that we’re going to stand behind him as a university and exhaust whatever resources we need for him to be competitive.
“But I will say this: I hope Bruin Nation doesn’t take a wait-and-see approach with coach Chesney and his staff. My encouragement is that we kind of go out there and take a leap of faith and support the program and let that momentum build into what he’s going to do.”
Roberts said he was eager to visit spring practices, doing his part to back a new coach whose hiring has Roberts so elated that the onetime high school quarterback wanted to start throwing the ball again.
“He’s a worker and I think he’s a motivator and I’m all in,” Roberts said. “He got me excited to get back to playing football, but I got some bad knees.”
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