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When last season began, most UCLA Bruins fans went into it filled with a lot of hope. The Bruins had a new coach in Chip Kelly and it seemed like the pieces were there for Kelly to come in and win immediately.
Well, that didn’t happen and there was a much bigger talent drain due to the coaching change than anyone anticipated. That trend continued into the offseason but, hopefully, the roster volatility will now stabilize.
One thing which has remained stable from last season is the coaching staff. All but one of the position coaches return for Year 2 of the Chip Kelly era. Let’s take a look.
Who’s Gone
The only coach to leave the program after last season was Roy Manning who coached outside linebackers and special teams last season. While UCLA’s special teams were downright awful last season, this looks more like a situation where Manning had a chance to reunite with his old boss Alex Grinch, who is the new defensive coordinator at Oklahoma.
Who’s New
Manning’s departure meant that UCLA had an opening for an outside linebackers coach. Enter Jason Kaufusi. Kaufusi joins the Bruins after spending the past two seasons coaching at Nevada. He was instrumental in significantly improving the run defense of the Wolfpack. He also has a reputation as an excellent recruiter. I’ll hold off from offering an opinion on that until February, but the coaching staff definitely needed someone with that kind of reputation.
Who’s Back
As far as who’s back, it’s quite literally every other position coach, although there was two other changes on the coaching staff. Offensive line coach Justin Frye has added the title of offensive coordinator. That doesn’t mean that Chip Kelly intends to give up play calling duties. It’s likely more about getting Frye a pay raise after the job he did with the line last season, even though Kelly has spoken a little about the play calling being more collaborative with Frye as OC.
In addition to Frye adding the title of offensive coordinator, Derek Sage is now the special teams coordinator as well as being the tight ends coach. Hopefully, he will be able to fix the problems that the team had on special teams last season.
This is the complete coaching staff:
2019 UCLA Football Coaching Staff
| Name | Coaching Responsibility | UCLA Experience |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Coaching Responsibility | UCLA Experience |
| Chip Kelly | Head Coach | 1 season |
| Dana Bible | Quarterbacks | 1 season |
| Justin Frye | Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line | 1 season |
| Jimmie Dougherty | Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers | 2 seasons |
| DeShaun Foster | Running Backs | 2 seasons |
| Derek Sage | Tight Ends/Special Teams Coordinator | 1 season |
| Jerry Azzinaro | Defensive Coordinator | 1 season |
| Vincent Oghobaase | Defensive Line | 1 season |
| Don Pellum | Linebackers | 1 season |
| Jason Kaufusi | Outside Linebackers | New |
| Paul Rhoads | Defensive Backs | 1 season |
| Frank Wintrich | Director of Football Performance | 1 season |
So, the good news from all this is that the players on the team should continue to receive the same level of or in the case of special teams better, coaching that they received last season. Now, it’s time for that coaching to start paying off.
Go Bruins!!!