Sports
Column: DeShaun Foster is UCLA’s new football coach? Bruins are taking a giant gamble
The football drama at UCLA took a wild turn Monday when a desperate Martin Jarmond threw a Hail Mary pass through a torrential downpour.
He just hired a head coach who is not a head coach.
He just entrusted the Bruins to a guy who has never called a play, never run a practice, never commanded the sidelines, never dominated a meeting room and never bossed more than a handful of players at one time.
Welcome home, DeShaun Foster.
Now what exactly are you doing here?
The former Bruins running back and running backs coach was hastily hired just three days after Chip Kelly’s sudden departure, the embattled Jarmond rushing to judgment by making a giant hire for one small reason.
Foster is the players’ buddy.
That’s it. That’s the rationale. That’s all of it.
The current players wanted him, and so maybe now they won’t all transfer, and that was Foster’s main selling point.
Could be a path to success. Could also be a recipe for failure.
Some of this is about money — isn’t every UCLA athletic decision about money? — because Foster’s return will allow the Bruins to keep their coaching staff largely intact and not require serious buyout bucks.
But most of it seems to be about expediency, Foster in the right spot at the right time to make the easy move.
“We are looking for a coach with integrity, energy and passion; someone who is a great teacher, who develops young men, is a great recruiter and fully embraces the NIL landscape to help our student-athletes,” Jarmond, the athletic director, said in a news release announcing the hire. “DeShaun checks all of those boxes and then some.”
He certainly checked the boxes as a running backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders, where he had recently taken a job in that position.
But can he be a head coach? Nobody has any idea.
Can he succeed as a CEO of a major corporation merging into a difficult new environment known as the Big Ten? Again, no clue.
Then-UCLA running backs coach DeShaun Foster stands on the sideline during a game against Washington in October 2018.
(Jordon Kelly / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It would be nice to wax about his offensive genius, maybe cite the rushing game’s success in Foster’s seven years as the running backs coach three consecutive top-20 finishes nationally, Bruins running backs selected in four straight NFL drafts.
But this being a team run by offensive guru Kelly, it’s hard to imagine anyone else having even a remote influence on that side of the ball.
Defensively, one can wonder whether Foster ever even watched the defense and, oh yeah, that unit has lost its bright young coordinator D’Anton Lynn to USC.
Jarmond talks a lot about striving to maintain the continuity of a program that is coming off a beating of USC and a bowl win against Boise State, but the coach who called the plays is now at Ohio State, the defensive whiz is across town and the guy in charge of it all is a rookie.
Gulp. An autumn stretch of Louisiana State, Oregon and Penn State awaits.
Granted, this could be great. Seriously. There is history here. UCLA once successfully put its football program into the hands of a guy who had only been a defensive and offensive line coach, someone whose only claim to fame was that he was a former Bruins player.
Perhaps you remember Terry Donahue?
Then again, this could be disastrous. Seriously. There is also history here. They more recently hired another guy with no head coaching experience and he was never comfortable on the sidelines and wound up having only two winning seasons in five years.
Perhaps you remember Karl Dorrell?
“I am excited to partner with [Foster] as we usher UCLA Football into an exciting new era,” Jarmond said.
It would indeed be nice if Foster could forge the beginning of an exciting Bruins era, especially considering he was involved in the destruction of a past exciting Bruins era.
In his senior season in 2001, he was suspended for the final three games of his UCLA career for violating NCAA rules by driving an SUV owned by actor-director Eric Laneuville.
The Bruins were 6-2 and Foster was a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate at the time of the suspension. The rules were silly and have been rendered obsolete, but they were still the rules, and the team was devastated by his absence. They lost two of their last three games and Bob Toledo was fired a year later.
“Something that changed not only the course of our season, but also maybe my career,” Toledo told me once.
Foster was later selected in the second round of the NFL draft, and wound up appearing in the Super Bowl after the 2003 season with the Carolina Panthers.
During that Super Bowl week, I asked Foster about his time at UCLA. He refused to answer.
He’ll have plenty of opportunity to brag on the Bruins beginning this week, when he’ll be charged with the sort of offseason duties that Kelly despised. He’ll have to recruit, he’ll have to solicit NIL money, he’ll have to do all the relationship things that are vital to the Bruins climbing out of their deepening hole.
Jarmond is betting Foster can sell. Jarmond bypassed several experienced coordinators with the belief Foster can sell. Jarmond is perhaps risking his UCLA career on the faith that Foster can sell.
Jarmond was suckered by Kelly, and he can’t afford to be suckered again, so, for his sake, this better work.
When Foster was introduced to the players Monday morning they swarmed him with hugs and high-fives and it was a nice moment.
Jarmond is perilously gambling that his rookie leader can produce a season worth of them.
HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS
MONDAY’S RESULTS
First Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter 16, #17 Middle College 6
#20 Cleveland 20, #13 Dorsey 2
#10 North Hollywood 12, #14 USC-MAE 0
#18 Taft 13, #15 Central City Value 0
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys 19, #17 Alliance Bloomfield 2
#20 East Valley 14, #13 Community Charter 3
#14 VAAS 18, #19 Angelou 0
#15 Reseda 24, #18 Stella 0
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn 44, #17 West Adams 33
#20 Hawkins 28, #13 LAAAE 7
#14 Franklin 19, #19 Mendez 7
#18 Diego Rivera 24, #15 Discovery 8
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
First Round
DIVISION I
#16 Sherman Oaks CES at #1 Venice
#9 San Fernando at #8 Bravo
#12 Lincoln at #5 Chavez
#13 Animo Venice at #4 Chatsworth
#14 LA University at #3 Port of LA
#11 Harbor Teacher at #6 Eagle Rock
#10 Verdugo Hills at #7 Garfield
#15 LA Hamilton at #2 Marquez
Second Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter at #1 LA Marshall
#9 Northridge Academy at #8 Rancho Dominguez
#12 Fremont at #5 Symar
#20 Cleveland at #4 Narbonne
#19 North Hollywood at #3 Roosevelt
#11 Orthopaedic at #5 Arleta
#10 Sun Valley Poly at #7 South Gate
#18 Taft at #2 LA Wilson
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys at #1 Bell
#9 Palisades at #8 Hollywood
#12 Lakeview Charter at #5 South East
#20 East Valley at #4 Maywood Academy
#14 VAAS at #3 Maywood CES
#11 Westchester at #6 Torres
#10 Animo Robinson at #7 LACES
#15 Reseda at #2 Sun Valley Magnet
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn at #1 Jefferson
#9 Smidt Tech at #8 Alliance Levine
#12 Downtown Magnets at #5 University Prep Value
#20 Hawkins at #4 Huntington Park
#14 Franklin at #3 Santee
#11 Bernstein at #6 Camino Nuevo
#10 Rise Kohyang at #7 CALS Early College
#18 Diego Rivera at #2 LA Jordan
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Quarterfinals
OPEN DIVISION
#8 Granada Hills Kennedy at #1 Granada Hills
#5 El Camino Real at #4 San Pedro
#6 Wilmington Banning at #3 Birmingham
#7 Legacy at #2 Carson
Note: Division I-IV quarterfinals May 22 at higher seeds; Semifinals all divisions May 27 at higher seeds; Finals all divisions May 29-30 at TBD.
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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.
He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.
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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.
“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”
Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.
Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.
Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.
Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.
A lot has changed since Jacori Perry attended Morningside High School.
Perry is now a renowned artist who goes by the names Mr. Ace and AiseBorn.
The school is now known as Inglewood High School United.
And the lecture hall on that campus now features a large, ornate mural of a soccer ball being grasped by the hands of two people — freshly painted by the 2004 Morningside graduate as the city of Inglewood prepares to host eight World Cup games at SoFi Stadium starting next month.
Local artist Mr. Ace works on his mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11. The artists, whose real name is Jacori Perry, attended the school when it was known as Morningside High more than two decades ago.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
“If you told me that I would be back here painting one of the walls on this campus when I was in high school, I don’t think that I necessarily would have foreseen it,” Mr. Ace said as he was putting the finishing touches on his mural last week. “So I’m a little in amazement about just the way life works in that sense.”
He was one of several Los Angeles-based artists to participate in a Road to World Cup Community Day last month at Inglewood High United. Many of the artists — including Juan Pablo Reyes (“JP murals”), Michelle Ruby Guerrero (“Mr. B Baby”) and Angel Acordagoitia — sketched designs on portable panels (12-feet by 8-feet) and picnic tables for community members to paint.
The picnic tables will remain at the high school in front of Mr. Ace’s mural. The mobile murals will be placed throughout LAX to welcome visitors arriving for the World Cup.
Kathryn Schloessman, CEO of the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee, said in a news release that the event was “just one example of how the energy of the World Cup can be felt in neighborhoods across our region.”
“Students, artists, and volunteers came together to create a work of art that will live on well beyond the end of the tournament,” Schloessman said. “It’s a reflection of the creativity, diversity, and community pride that makes our region so special as we prepare to host the world for FIFA World Cup 2026.”
Community members were encouraged to take part in the painting process, no matter their skill level.
“We made it easy enough for people that have zero experience to a proficient level of experience, for them to all be involved,” said Reyes, who designed and helped paint two mural panels and three tables. “We did the sketch, and then I tried to dab a little bit of color — whatever color is supposed to be there, I dabbed a little bit of color right there, so they would have a guide. …
Students and community members help paint a mural panel during a Road to World Cup Community Day event May 2 at Inglewood High School.
(Dawn M. Burkes / Los Angeles Times)
“I was right there, kind of supervising, making sure that everything went as planned. And if anybody has questions, they’re more than welcome to let me know about them. But, yeah, it’s pretty easy for them to kind of be involved and feel that sense of ownership and have a sense of pride that, ‘Yeah, I was part of that mural-creation process.’ It’s a rich experience for them.”
Acordagoitia sketched several table-top designs for the public to paint at the event.
“They did great,” he said of the community members. “They helped a lot. They were asking questions. They got all the other colors correct. So, yeah, they were excited. A lot of kids were excited to see the live painting, because now kids are used to being on their phones. So that was a great experience for them.”
Acordagoitia also opted to paint a mural panel on his own because “it was a little more technical,” involving portraits of his 8-year-old son, a nephew and a friend.
“I wanted to focus more on the youth because that’s really our future,” he said. “So that’s, that’s the main thing about the mural, just about the kids, soccer, culture, community. It’s exciting for me, because I grew up playing soccer and to include soccer with art, it’s just a dream come true.”
Guerrero said “the community was a big help in filling in all the background colors that I need in order to build the detail and layers” on the two mural panels she designed.
“My whole style is based on culture. And I think that there’s a connection there with the World Cup and how I feel like it brings together all the culture and just, like, celebration,” Guerrero said. “It kind of goes hand in hand with the type of work I do, because my stuff is really festive, celebrating culture. And just as an L.A.-based artist, I think the collaboration made sense.”
The four artists also took part in another Road to World Cup Community Day in downtown L.A. at Gloria Molina Grand Park on March 14. At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.
While Mr. Ace opted to paint his permanent mural at Inglewood High School United on his own, he was sure to include the community theme into his work.
“The idea was really centered around just creating something that was community-based — something that represented the World Cup but also represented some sense of community,” he said. “And so what I did was try to create something that was symbolic, very direct in terms of its relationship to soccer and figuring out through that how to create something simple that [brings] into that a sense of community. And that’s how I landed on the two hands holding the soccer ball.”
Local artist Mr. Ace works on his World Cup-themed mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Back when he was a student on that campus, Mr. Ace said he was always involved in art and knew he wanted a career as an artist. He struggled to come up with the right words to describe how it felt being back there creating a work of art to be shared with the students, all of the community and everyone who happens to see it on the way to a World Cup match.
“I guess there’s no words to really describe it,” he said. “I think if any artist gets the opportunity to paint at their own high school — especially if they’ve been doing large-scale works around the city, the country or the world — I think that is a little touching. When it’s attached to something like the World Cup … you know, a large part of my childhood was spent in Inglewood, so coming from my circumstances and life, I think it’s even more intriguing.”
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