Bob Chesney is nothing like his predecessor, and thats a win for UCLA football

CHICAGO — DeShaun Foster mumbled.Bob Chesney articulated.Foster went silent.

Chesney barely paused.Foster said little of substance.Chesney sold a tangible vision.It’s just one opening monologue, and yes, it won’t gain his team a single yard, but man, oh man, did UCLA’s new football coach nail it Wednesday in his opening remarks at Big Ten media days.Chesney was poised.

He was confident.He completely mesmerized a ballroom filled with reporters with his ability to talk for more than four minutes without seemingly taking a breath.This was wholly unlike what happened to another UCLA coach making his media days debut two years ago.

Remember that unfortunate incident? The Ignominy in Indianapolis?Foster muttered his way through 45 seconds of basically nothing before looking around like an anxious kid waiting for someone to yank him off the stage in a fifth-grade play.To Foster’s credit, he delivered a credible monologue at the same event a year later, but it was already clear he wasn’t cut out for the job in demeanor — or much of anything else on the way to being sacked three games into his second season.Enter Chesney, who exudes the confidence of a salesman who’s been told you’re going to take the deal before you take it.Wearing a dark suit with a bluish-silver gray tie and powder blue socks, Chesney immediately acknowledged his belief in the brand he must rebuild.“There’s no better place I’d rather be at this moment in time,” he said.“I strongly believe in the power of what UCLA is.”He smartly didn’t box himself into a corner when asked about expectations for his first season, saying that he wouldn’t put any limits on what his team could achieve and intended to attack each day with urgency and relentlessness.“To me,” Chesney said, “success looks like a united, disciplined group that continues to grow every moment they have.

I want to lead the nation in development.” At the risk of making too much of his first seven months o...