How Bob Chesney has quickly transformed Bruins from a football ghost town to JMUCLA

Josh Phifer could almost predict how things were going to go when UCLA landed Bob Chesney.All the tight end had to do was listen.If his James Madison teammates were singing the school’s fight song before the game with passion and precision – and in unison – it meant good things were likely to happen on the field.That was almost always the case last season as the Dukes made it all the way to the College Football Playoff.Phifer has been hearing a similar tune lately, even as he’s transitioned to a new song in a new town with a new team.

When the Bruins belted out their fight song with that familiar gusto late in training camp, it struck a chord.“I was getting goosebumps,” Phifer said, “because I was like, holy s–t, it’s happening, I can feel it.… This almost feels like JMUCLA – it feels like the same thing except it’s beautiful every day, it’s 75 degrees and all that.”The formula Chesney has unleashed heading into his debut with the Bruins against California on Saturday at Memorial Stadium is one the legion of players, coaches and staffers who followed him on this cross-country journey have come to embrace.With football having always been a family endeavor for Chesney – whose father, grandfather and uncle all coached his teams growing up – he’s fostered a similarly harmonious vibe among the newest sons of Westwood.Names of every teammate on a roster of 119 were memorized in the spring after each player wore a shirt bearing his last name.

Names of employees in the practice facility were also committed to memory, with Alan the omelette maker trending after a video of Chesney telling his players to appreciate the chef’s service was posted on social media.“We treat each other like family whether you’re the janitor, whether you’re the cook, it doesn’t matter,” said kicker Mateen Bhaghani, estimating that he’s learned roughly 90% of the workers’ names inside the practice facility.“Everybody’s treated the same in the b...