Sunseri Speaks for First Time as Member of Bruins' Staff

UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri spoke publicly for the first time as a member of the Bruins' staff over the weekend, discussing his excitement to lead this offense, his philosophy in that role and the relationship that he has built over his life with head coach DeShaun Foster. The Bruins are in good hands with Sunseri.

After a one-year stint as the co-offensive coordinator for the Indiana Hoosiers last season, Sunseri quickly took the offensive coordinator job after Eric Bienemy left for the NFL at the end of the 2024 season. Sunseri spoke on his decision to leave Indianan and become a Bruin.

"At the end of the year, I ended up being able to get reached out to by about six or seven schools and I started to hear from a lot of different head coaches, a lot of different people that were trying to be able to hear from me, but I also wanted to be able to hear from them," Sunseri said.

"I wanted to make sure the situation that I'd be walking into because I was in a situation at Indiana which is a great place, great people, and respect for everything that they're doing. ... It just so happened, whenever I talked to Coach Foster, the only thing that he repeatedly talked about was the players. Helping them grow, helping them learn, helping them evolve, making sure that they were going to be able to understand that life after football was more important than football itself.

"What you're going to be doing for 40 years is different than four but being able to make sure that we're going to give them the best opportunity to fulfill their dreams. After being able to talk to everybody, there was no doubt that with my heart and my mind the only thing I could think was UCLA."

Sunseri and Foster have a relationship that spans all the way to Foster's playing days and the early years of his offensive coordinator's life. Sunseri's father, Sal Sunseri, was the defensive line coach for the Carolina Panthers when Foster was their star running back from 2002-07.

The two have built a strong relationship over the years and when it was time for the Bruins to find a new offensive mind, Sunseri was a quick call away. He spoke on what it means to coach under his good friend and what it means to be a part of such an illustrious program.

"It's awesome, I can't thank him [Foster] enough for the opportunity," Sunseri said. "I love him as a person, I think that he's everything that this university needs of being able to drive this thing to the right place because of his background of being at UCLA, being a Bruin, and loving what this place is about. I feel like with us and the trajectory that we're going, it's been a lot of fun being able to work with him so far."

Sunseri was asked about his offensive philosophy and his approach to his first season controlling the UCLA offense. His words were inspiring, talking about the fast-paced motor that this group will have and the emphasis on running the football, something the Bruins struggled with last year.

"My offensive philosophy is going to be smart, physical, fast, poised and disciplined," Sunseri said. "We're going to make sure our players understand what to do, we're going to know how to do it, and why we're doing it that way. Each and every play, we're going to put the defense in a lot of turmoil.

" ... Being able to make sure that they have to guard every blade of grass horizontally as they do vertically. ... We need to run the football, control the line of scrimmage, be able to make sure that these guys understand that our big linemen are going to come off that ball with physicality while being able to play action pass, RPO."

Sunseri led the Hoosiers to a Big Ten-best 41.3 points per game, finishing the season with an 11-2 record, earning a College Football Playoff berth and finishing second in the conference. His coaching prowess is quite motivating and will seek to bring that production to Westwood in 2025.

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