Why Recruiting Outside of California is Important to Foster, UCLA

UCLA has been making an effort to expand its recruiting footprint.

Oct 19, 2024; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster during the second half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Every football program wants to lay claim to as much territory as it can when it comes to recruiting.

It's doesn't take a genius to understand why; leaving your footprint in as many places as possible expands your chances of landing new recruits, and at the same time, it lessens the advantage the more prominent programs in those areas have.

For UCLA, though, there's more to it.

The Bruins' replenished coaching staff got right to it when each coach came in this winter. They were travelling all over, using their respective experiences and landscape familiarity to their benefit, looking to establish connections in different areas of the country as soon as possible.

This staff has an edge; their backgrounds range across the country, and that allows for the program to do what it has always seemed to excel at: recruiting outside of the Golden State.

"Everybody has connections all over the place," said Bruins coach DeShaun Foster when he addressed the media on Monday. "So, it was mostly just, 'Let's use the resources that we have. So, if people have been in the area or have coached in a certain area, let's make sure that we use that.'

"Because like I said before, when I played here at UCLA, I played with guys from all over the United States. And if you go through just our retired jerseys, most of those guys are not from California. So, we want to make sure that we do take care of our backyard, but we just also can add a lot more talent and stuff because this is a prestigious university."

Offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri mostly has experience coaching in the south, and most recently, he, of course, coached in the Midwest as Indiana's co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe hails from Hawaii and knows the Pacific Northwest quite well, given his playing and coaching experience at Washington.

The list of varied experience goes on. It says a lot that Foster embraces this philosophy, given the fact that he himself is a California native and, of course, played for UCLA. When you've been as invested in a program for as long as he has, though, tradition, as well as what has worked, is important to you.

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