Adam Carriker Convinced UCLA's DeShaun Foster Hire Is A Mistake
The UCLA Bruins made a slightly understated hire after former head coach Chip Kelly departed, a bit late in the offseason, to accept essentially a demotion as the offensive coordinator of the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Blue and Gold promoted Kelly's longtime running backs head coach (and a former All-American UCLA running back and eventual NFL pro himself), DeShaun Foster, to the head job.
During the latest episode of his podcast The Big 10 Show With Adam Carriker, former Nebraska defensive end (and, later, then-St. Louis Rams and then-Washington Redskins defensive end) Adam Carriker spoke with Blake Ruffino about the hire.
"To chat about this DeShaun Foster [hire], real quick," Carriker began. "He's a new head coach for those who don't know, great player. UCLA Hall of Famer, seven-year NFL vet, Second Team All-American in 2001. I grew up watching this guy. I'm a big fan of this guy. I liked UCLA better than USC growing up as a kid then."
This was all just a wind-up, though, as Carriker was ultimately unsure if Foster's addition was the right play.
"But here's my issue with DeShaun, because I'm not convinced that this is a great hire and here's why: He's never been anything but a running backs coach, never been a coordinator, obviously not been a head coach. Again, I'm a big fan of him and I'm rooting for him," Carriker continued. "But I can't help but wonder if this is more of a homegrown hire than it is a good hire."
"But man, it's going to be so hard going into the Big Ten and a really brutal schedule going into that new conference. So I agree with you. Like I said, UCLA is not a bad job talent in California."
"So I think there's just going to be a learning curve for DeShaun. I think he's going to revitalize people. I think he will recruit well. I think he's going to, like you said, pull off some upsets. I'm curious about the learning curve, How big and how fast how long does that take?"
Foster, 44, played for the Bruins from 1998-2001, and then suited up for the Carolina Panthers from 2002-07 and the San Francisco 49ers in 2008. He worked as a volunteer assistant coach under Jim L. Mora at UCLA in 2012, and aside from from a one-year interlude at Texas Tech in 2016, rose through the ranks to eventually become the Bruins running backs coach, first with Mora and then with Kelly.
