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UCLA hires DeShaun Foster as its football coach, replacing Chip Kelly

New UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster
DeShaun Foster, who played and coached at UCLA, will become the next head coach of the Bruins, replacing Chip Kelly.
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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UCLA went with a familiar, beloved name in selecting its next football coach. The Bruins have hired DeShaun Foster.

The former star running back for the school who appeared in its last Rose Bowl game will replace Chip Kelly, the school announced Monday morning after completing a search that lasted less than 72 hours.

UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond cited Foster’s integrity, energy and passion in making his decision, but the move comes with considerable risk. Foster, 44, becomes the first UCLA coach to get the job without previous head coaching experience since Karl Dorrell in 2003. Dorrell went on to coach for five largely uninspiring seasons before his dismissal.

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In accepting the job, Foster ran a coaching reverse after recently taking a job as the Las Vegas Raiders’ running backs coach after seven seasons of holding the same post with the Bruins.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Stanford head coach Troy Taylor stands on the sidelines in 2023.

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Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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