Bob Chesney made a lot of promises when he was introduced as UCLA football’s newest head coach on Dec. 9, 2025.

The newly minted coach said that he could see a championship coming to Westwood.

“I see zero reason why we cannot be competing for a championship,” Chesney said during his introductory presser.

And he doubled down at halftime of UCLA men’s basketball’s home game against Indiana on Jan. 31.

“I want you to support this thing, understand what we’re building and understand that we’re about to win a Big Ten championship,” the UCLA football coach said. “This is the team of the future. That future is now.”

Time will tell if the former James Madison head honcho can follow through on his proposed success.

But Chesney sure has followed through on the other bold promises he made on his first day as a Bruin.

Chief among them – being a physical presence on campus and throughout the entire UCLA community.

And he made that evident Sunday, when the head coach traveled to Phoenix to watch UCLA women’s basketball face South Carolina in the NCAA national championship.

“That team was unbelievable, watching (coach Cori Close) Cori, watch her lead the team, and understand the process of it, never got caught up in the scoreboard, never gets caught up in the wins and losses, only gets caught up in what they could do in the next moment and live in that moment,” Chesney said. “She’s undeniably herself. She didn’t want to be anybody other than herself.”

The national championship was not Chesney’s first appearance supporting the women’s team either.

Chesney, his staff and some of his players lined up outside the Mo Ostin Basketball Center and applauded the team as they boarded their bus and prepared to leave for the Final Four.

While the Bruin head coach has made his presence evident across athletic programs – going to UCLA baseball games at Jackie Robinson Stadium and meeting with the women’s water polo team at Spieker Aquatics Center – he has also made a concerted effort to be physically present among the entirety of his roster.

Leading a team of 112 players can present its challenges.

A coach can show favor to one phase of the game, a single position group or even a select group of players.

And trying to individually connect with an entire football roster can seem like an impossible task.

But Chesney has made it his duty just under four months into his post.

“I am spread pretty thin amongst everybody, so it’s important when I show up, it’s impactful moments,” Chesney said. “It’s not necessarily the quantity of them, but the quality of them. When I get into a meeting room, it’s the same thing; when I’m seeing them in a hallway, it’s the same thing. I will have meetings with them privately; it’s the same thing. I just want to keep growing with these guys and (have them) know that they’re all important.”

Chesney also highlighted that each player matters equally to him – from the starting quarterback to the defensive end, to the left tackle and to all of the scout team players.

And the UCLA head honcho made his compassion evident when he checked in on Mikey Matthews after a collision on Spaulding Field during a punt drill that looked to have almost injured the junior wide receiver.

“Why would you not do that, I guess, would be a better question,” Chesney said when asked why he helped Matthews up. “He got rolled up on a little bit, and it was nothing that nobody meant to do. I wanted to make sure that he was good to go, and know that you’re not alone out there.”

Just a few months into the Chesney era, and it seems like the football coach has taken accountability for the lofty expectations he set on his first day.

“Accountability” is not just something he holds himself to – its the foundation he is building UCLA football on.

Part of establishing a collective culture of accountability is ensuring competition exists in every facet of the team’s day-to-day lives.

“It’s everything about this program, there’s nothing it’s not about this program – in the weight room, the way we sit in our meetings, the way our lockers are kept, every single thing is a competition,” Chesney said. “Every single thing is going to be graded and judged and held to a high standard, and accountability follows it. … I want Saturdays to feel as much like a Tuesday and Wednesday as humanly possible.”

And it seems that Chesney’s expectations have taken hold in his starting signal-caller – redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

“It’s not about him, that’s the thing that I’m most impressed about. It’s about everybody else,” Chesney said. “There is nobody who spends more time in the meeting room right now than him. There’s nobody who spends more time on film than him. There’s nobody who spends more time trying to become the best leader that they can for this team than him.”

It is not just Chesney who sees Iamaleava as a leader, either.

The signal-caller has seemed to earn the respect of the team – despite the 55 newcomers on the 2026 roster – for the second year in a row.

“We did a leadership vote, and it was undeniable he was the number-one vote on this entire team to be a leader on this team, and I wanted to just share that with him and make sure he didn’t have to wonder, do these guys respect me?” Chesney said. “They do, and not only by the position you play, but by the way you play it and by the way you handle it off the field.”