LOS ANGELES — As UCLA looked for its next football coach, with hopes he will bring championships to Westwood, the Bruins got help from someone in the midst of winning their own.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was part of UCLA’s coaching search, all while his club was chasing back-to-back World Series championships.
UCLA put together a search committee that consisted of athletic director Martin Jarmond and several high-profile alumni to find the next football coach after Deshaun Foster was fired in September. The Bruins ultimately landed James Madison coach Bob Chesney, and it was at his introductory press conference on campus on Tuesday, Dec. 9 when the search committee mentioned Roberts’ involvement.
Jarmond said Roberts “supported the process purely out of his care for the program.”
Before playing professional baseball and becoming a manager, Roberts played for the UCLA baseball team, where he set the school’s all-time stolen base record.
Bob Myers, a former UCLA basketball player and sports executive that was architect of the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty as general manager, was also part of the search committee. He told reporters that Roberts was looped in while the MLB season and postseason went on, and the Dodgers’ skipper joined in on virtual meetings.
“For Dave to even take the time to jump on a Zoom, it showed that he cared,” Myers said. “He does care about UCLA.”
While being part of the search committee was all pro bono work, Roberts joined in during the most critical part of his team’s schedule. UCLA announced the committee was formed on Sept. 25, just as the MLB regular season was wrapping up.
The Dodgers were the No. 3 seed in the National League and had to play in the wild card round, where their postseason run began. They went on to win the World Series over the Toronto Blue Jays in a thrilling seven-game series that concluded on Nov. 1.
Myers added that, despite Roberts being in the busiest part of his season, Roberts joined in on the search, asking how he could help, and he was great in the hiring process. After UCLA hired Chesney, the new Bruins coach had time to connect with Roberts, who offered to assist in the role in any way he could.
“Even being as busy as (Roberts) was, he had time to connect with a coach and offer his services, which was great,” Myers said.