UCLA coach DeShaun Foster is more than an awkward moment at Big Ten Media Days

INDIANAPOLIS — DeShaun Foster‘s introduction to the Big Ten didn’t go down exactly as expected Wednesday. The first-year UCLA head coach opened his appearance at the conference’s media days with an awkward and sporadic opening statement filled with pauses, a start-and-stop cadence and nervous laughter. He hit on UCLA joining the Big Ten, and then rattled off the school’s achievements (123 national championships), but then paused and seemingly had nowhere else to go. 

“I’m sure you guys don’t know too much about UCLA, our football program, but we’re in LA,” he said, pausing six seconds before continuing. ” It’s us and USC. We, umm…“

Six seconds later, Foster forced a nervous laugh, which was followed by five more seconds of silence.

“I’m just basically excited, really,” he said. “That’s it. ” 

Foster needed only 64 seconds to catch the attention of the Internet, and the Internet did what you might expect. Fans criticized and laughed at him as the video swept social media in a viral storm. The moment was everything that appeals to chronic social media scrollers: cringe heavily tinged with second-hand embarrassment. 

When told about the gaffe, UCLA athletics director Martin Jarmond brushed it off, telling CBS Sports: “Just wait until you get to see him at 3:45 (on the Big Ten Network).” 

Hours later in a small setting with a few reporters, the soft-spoken UCLA head coach was funny, refreshing and authentic to himself. He was well aware that his opening statement had garnered attention. 

“I’ll probably get on Twitter and see some jokes later,” he said.

But he was perfectly zen. He explained that he would rather let reporters ask him questions than listen to him filibuster his entire 15 minutes of allotted time. 

A rousing speech selling his program on Big Ten Network wasn’t Foster’s style, anyway. He’d rather you come see it for yourself on UCLA’s gorgeous Westwood campus than take his word for it. From his interactions with his players to the way he recruits, Foster wasn’t going to be anything other than exactly himself. It’s a big piece of the advice Los Angeles Dodgers coach Dave Roberts and former USC head coach Pete Carroll gave him after he got promoted to head coach: Don’t lose yourself. 

“I’m just not a rah, rah guy,” Foster said. “You don’t get any points for being rah-rah, but I played football. I didn’t start coaching at 20. I played football in college at a high level. I got drafted playing football in the NFL for a few years at a high level and then I decided to coach. My path is way different than a lot of these other people that are coaching and up here doing all that stuff. Just like when I’m recruiting, it’s not a pitch. Do you understand? I’m not a car salesman.”

Foster is also not Coach Bot 1000, a robotic answering machine sent to regurgitate talking points at a media event like so many of his colleagues.

 “Have there been some really great speakers out there that haven’t been able to coach?” Foster asked a reporter. “Right. There you go.” 

He gets nervous and that’s nothing new. In the third or fourth grade, Foster recalled to CBS Sports he was tasked with reciting Martin Luther King Jr.’s  “I Have A Dream” speech to the entire school. He was so nervous, he hid in a bathroom and had to be coaxed out to speak by a teacher.

The UCLA head coach certainly seemed at ease (and quiet) in informal settings Wednesday as he bounced from interview to interview. Like most, he needed time to warm up to get loose. He didn’t just answer questions; he was affable. He sounded like a man who knew exactly who he was and wasn’t. When a television reporter started quizzing him about Iowa football ahead of the Bruins’ Nov. 8 home game against the Hawkeyes, he offered helpful advice to the visiting fans and recommended renting Bird scooters to explore Los Angeles. On a question that started with, “Do you know anything about the state of Iowa or Iowa football,” Foster flipped it around on him.

“What do you know about the Bruins?” 

Foster bleeds blue. He broke the UCLA record for rushing as a freshman, broke another with a 301-yard game in 2001 and earned All-America honors as a senior. Jim Mora Jr. hired him to coach the running backs in 2017 and Chip Kelly kept him on staff as he developed players that were selected in four consecutive NFL drafts from 2020-23. He was enshrined in UCLA’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022. Around his own in Los Angeles, he’s much more verbose and excitable, particularly at booster club events.

“I gotta turn up for them,” he laughed. “That’s the thing, but it’s easy. When I get out on the field, I’m a different person than sitting here. It’s kinda like my cape, I turn into somebody else.”

For those who paid attention, Foster actually had two gaffes Wednesday. Several hours after his speech, he fired off a cryptic tweet — “I never” — and deleted it minutes later. The Internet, of course, ran wild with speculation. What did it mean? Was he responding to his awkward appearance on stage?

Turns out, he was typing a text message to his wife that was accidentally sent to X, the app formerly known as Twitter. His team was “scared” to bring it up to him while he was in the middle of an interview, but once he realized what happened, he deleted it. 

Foster was nervous before his first carry in 1998 and he was nervous again Wednesday. When he was introduced as the Bruins’ head coach in February, he cried and choked back more tears during his press conference. He said Wednesday it was the first time he had cried in a long time, and that becoming UCLA’s head coach never seemed “attainable” until that moment when a speaker rattled off his long list of accomplishments as a player.

“I’m telling you,” he told the media and fans in February, “this is something I’m built for, y’all. I can do this, all right. I’m gonna put all of my passion into this. I’m here for these boys. I’ve been here for them.”

UCLA was in the middle of turmoil at the time. Kelly shocked the country when he opted to leave UCLA to become Ohio State‘s offensive coordinator, and two months earlier, rival USC snagged defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn. Athletics director Martin Jarmond turned to the players’ favorite assistant to calm the waters.

“He’s kind of the perfect mix between one of your homies who you can kick it with and someone you respect a bunch,” said UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers, “and one of your coaches.”

Three-star edge prospect Scott Taylor, a Loyola High School star who was Foster’s first UCLA commit, sees a different side of Foster, too. 

“Coach Foster is the most authentic guy in the facility,” Taylor said Wednesday. “Committing to play for him and trusting him with looking out for me is a choice i’d make every day of the week. He’s brought a different type of energy and love back to Westwood, and I’ll never question the way his players respect him and the passion he has for the game and for UCLA.” 

From all of Foster’s moments as a UCLA player and assistant, walking on the field as the Bruins’ head coach looms large Aug. 31 at Hawaii. For him, it will overshadow whatever happened at Big Ten Media Days.

“It’s probably gonna be the most emotional one,” Foster said. “But I’m excited for it.”

247Sports National Recruiting Analyst Blair Angulo contributed to this article.