{"id":438227,"date":"2026-08-20T09:46:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/438227\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T09:46:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:46:33","slug":"fresno-state-football-derek-carr-on-landing-on-ucla-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/438227\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno State football: Derek Carr on landing on UCLA staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr made it clear late last year that he was interested in coaching<\/a> at the college level.<\/p>\n

There are \u201cdream things\u201d that you want to do, he said, a few months after retiring from the NFL following 11 seasons with the Raiders in Oakland and Las Vegas and with the New Orleans Saints.<\/p>\n

Coaching, that was it. So Carr made some calls and sent out some feelers, including to Fresno State, where he had set 27 single-season or career school records and in 2017 had his jersey number retired.<\/a><\/p>\n

But he ended up at UCLA in The Big Ten Conference as a special advisor to Bruins\u2019 coach Bob Chesney, and not at his alma mater in the new Pac-12.<\/p>\n

How did that happen? The short answer is, the Bruins gave him a short, one word answer, Yes. As Carr explored potential opportunities, Chesney decided it best to commit first and to ask questions later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just couldn\u2019t believe that part, especially since I didn\u2019t know coach Chesney,\u201d Carr said. \u201cI didn\u2019t play for him, I\u2019d never met him. I didn\u2019t know (offensive coordinator) Dean Kennedy. And there was great interest. It wasn\u2019t, \u2018Let\u2019s figure out what that looks like.\u2019 They were like, \u2018Yes, now let\u2019s figure out what that looks like.\u2019 There was just a little bit of a difference there. It felt very welcoming. That\u2019s what made it so easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was nothing against Fresno State, or any other school. Carr and his family are back in Fresno. It\u2019s where they intend to stay. \u201cWe love it here,\u201d he said. It was, really, about UCLA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bleed Bulldog red. I\u2019ll root for the Bulldogs no matter where I am, everybody knows that,\u201d Carr said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was a negative thing. But UCLA just jumped at it, and it was so overwhelming. It was evident where I should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just very clear that UCLA was like, \u2018We want to do this \u2026 now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fresno State coach Matt Entz acknowledged speaking to Carr about getting into coaching, texting. \u201cI hope someday we can get him here,\u201d the Bulldogs\u2019 coach said.<\/p>\n

The opportunity to get into coaching is something that Carr and UCLA general manager Darrick Yray had talked about for a while. Yray, who was a student assistant under former Bulldogs\u2019 coach Pat Hill and worked his way up to a role in football operations, met Carr when he was on his official recruiting visit in 2009.<\/p>\n

They have been close friends ever since, while Carr was in the NFL and Yray was at Oregon State and then Florida State before moving back west.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe kind of called me and said, \u2018Hey, I want to do this. Do you think there would be an opportunity for me to work at UCLA?\u2019\u201d Yray said. \u201cMy first answer was, \u2018Are you serious?\u2019 Then, two, was, \u2018Yes.\u2019 I told him I\u2019ll go talk to (Chesney), but the answer is going to be yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were no questions about what a role on the Bruins\u2019 staff would look like, what he would do in fall camp, during the season. They\u2019d figure that out, as they went along.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to Derek, before we do this, you need to come down here and make sure you like it, and you believe in what we teach and how we practice, before you say, \u2018I\u2019m in,\u2019\u201d Yray said. \u201cSo he did that, that was in the spring, and he sat down with (Chesney).\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr said he and Chesney spoke for about 10 minutes. That was it, it was done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was waiting for a little back and forth,\u201d Carr said. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Yes \u2026 Oh, OK. So we\u2019re doing it?\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018Let\u2019s do it. We\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when Derek Carr asks to help out, the answer is yes,\u201d Chesney said, after the announcement that the former Bulldogs\u2019 quarterback was joining the Bruins\u2019 staff.<\/p>\n

Carr said it has turned out better than he could have expected. He spent some time in Southern California during fall camp. He can work from home, watching practice film, and connect with Chesney, Kennedy and Nico Iamaleava or any of the Bruins quarterbacks. During the season, he will assist with game planning.<\/p>\n

In his meeting with Chesney, Carr said he told the Bruins\u2019 coach that he wanted to be a head coach someday, that he wanted to learn and was willing to do anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just ran with it,\u201d Carr said. \u201cThe access and what they\u2019ve allowed me to do has been awesome. I\u2019ve been blown away by the acceptance, the access, by their teaching and helping and allowing me to do whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I didn\u2019t want to just check a box: \u2018Hey, he\u2019s part of the staff.\u2019 I want to provide value to UCLA, as much as I can. I\u2019m not calling plays. I\u2019m not making decisions or anything like that. For what it has been up to now, it has been great. I\u2019ll turn on practice tape and there\u2019s three or four plays that we talked about. Dean was asking me how we did certain things, and they\u2019re running them, and it\u2019s working or, \u2018Ah, this one didn\u2019t work. Why didn\u2019t it work?\u2019 It\u2019s a real thing. That\u2019s super cool for me, because I can really make an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published August 19, 2026 at 10:35 AM.<\/p>\n

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