{"id":156637,"date":"2025-09-14T17:55:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T17:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/156637\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T17:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T17:55:19","slug":"ucla-fires-football-coach-deshaun-foster-after-winless-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/156637\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA fires football coach DeShaun Foster after winless start"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The DeShaun Foster<\/a> era is over after 15 games and just five victories, the former UCLA<\/a> star running back\u2019s storybook rise to head coach at his alma mater coming to an abrupt, deflating end.<\/p>\n

After an 0-3 start that included back-to-back losses<\/a> to Mountain West Conference teams, Foster was dismissed on Sunday in a move that showed the Bruins will no longer accept their status as the laughingstocks of the college football world.<\/p>\n

Tim Skipper, the former Fresno State interim coach who was brought in as a special assistant to Foster before this season, will serve as the interim coach for the rest of the season as the school commences a search for a permanent replacement.<\/p>\n

UCLA was outscored by a 108-43 margin in its three losses, leading to trolling tweets from the Big Sky and Pac-12 conferences in addition to widespread ridicule from national media figures who noted that the Bruins had clinched last place in the Mountain West and were the only remaining winless team in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n

Foster, who compiled a 5-10 record in a little more than one full season, is owed roughly $6.43 million in buyout money per the terms of his five-year contract, barring a new job that offsets that amount. UCLA said it would pay Foster\u2019s buyout from athletic department-generated funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cServing as the head coach at UCLA, my beloved alma mater, has been the honor of a lifetime,\u201d Foster said in a statement. \u201cWhile I am deeply disappointed that we were unable to achieve the success that our players, fans, and university deserve, I am grateful for the opportunity to have led this program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster\u2019s dismissal shifts the spotlight onto UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond<\/a>, who made the unconventional move to hire Foster in February 2024<\/a> despite Foster\u2019s having no experience as a coordinator or head coach. Foster\u2019s biggest selling points were his status as a legendary UCLA player who had appeared in the Bruins\u2019 last Rose Bowl game in 1999 and his success as a running backs coach at the school under previous head coaches Jim Mora<\/a> and Chip Kelly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During a meeting at Jarmond\u2019s home the night before Foster\u2019s hiring, the candidate told his future boss that he would win through a relentless approach.<\/p>\n

\"DeShaun <\/p>\n

DeShaun Foster, left, holds up a UCLA jersey with athletic director Martin Jarmond after being introduced as UCLA\u2019s new football coach on Feb. 13, 2024.<\/p>\n

(Damian Dovarganes \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Listen, Martin, no one\u2019s going to outwork me, no one\u2019s going to outwork this program,\u2019\u201d Jarmond said on the day of Foster\u2019s introductory news conference. \u201c\u2018If we lose a game, it\u2019s going to be because we just weren\u2019t good enough that day. But I guarantee you, I\u2019m going to do everything I can and in my power to make this program successful.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

In announcing the move, UCLA said a comprehensive national search for Foster\u2019s replacement would involve Jarmond and executive senior associate athletics director Erin Adkins, who would be assisted by a committee composed of accomplished sports and business executives and UCLA greats that would be announced once finalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to extend my sincere appreciation to DeShaun for his contributions to UCLA football over the course of many years, first as a Hall of Fame student-athlete, then as an assistant coach and finally as head coach,\u201d Jarmond said in a statement. \u201cHe was named to this role at a challenging time of year, on the cusp of a move to a new conference, and he embraced it, putting his heart into moving the program forward. His legacy and love for this university are firmly established. He is a Bruin for life, and we wish him, his wife, Charity, and their family the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jarmond touted Foster\u2019s passion and integrity among the biggest factors that led to his hiring, and it didn\u2019t hurt that the coach was wildly popular among returning players, allowing the Bruins to keep much of their roster intact heading into his debut season.<\/p>\n

But Foster\u2019s inexperience showed in his first game, the coach admitting he was nervous and not knowing how to address reporters after his team rallied for a victory over Hawaii<\/a>. The Bruins started the season 1-5 before winning four of their last six games, momentarily steadying Foster\u2019s standing with donors and fans.<\/p>\n

A flurry of offseason moves in which Foster overhauled his coaching staff and scored a number of big recruiting wins, including the acquisition of star Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava<\/a> from the transfer portal, appeared to show signs of growing on the job. Another promising development came during Big Ten media days in July, when Foster delivered a coherent opening message one year after stumbling his way through widely mocked and memed remarks that included the coach telling reporters, \u201cWe\u2019re in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there was also a curious step backward. The coach who initially said he wanted to give his program a family feel, holding a carnival-like spring practice complete with a fire twirler and putting names on the backs of jerseys to help reporters identify players, severely curtailed access to practices and player interviews during training camp.<\/p>\n

Foster shrugged off a season-opening 43-10 loss to Utah<\/a>, saying his team was close to making the plays<\/a> it needed to be competitive. But a 30-23 setback against Nevada Las Vegas<\/a> that was followed by a 35-10 blowout against New Mexico<\/a> showcased a series of worrisome trends.<\/p>\n

Foster\u2019s team couldn\u2019t consistently move the ball, get defensive stops or avoid penalties. The Bruins are still seeking their first lead of the 2025 season after having fallen behind 20-0 against Utah, 23-0 against UNLV and 14-0 against New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Foster\u2019s pillars of discipline, respect and enthusiasm clearly never took hold given his players\u2019 repeated penalties, lagging preparation for lesser opponents and lack of passion on the sideline.<\/p>\n

In his final meeting with reporters before his dismissal, Foster initially blamed his team\u2019s shortcomings on a lack of execution before finally accepting culpability when pressed by a reporter about who was ultimately responsible.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that happens can fall on me,\u201d said Foster, who turns 46 in January. \u201cI\u2019m the head coach, so it can fall on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trying to sound upbeat in a monotone voice, Foster said he would use the bye week to make tweaks before the Bruins opened Big Ten play Sept. 27 on the road against Northwestern.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we\u2019ve got two weeks to fix this,\u201d Foster said, \u201cand just looking forward to this opportunity to get it fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

A proud Bruin having met an inglorious ending, those fixes will now be in the hands of someone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The DeShaun Foster era is over after 15 games and just five victories, the former UCLA star running…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[95619,19859,275,95617,5460,16898,95618,8229,17486,88713,15553,3859,70168,3858,5190,99],"class_list":["post-156637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-big-factor","tag-bruins","tag-day","tag-foster","tag-game","tag-head-coach","tag-jarmond","tag-loss","tag-other-team","tag-passion","tag-player","tag-program","tag-reporter","tag-school","tag-season","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}