Episode

Should UCLA Have Your Attention?

Podcast
Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast
Published
May 19, 2026
Duration seconds
1194
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://www.splitzoneduo.com/p/ucla-bob-chesney
Audio
https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/198470754/14d1986f095c9d1535c2495a516d3d0e.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/split-zone-duo-college-football-podcast-1366379/episodes/should-ucla-have-your-attention
Markdown
/podcast/split-zone-duo-college-football-podcast-1366379/should-ucla-have-your-attention.md

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Summary

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com SUBSCRIBER EPISODE: Alex and Richard start with the surprise of UCLA becoming one of the offseason’s best recruiting stories, then Alex brings on Ira Gorawara from The Athletic for a campus-level look at Bob Chesney’s first few months in Westwood. This subscriber episode is about whether UCLA’s current burst of money, attention, and salesmanship is the first sign that a program long trapped between Los Angeles indifference and its own underinvestment might finally be changing its shape. In this episode: * 0:00: Richard and Alex set up UCLA’s recruiting surge, the money behind it, and why Los Angeles is a hard place to matter unless you are winning or selling. * 10:49: Ira Gorawara joins to explain why Bob Chesney’s arrival has given the program a different feel than it had under recent coaches * 17:02: Chesney’s contrast with Chip Kelly and DeShaun Foster * 22:45: Whether UCLA’s donor alignment and roster spending are real enough to change the program’s ceiling. * 29:17: How durable the Bruins’ recruiting bump might be, and what counts as success over the long term * 34:29: The Rose Bowl vs. SoFi Stadium Producer: Anthony Vito Everyone can hear a free preview of this episode. To get the whole thing, become a paid subscriber today. For $10 a month (or you can get a free month with an annual subscription), subscribers get about twice as many Split Zone Duo podcasts, as well as our coach carousel reporting, deep dives on college football history, Q&A opportunities, and many more goodies as we think of them. You also help keep this show independent and ensure we’re making a podcast that puts our listeners, not anyone else, first.