More than anything else, Foster must assemble the best staff because it will dictate everything else — recruiting, schemes and player development.
Tears about how much you love being a Bruin won’t help if you don’t have the talent and can’t make your players better than their Big Ten counterparts.
Foster has said he wants his offensive coordinator to share his football DNA, but it’s still unclear what that is beyond Foster’s ability to run over, around and through players when he was a Bruin.
UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said at Foster’s introductory news conference that he wanted a veteran assistant to mentor him, but it remains unknown whether he meant as the offensive coordinator or one of the other open roles.
Foster must hire someone to coach the tight ends, running backs and inside linebackers in addition to his offensive coordinator, but he has just three hires to make based on the current size of the Bruins’ staff. That means the new offensive coordinator could add, say, tight ends coach to his title.
Foster shouldn’t confine his search to the usual suspects of UCLA alumni, familiar names or candidates on the West Coast. Go out and get the best coaches available. Look at someone like SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods, who has not only built prolific offenses but helped bring in a top-10 recruiting class when he was tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Missouri.
