Football Is Still a Side Hustle in Westwood 

By Jason Burrell – South Bay Black Journal 

Keep it a buck, this is a joke. And the punchline is wearing blue and gold. 

UCLA wants you to believe this is a football school. They’ll flash the Rose Bowl backdrop, they’ll drop throwback jerseys, they’ll sell the dream of Saturday glory. But when it comes to actually building a program, the decisions scream one thing: side hustle. 

Firing Tino Sunseri after four games isn’t vision, it’s UCLA!! And turning the offense over to Jerry Neuheisel? That’s not leadership; Jerry isn’t a leader of men; he’s a placeholder in a headset, and Martin Jarmond is not to blame! This is above his pay grade.

This is a blueprint of chaos. UCLA football right now looks like Trump’s White House in cleats. Chip Kelly bolts town, DeShaun Foster gets axed midseason, and now the offensive coordinator is gone before the paint on his office door dried. It’s the same pattern we observed during the Trump years: staffers being fired, “mutually parted ways” statements accumulating, and no clear plan beyond the latest press release. Instead of stability, you get constant turnover and confusion. Instead of building trust, you breed paranoia, with everyone looking over their shoulder, wondering if today’s practice might be their last.

Let’s call it straight:

• DeShaun Foster should’ve finished the season. The players respected him. At least they had a voice they believed in. 
• The real problem is bigger. UCLA doesn’t invest in football with the seriousness it demands. NIL is weak, and the Identity is nonexistent. 

This is embarrassing! We are watching a program implode right before our eyes. It’s 11-man football, but when the coaches keep switching, it’s hard to know what identity the Bruins could even have. 

Meanwhile, the Big Ten is loading up semi-trucks full of toughness and standards. Michigan and Penn State talk about physicality and culture, while UCLA plays musical chairs with coordinators. 

This isn’t a rebuild. You don’t fake toughness, and you don’t shortcut culture. You either build it, or you get embarrassed on national TV, and it may happen this weekend with Penn State coming to the Rose Bowl! 

Until Westwood decides to stop treating football like an accessory, the Bruins will keep being the punchline. Because right now? Football is still a side hustle in Westwood.