WORCESTER, Mass. — Former Holy Cross and Assumption head football coach Bob Chesney is in his first season at UCLA, which opens tonight at Cal. Chesney said he is excited to get the season underway.

“I mean, it’s the same every year, as you know,” Chesney said. “Whether it was when we were up there in Worcester or whether it’s at JMU, you go through that preseason and there is just so much that you are installing — the offense, the defense — it’s not a game plan yet. And now we find ourselves in a spot where we have an opportunity to go play someone else. The shift this week has been from offense against defense to us coming together as a team and making sure that that connectivity exists.”

You have a lot of guys on your staff who have been with you since Assumption or Holy Cross. How important is it to have coaches you know so well, who know you so well, and know what your blueprint for success is?

“I think by us having all those guys that have been with us since Assumption or Salve with my father, then to Assumption, then to Holy Cross, then to JMU, and now here, there is just a lot that I can trust them with, and they can speak our same language,” Chesney said. “And I think that is extremely helpful for us, just to put the foot on the gas and go a little faster than maybe we would have been able to go had that not been the case.”

UCLA opens on the road tonight, Sept. 5, at Cal. Game time is 10:30 p.m. EDT.