Tino Sunseri won’t need time to get on the same page with DeShaun Foster — he’s already there
UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri was an assistant under Curt Cignetti at Indiana last season. He was part of a coaching staff which reached the College Football Playoff. Yes, Sunseri was not the offensive coordinator. Therefore, moving to UCLA football under DeShaun Foster is a promotion. However, being on a playoff staff is not an easy thing to let go of. Foster really had to convince Sunseri the UCLA coordinator job was worth it. Sunseri told Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times how Foster drew him to Westwood:
“He would come up to you as a young kid that looked up to all these NFL players, that was having all the success, and would take the time to be able to talk to you, spend time with you and was really, really genuine,” Sunseri said Saturday, more than two decades after first crossing paths with Foster during the 2002 season. “So when it came to him and our relationship, he was somebody that I knew whenever I walked in the building I felt like I had a friendship with.”
The fact that Sunseri and Foster know each other well is a significant positive aspect of this partnership. Sunseri’s exposure to a top-class operation under Curt Cignetti, the 2024 National Coach of the Year, adds to the upside UCLA thinks it has obtained with Sunseri. However, we can all be honest here and admit that Sunseri and Foster won’t succeed without a clear-cut upgrade in talent. UCLA has been outgunned on offense the past few seasons since Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Zach Charbonnet left. This is where the Bruins must make up their biggest deficit.
The main question might not be whether Tino Sunseri can cook; it’s whether he can get high-end groceries at UCLA football.
