Give new Bruins coach Foster benefit of doubt

Is Deshaun Foster the right hire as UCLA’S next head football coach? Let me consult my crystal ball. Dial up the psychic hotline. Tea leaves anyone?

The real tea: I don’t know. And neither do you.

This will be Foster’s first shot at head coaching, so there’s no telling if he’ll be as successful at this as he has been at his previous endeavors.

We do know the man who was named the 19th head coach in Bruins history on Monday morning is already a Bruins great, a member of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame — and also the California High School Football Hall of Fame, a tribute to his storied legacy at Tustin High.

We know, of course, that Foster played in the NFL for seven seasons and has coached collegiately for 11 years, 10 of them at UCLA, the past seven overseeing running backs. That, for about a week, he’d signed on to do the same job for the Raiders, before making a U-turn and accepting a promotion back at home.

And that for Foster, this job, even with all of the challenges that stand before him as UCLA prepares for a crash landing into the Big Ten Conference, is a “dream come true.”

But there are a great many unknowns.

How well will UCLA recruit on his watch? What type of play-caller can we expect a man with no coordinating experience to be — or to hire?

How much continuity will we see with his coaching staff? What can he get out of a roster that appears as though it will remain intact instead of hurtling into the portal, held in place by his commitment?

How well will the introverted Foster do as a fundraiser? How will relatively low expectations placed on a first-time head coach translate — will it decrease the pressure on him in a good way? Or

PHOTO BY SCOTT VARLEY Deshaun Foster was an assistant coach at UCLA for 10years and is in the school’s hall of fame.