Jeff Ulbrich Promoted To Defensive Coordinator Of UCLA Football

Nov 30, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins coach Jim Mora celebrates at the end of the game against the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Congratulations are in order for UCLA coach Jeff Ulbrich! As of today, head coach Jim Mora announced that he has been named the new Defensive Coordinator for the Bruins. He fills the void left by Lou Spanos, who had accepted an offer to be the linebacker coach for the Tennessee Titans.

This is a great promotion for many reasons, most notably because he is a fantastic coach and great recruiter. It is even better for the program, as promoting from within keeps the consistency with defense. Ulbrich knows the players, he knows the defense, why would you not hire this guy?

Hiring a new coach that has Defensive Coordinator experience might have helped, but then you have to deal with learning the nature of a new coach and all the drama that goes with it. Instead, with promoting Ulbrich, you know what you are going to get.

"Coach ‘Brick’ is a natural fit foe the position, having run an NFL defense for years as a player while honing his abilities to get the most out of his players as a coach. We couldn’t be more excited about this move.” Jim Mora"

Being a coordinator is a lot different from being a position coach, so this could be a challenge for Ulbrich, but you cannot deny how good of a coach he is. He develops his players, helps them to maximize their abilities in UCLA’s defense and gets them “game ready”. What more can you ask for?

Oh yeah, this past season, he won the award for Special Teams Coordinator of the Year. Boom.

The Bruin defense, which has lost the likes of Anthony Barr, Cassius Marsh and Jordan Zumwalt, and had recently reloaded on National Signing Day this past Wednesday, should be better than last year. Why? Because of Ubrich. He will have these guys hungry and ready for a solid 2014 campaign by the Spring Game. Yet another sign of the #BruinRevolution.

Mike W.R.

Twitter: TheBigDisco