Westwood’s coaches are often the last to earn deserved glory – it’s easy to overlook their legacies and impact. After a summer of coaches leading teams to international glory or devoting their summer to leading training on campus, Daily Bruin Sports editors discuss the coaches who will have the biggest impact in 2024.
Ikaika Malloe, football
Ira Gorawara, Sports editor
The hype reel about UCLA football coach DeShaun Foster and associate head coach and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has been on repeat. We get it: They’re sharp, they’re visionaries and they’re piloting the program to uncharted skies.
But let’s stop belaboring the point and start offering as much praise to the rest of the Bruins’ coaching staff, which might be their most well-rounded one to date.
Widespread concern surrounded former defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s lateral move to USC. In 2023, he revitalized UCLA’s units to reach the nation’s No. 14 overall and second-best rushing defense.
As potential regression in defensive production looms over the Bruins – particularly amid Big Ten adversaries – Ikaika Malloe’s promotion to defensive coordinator in January suppresses some of that unease.
A seasoned coach with two decades in the collegiate ranks, Malloe helped Washington dominate the Pac-12 in defense and passing yards allowed in 2020.
In UCLA’s 35-22 win over Boise State in the 2023 LA Bowl, the defense was without Lynn and unanimous All-American edge rusher – and now-Indianapolis Colt – Laiatu Latu. Still, the Bruins limited Bronco quarterback CJ Tiller to a 57.1% completion rate for just 117 yards and one interception.
And it was acting coordinator Malloe’s composure and preparedness that disguised the missing elements.
Malloe’s masterstrokes transcend game day. His savvy in the name, image and likeness era and the transfer portal landed stars such as Latu and both Gabriel and Grayson Murphy – two of the most impactful transfers in collegiate football.
So yes, Lynn and Latu are gone, as are other key 2023 defensive pillars.
But Malloe’s tactical brilliance to maintain UCLA’s defensive threat is often underestimated, yet tough to overshadow.
Billy Martin, men’s tennis
Kai Dizon,assistant Sports editor
Coach Billy Martin is coming off his best season since 2019.
After finishing ranked No. 33 or worse the previous three seasons, the Bruins finished at No. 22 with an NCAA tournament second-round appearance.
Now, Martin is ushering in the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class and entering UCLA men’s tennis’ inaugural Big Ten season.
By season’s end, it’ll have been two decades since Martin’s one and only national championship, but given the Bruins’ latest upswing – and recent influx of talent – the coach may have at least a deep NCAA tournament run up his sleeve.
From the likes of Marcos Giron to Jean-Julien Rojer, Martin has worked with some of the best players in program history. And in freshman Kaylan Bigun – the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2024 and the 2024 boys’ French Open champion – he could have his next.
Blue chip prospect and freshman Rudy Quan isn’t to be slept on either. Paired with a returning corps headlined by sophomore Spencer Johnson, the Bruins’ roster looks primed for a solid season, ready to go as far as Martin can take them.
The move of the 2024 NCAA singles and doubles tournaments to the fall will also provide Martin with valuable time and increased competition to finalize the team’s lineup ahead of the spring.
While the Big Ten will be no cakewalk, a change of scenery, new opponents and new venues could do wonders for UCLA’s longest-tenured active coach. Perhaps getting away from the West Coast is exactly what the Bruins need after a couple of mediocre seasons during the end of the Pac-12.
Joanna Hayes, cross country and track and field
Aaron Doyle, assistant Sports editor
Coach Joanna Hayes is in her first year at the helm of both UCLA cross country and track and field.
While question marks typically surround a first-time head honcho, Hayes seems to be providing only answers for the Bruins.
As an athlete, she proved she could become a champion.
During her four seasons at UCLA from 1996 to 1999, Hayes notched six All-American honors and won the 1999 NCAA outdoor title in the 400-meter hurdles. Hayes and her teams went undefeated in all dual meets throughout her four years in Westwood.
Following her graduation from UCLA in 2001, Hayes wasn’t done competing in the sport. She proceeded to represent the United States at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she won the 100-meter hurdles and shattered a 16-year-old Olympic record in the process.
As a coach, she proved she could produce a champion.
Hayes is the former coach of Olympic champions Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and RaiBenjamin, who recently topped podiums at the 2024 Paris Olympics. McLaughlin-Levrone is one of Hayes’ prodigies, going on to become the fastest woman ever in the 400-meter hurdles.
As an assistant coach at USC from 2017 to 2024, Hayes also coached the fourth-fastest woman in the 400-meter hurdles – Anna Cockrell. Under Hayes, Cockrell notched the 2019 NCAA title in the event.
Hayes’ loaded experience could be the change the Bruins need to bring them to a new level – the Big Ten’s top dogs.
As a student-athlete at UCLA, Hayes made her impact. Now, she’s ready to replicate it.
John Speraw, men’s volleyball
Connor Dullinger, assistant Sports editor
Few have been as successful as UCLA men’s volleyball coach John Speraw.
With 10 national championships – as a player and coach combined – Speraw is no stranger to the brightest lights and the heaviest expectations.
Speraw’s experience and comfort with high-stakes affairs may be exactly what the Bruins need as they enter the 2025 season with the weight of back-to-back national titles on their shoulders. If the Bruins want to complete the three-peat, Speraw has to properly tackle one of the most significant roster turnovers in his 12 seasons in Westwood.
The squad will enter next season without former Bruins Ethan Champlin, Grant Sloane, Alex Knight and Merrick McHenry – who, combined, contributed 48% of the team’s kills, 39% of service aces and 40% of digs.
Luckily for the Bruins though, their head honcho has won over 400 collegiate matches and boasts a 243-97 record in Westwood. There is no doubt Speraw has a storied career of success – and maintains his repertoire regardless of the situation he’s in.
Speraw proved that he could achieve success regardless of the squad he commanded, winning three national championships at UC Irvine out of his 10 total. He’s earned similar merit on the international stage, winning an Olympic gold medal as an assistant coach in 2012 and two bronze medals as the head coach, with the most recent coming from this summer.
The Bruins will have their toughest challenge in recent years heading into 2025, but if there is anyone who could lead them to their first three-peat since 1993, it’s Speraw.
Adam Wright, men’s and women’s water polo
Una O’Farrell, assistant Sports editor
It’s hard to argue that any other UCLA coach does more than Adam Wright.
As one of the only Bruin coaches who heads not one, but two Division 1 programs, the former Bruin and 2008 Olympic silver medalist understands the game better thananyone, having won seven national championships for UCLA as a player, assistant coach and head coach of the men’s and women’s programs combined.
After becoming a leader in 2017, Wright’s commitment to both programs is unmatched because for him, there is no such thing as an offseason.
Forty-eight days separate the loss of the men’s national championship in 2023 and the inception of the women’s season.
Many would have assumed it’d be impossible for Wright to improve on the men’s .897 winning percentage – the highest in the nation despite their loss in the championship.
But Wright exponentially defied expectations, leading the women’s team to an undefeated season, culminating in his first national championship with the program as head coach.
And even amid a schedule featuring significant travel and dozens of ranked opponents, Wrightspends every drive back from away games fielding calls with future recruits for the women’s team in the fall and the men’s team in the spring.
I’ve repeatedly told the story of how Wright once made me wait eight hours to do a phone interview.
And as frustratingly long as that day may have been, I found patience knowing no other coach juggles the workload Wright does.
Having seen him navigate the fiercest collegiate water polo schedules with both teams, I’d be shocked if Wright doesn’t deliver a second NCAA championship in the same calendar year – it feels more like a certainty than a possibility.
Cori Close, women’s basketball
Sabrina Messiha, assistant Sports editor
Last year’s Sweet 16 knockout against LSU was a disappointment, to say the least.
The No. 3-seeded Tigers fractured the No. 2-seeded Bruins’ run in the postseason before the Elite Eight – an exit that came much earlier than I, and most people, would’ve expected.
Coach Cori Close will be on a run for redemption in 2024 – a season of transitions galore.
UCLA women’s basketball’s roster is gaining two valuable Pac-12 transfers in junior forward Timea Gardiner and graduate student guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, along with a plethora of promising recruits.
Not to mention, the Bruins are slated to tackle a gauntlet of Big Ten foes – and a nonconference duel against reigning national champions South Carolina. Doors are open for improvement on all regions of the court.
Keys to the door, though, can be put in Close’s hands.
The 13-year head honcho boasts an overall winning record, 233-123, in Westwood. But despite the weighty expectations of Close’s record, she has yet to steer the Bruinspast the Elite Eight – where in their last appearance they lost to Mississippi State to cut short their 2017-2018 season. UCLA has reached the Sweet 16 five times through Close’s tenure but seems to struggle under the cream of the crop of collegiate women’s basketball.
Last season’s loss was arguably more disappointing than the others. The Bruins were the No. 2 seed – their highest to date – in their respective March Madness conference and were ranked within the top 10 for most of the season. Expectations were sky high, and it’s safe to say the Bruins failed to properly take flight.
But in saying this, I expect Close to embrace her season of vindication. A chip on her shoulder after last season’s disappointment – combined with promise in her newcomers – will allow the veteran head coach to firmly establish her legacy as a revered coach in Westwood.
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