Report: Tino Sunseri Out as UCLA Offensive Coordinator

Jerry Neuheisel will take over in the interim, while a familiar face will be joining the staff as well.

Simpler times, when Sunseri hadn’t yet ruined his career. (Photo credit: uclabruins.com)

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UCLA officials have informed the media that Tino Sunseri will no longer be with the program after the offensive coordinator mutually agreed to part ways. Ben Bolch of the LA Times first reported on the story.

The departure of Tino Sunseri after four games brings an inglorious end to what felt like such a promising arrival. Sunseri arrived in Westwood fresh off a successful stint at Indiana, where he was part of the brain trust that had turned the Hoosiers around. Sunseri also had stops in Alabama under Nick Saban and comes from a coaching family (his father is a longtime college assistant), so the belief was that he was well-prepared for the task that lay ahead of him. There were a lot of unknowns heading into the season with Sunseri, especially regarding what his offense would look like, and what we ultimately ended up seeing was an offense that had some good design but clearly lacked the talent to function properly, and Sunseri did not seem to have much in the way of answers for adjusting to the situation. UCLA’s line play in particular has been bad all season, but Sunseri continued calling plays as if he were back at Alabama.

It is hard to completely blame Sunseri for UCLA’s offensive woes so far this season. The talent at his disposal on the offensive line was subpar, and his chosen quarterback, Joey Aguilar, was pushed out when UCLA found itself with the opportunity to grab Nico Iamaleava from the portal. Still, the UCLA offense was abysmal through the first four weeks; their SP+ ranking of 101st on offense is only ahead of Oklahoma State among Power Four teams, and every counting stat has UCLA near the bottom of the entire FBS. The goal of the offense is to try and score a touchdown, and in that regard, UCLA has only scored five through four games, a ridiculously low number. Sunseri’s move to mutually part with UCLA is seemingly rooted in trying to salvage his career, which is understandable, but I think it will be a good amount of time before he makes it back to this level. Hopefully, he secured the bag on his way out.

Sunseri’s departure comes at an inopportune time for the Bruins, with Penn State coming to town this Saturday. For at least the next game, UCLA will hand the keys of the offense over to long-time assistant and fan favorite Jerry Neuheisel. Neuheisel served as a wide receivers coach under Chip Kelly, and was switched to tight ends under Deshaun Foster. This will be Neuheisel’s first time calling plays, but I imagine we won’t see much in the way of major offensive changes until after this week.

The more interesting aspect of this move is the return of a familiar face to Westwood. Reports indicate that former UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone will be joining the staff as an analyst for the rest of the season. This does make some sense; Mazzone was the offensive coordinator when Neuheisel was a quarterback for the Bruins, so I would imagine Neuheisel will look to shift UCLA towards more of the N-Zone concepts that he is most familiar with. In addition, as much as fans grew to hate Mazzone’s offense by the end of his tenure, I will say it may be exactly what UCLA needs on that side of the ball. Mazzone’s system is notorious for getting production out of teams with subpar line talent, as it gets the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly and into the hands of playmakers on the outside. UCLA’s skill position players, specifically at wide receiver and running back, are probably the lone strength of the team, so redesigning the offense to be about getting those guys the ball and letting them make plays makes a good amount of sense.

Go Bruins.

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