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Former Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr said last December that he definitely wanted to get into coaching after his retirement from the NFL, and he has landed a spot on staff at UCLA where he will work with the Bruins’ quarterbacks and assist the Bruins’ staff with game-planning strategy.
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“We are excited to welcome Derek to our program,” UCLA coach Bob Chesney said, in a release from the athletics department. “He has played the quarterback position at a high level for more than a decade, and his experience, leadership and football knowledge will be an incredible resource for our coaching staff and student-athletes.”
The Bruins definitely could use some help, as Chesney in his first season attempts to right a program that has gone 3-9 and 5-7 the past two seasons and has not made much of a national impact in decades. UCLA a year ago averaged just 18.2 points per game, ranking 17th of 18 in the Big Ten Conference and 125th of 136 teams in the FBS (football bowl subdivision).
The connection to UCLA apparently runs through Darrick Yray, who was an assistant director of football operations at Fresno State when Carr was setting school and Mountain West records.
Yray is now the general manager at UCLA .“I’ve known Darrick for a long time and have great respect for the work he’s done throughout his career,” Carr said, in the UCLA release. “The opportunity to help Coach Chesney, the staff and the quarterbacks at UCLA was one that really excited me. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences and helping support the program in any way I can.”
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Carr, who retired last May after 11 seasons in the NFL with the Raiders and New Orleans Saints, left no doubt that coaching was a next move in an interview with The Fresno Bee.
“I definitely want to coach. I’m definitely going to coach,” Carr said. “Right now, I’m coaching fourth through sixth grade and the scheme that I’m putting in is about 1% of my brain power, and I have the itch to want to share all of that, to put 11 people out there and scheme people up. I have a passion for that, and a passion honestly to raise the next generation, not just for who they are on the football field but who they can be off the field, too, in our communities and those kinds of things.”
This story was originally published August 10, 2026 at 6:52 PM with the headline “Former Fresno State QB Derek Carr lands coaching job he coveted at a Big Ten school.”
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