UCLA coach Chip Kelly was not pleased with a graphic shared to the football team’s Twitter account.
On Monday, UCLA posted a graphic that billed the school as “Transfer U.” The graphic cited a stat showing that the Bruins have had more transfer starters than any other program since 2020.
https://twitter.com/UCLAFootball/status/1569415623972909056
The graphic sparked a bit of a backlash among some fans, as the graphic was viewed as an indictment of UCLA’s traditionally strong high school recruiting. On Wednesday, Kelly himself was critical of the post.
“That shouldn’t have gone up,” Kelly said, via Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. “That was a mistake the head coach saw, and when I saw it, I said, ‘That’s a mistake.'”
While UCLA would want to tout its successful use of transfers, the bragging is a bit of a double-edged sword. This could be a negative message for potential high school recruits, and the plug-and-play approach of the transfer portal remains controversial to some. UCLA’s social media department may be comfortable dubbing the program “Transfer U,” but that is not something they would eagerly embrace on the actual football side of things.
