Jorge Salcedo, the former UCLA star who played five seasons in Major League Soccer, will take charge of the Bruins' men's soccer program, the university announced Friday.

Salcedo, a UCLA assistant coach since 2001, takes over for his former Columbus Crew coach, Tom Fitzgerald, who resigned in January to become head coach at Division II Tampa.

''It is an honor and a privilege to be named the head coach of the UCLA men's soccer program,'' Salcedo said in a release. ''It is a responsibility that I won't take lightly, and I will do everything in my power to continue the great tradition that Sigi Schmid, Todd Saldana and Tom Fitzgerald have built.''

Salcedo, 34, is the seventh head coach in Bruin history, following Dennis Storer (1967-73), Terry Fisher (1974), Steve Gay (1975-79), Schmid (1980-98), Saldana (1999-2001) and Fitzgerald (2002-03).

Salcedo was a four-year starter for Schmid in 1990-93, winning an NCAA title as a freshman and earning NSCAA first-team All-America distinction as a senior. A defender and central midfielder, he played 74 matches for the Bruins, scoring six goals with seven assists.

He was connected to three of UCLA's four NCAA Division I championships, serving as ball boy in 1985, scoring the decisive penalty kick in the title-game shootout in 1990, and as assistant coach in 2002. The Bruins also won the NCAA title in 1997.

Salcedo, from Cerritos, Calif., captained the U.S. under-17 team that beat Brazil at the 1989 U-17 World Cup in Scotland, and was a captain for the U.S. U-20 squad that competed in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament.

He made three appearances, totaling 91 minutes, with the full U.S. national team, coming on as a substitute in road games against Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica in November 1994 and against Belgium in Brussels in April 1995.

Salcedo played for four teams in MLS, playing with the Los Angeles Galaxy (1996, 1999-2000), Columbus Crew (1997), Chicago Fire (1998) and Tampa Bay Mutiny (1998-99). Prior to MLS, he played for the A-League's Los Angeles Salsa and for Mexican club Morelia.

Salcedo has served as UCLA's interim coach since Fitzgerald resigned, and he also guided the team in spring 2002, after Saldana was ousted. Salcedo also was head coach of the 2002 U-16 Southern California ODP team and was assistant coach of the U-17 team the year before.

Salcedo's brother, Eddie, and uncle Hector also played at UCLA, and his father, Hugo, was an assistant coach in 1978-79.