UCLA fires AD Martin Jarmond, hires ex-Lakers exec

UCLA has fired athletic director Martin Jarmond and appointed longtime Lakers govt Tim Harris to substitute him as chief govt and director of athletics.

UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk announced the change on Monday, ending Jarmond’s run of more than six years that included a gorgeous transfer to the Big Ten Conference, a string of convention championships exterior of soccer and a vital financial deficit.

“UCLA Athletics currently carries a significant financial deficit, and its current path is not sustainable,” Frenk wrote. “Now is the moment to build a model for Athletics that protects the breadth of our program, creates new opportunities for student-athletes and coaches, and supports itself through the revenue it generates. I believe UCLA should help lead the transformation of intercollegiate athletics: our future must be shaped by purpose — not by pressure.”

Frenk cited the quickly evolving school panorama, including the hovering prices related with the title, image and likeness athlete compensation period, while asserting the need to shift to Harris’ management. Harris is a UCLA alum who spent more than 35 years serving to run the Lakers’ business operations. Frenk announced Harris is accepting the job on “pro bono basis.”

“Tim will develop a new strategy to grow revenue through partnerships, licensing and other ventures, while ensuring that our student-athletes and coaches have the required support to compete at the highest level,” Frenk wrote in a letter to UCLA followers while outlining a new direction for the athletics program.

It’s not clear whether or not Jarmond will obtain all or half of the $5.9 million remaining on a current contract extension that runs through June 30, 2029.

The Bruins gained 10 convention championships between the Big Ten and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation during its first season in the Big Ten — more any other Big Ten faculty. But Jarmond struggled to get the soccer program on monitor until he collaborated with a committee on the rent of current coach Bob Chesney, whose imaginative and prescient for this system has many followers more optimistic about the future. Jarmond notably struggled to join with a swath of UCLA donors, with some publicly questioning his management.

“I am grateful to Martin for his extraordinary service to UCLA and for his leadership over the past six years,” Frenk wrote while asserting the adjustments.

Fans called for coach Chip Kelly to be fired after unhealthy home losses to Arizona State and California close to the end of the 2023 season, but Jarmond said he most well-liked continuity with the Bruins poised to be a part of the Big Ten. It appeared Kelly’s contract, mixed with the an athletic division deficit, gave the athletic director little room to make a change.

Two months later, after reportedly interviewing for a number of teaching vacancies, Kelly took the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State.

Self-imposing a 96-hour deadline to discover a successor, Jarmond pivoted to DeShaun Foster, a reticent working backs coach who was beloved by gamers but short on expertise. After posting a 5-10 file and going 0-3 to start the 2025 season, Foster was fired. His contract introduced fewer hurdles making a fast change when Foster struggled with the calls for of the job.

The soccer program gained one bowl sport — the LA Bowl — during Jarmond’s tenure and set file lows for attendance in a number of seasons.

Jarmond, however, also presided over groups that gained 9 NCAA championships, including the ladies’s basketball national title last season.

At the end of the 2024 fiscal yr, UCLA athletics carried $51.8 million in debt that required a college bailout. Big Ten income has dented the deficit, according to finances figures obtained by the California Post, but the expense of fielding aggressive groups in all sports activities is hovering.