Just days before football coach Bob Chesney makes his UCLA debut, the school has fired athletic director Martin Jarmond. With the athletic department dealing with financial issues, chancellor Julio Frenk announced the decision to move on from Jarmond on Tuesday.
Jarmond was hired in 2020, and the football program has changed football coaches twice under his watch. He replaced Chip Kelly with DeShaun Foster following the 2023 season, and he just replaced foster with Chesney in December.
Between the coaching changes and the financial challenges presented by the modern world of college athletics, which includes explosive growth in NIL spending, the athletic department dug a deep hole for itself. Ultimately, the school felt it was best to move on from Jarmond in order to improve its financial health.
“UCLA Athletics currently carries a significant financial deficit, and its current path is not sustainable,” Frenk said in a statement. “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.”
Jarmond is owed the remaining $6.5 million on his contract, according to ESPN
Former UCLA soccer player and Los Angeles Lakers executive Tim Harris will replace Jarmond on a pro bono basis, the school announced. Harris formerly worked as the president of business operations for the Lakers, and Frenk believes he is the perfect candidate to get UCLA back on track in the ever-evolving world of college athletics.
“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 said.
The timing of this change is an interesting one for Chesney, who has yet to coach his first game with the Bruins. Jarmond’s hire of Chesney, who led James Madison to the College Football Playoff last season, drew widespread praise. In the offseason, Chesney brought in the No. 25-ranked transfer portal class, per 247Sports, which included a number of standouts from JMU.
The Chesney era at UCLA will begin with a big game against former Pac-12 rival Cal on Saturday night in Berkeley.
