{"id":1035868,"date":"2026-08-31T23:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1035868\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T23:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:48:12","slug":"ucla-fires-ad-martin-jarmond-hires-ex-lakers-exec-tim-harris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1035868\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA fires AD Martin Jarmond, hires ex-Lakers exec Tim Harris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UCLA has fired athletic director Martin Jarmond<\/a> and appointed longtime Lakers executive Tim Harris to replace him as chief executive and director of athletics.<\/p>\n

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk<\/a> announced the change<\/a> on Monday, ending Jarmond\u2019s run of more than six years that included a stunning move to the Big Ten Conference, a string of conference championships outside of football and a significant financial deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCLA Athletics currently carries a significant financial deficit, and its current path is not sustainable,\u201d Frenk wrote. \u201cNow 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 \u2014 not by pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frenk cited the rapidly evolving college landscape, including the soaring costs associated with the name, image and likeness athlete compensation era, while announcing the need to shift to Harris\u2019 leadership. Harris is a UCLA alum who spent more than 35 years helping run the Lakers\u2019 business operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTim 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,\u201d Frenk wrote in a letter to UCLA fans while outlining a new direction for the athletics program.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear whether Jarmond will receive all or part of the $5.9 million remaining on a recent contract extension that runs through June 30, 2029.<\/p>\n

The Bruins won 10 conference championships between the Big Ten and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation during its first season in the Big Ten \u2014 more any other Big Ten school. But Jarmond struggled to get the football program on track until he collaborated with a committee on the hire of current coach Bob Chesney, whose vision for the program<\/a> has many fans more optimistic about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful to Martin for his extraordinary service to UCLA and for his leadership over the past six years,\u201d Frenk wrote while announcing the changes.<\/p>\n

Fans called for coach Chip Kelly<\/a> to be fired after bad home losses to Arizona State and California near the end of the 2023 season, but Jarmond said he preferred continuity with the Bruins poised to join the Big Ten. It seemed Kelly\u2019s contract, combined with the an athletic department deficit, gave the athletic director little room to make a change.<\/p>\n

Two months later, after reportedly interviewing for several coaching vacancies, Kelly took the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State. <\/p>\n

Self-imposing a 96-hour deadline to find a successor, Jarmond pivoted to Deshaun Foster<\/a>, a reticent running backs coach who was beloved by players but short on experience. After posting a 5-10 record and going 0-3 to start the 2025 season, Foster was fired<\/a>. His contract presented fewer hurdles making a quick change when Foster struggled with the demands of the job.<\/p>\n

The football program won one bowl game \u2014 the L.A. Bowl<\/a> \u2014 during Jarmond\u2019s tenure and set record lows for attendance in multiple seasons. <\/p>\n

Jarmond, however, also presided over teams that won nine NCAA championships, including the women\u2019s basketball national title last season.<\/p>\n

At the end of the 2024 fiscal year, UCLA athletics carried $51.8 million in debt that required a university bailout. Big Ten revenue has dented the deficit, according to budget figures obtained by the California Post, but the expense of fielding competitive teams in all sports is soaring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCLA has fired athletic director Martin Jarmond and appointed longtime Lakers executive Tim Harris to replace him as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1035869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2605,414495,11140,1582,276,6997,4160,414493,66438,76572,1318,25232,414492,71960,2961,224,5337,2501,414494,1628],"class_list":["post-1035868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-athletic","tag-athletic-director-martin-jarmond","tag-big-ten-conference","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-change","tag-coach","tag-conference-championship","tag-deshaun-foster","tag-first-season","tag-football","tag-harris","tag-jarmond","tag-kelly","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-ucla","tag-ucla-fan","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117192799759701573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1035869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}