UCLA is making a major leadership change at a brutal time on the calendar, parting ways with athletic director Martin Jarmond just days before the Bruins open the 2026 college football season.
The timing only sharpens the pressure. UCLA is set to face Cal on Sept. 5 on ESPN, and it will be head coach Bob Chesney’s first game with the program. Instead of settling into that new era, the Bruins are heading into it with a significant shake-up at the top.
Per Bruin Report Online, the move was made by UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk “after long deliberations.” The report also says former Los Angeles Lakers executive Tim Harris has been conducting an athletic department audit, and that whatever came out of that review helped push the decision.
Jarmond’s departure comes with a hefty price tag. His buyout is reportedly $6.5 million, and that amount will apparently be covered by UCLA donors.
According to David Woods of Bruin Report Online, the key issues were revenue concerns and a lack of support for Jarmond inside the athletic department. Woods wrote, “From what we’ve heard, Jarmond’s approach to NIL and revenue sharing, particularly his resistance and slow adaptation to the landscape, was a significant blow to his standing within the department and among UCLA coaches,” wrote Woods.
“There were other factors as well. Jarmond’s management of football, treatment of fans, approach to boosters, and general lack of productive relationships with his coaches and staffers all played a role.”
Jarmond had served as UCLA’s athletic director since 2020 and oversaw the school’s move to the Big Ten. But in a college sports world now shaped by NIL, revenue sharing and transfer-portal talent acquisition, UCLA apparently decided it needed a different direction.
Harris will step in as interim CEO and athletic director on a pro bono basis while the Bruins move forward.
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