UCLA fires AD Martin Jarmond after struggles, financial issues just days before Bob Chesney's Bruins debut

Martin Jarmond is out at UCLA, and new head football coach Bob Chesney is set to have a new boss days before taking the field for the first time running the program.

UCLA fired Jarmond as its athletic director on Monday, the school announced. Jarmond had been with the Bruins since 2020, and is set to be owned $6.5 million that is left on his contract with the university, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel . He signed a five-year extension with UCLA in 2024.

Tim Harris will serve as the CEO and athletic director for the program on an interim basis. The former Lakers executive will do that on a pro bono basis, too.

UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk announced the move in a message to the university on Monday afternoon.

"We have all watched as the landscape of college athletics has transformed in recent years, driven by the introduction of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), new models for student-athlete compensation and a rapidly changing sports marketplace," Frenk said, in part. "UCLA must have an athletics model that leads — not just keeps pace."

UCLA football has struggled to find real relevance in recent years, and didn't even last two full seasons under head coach DeShaun Foster. The Bruins fired Foster after the team lost three straight games to open the 2025 campaign. Foster was meant to be the replacement for Chip Kelly, too, after Kelly left for an assistant job at Ohio State.

UCLA then hired Chesney, who will officially make his debut with the school on Saturday in their season opener at California (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) after his dominant run with James Madison.

Jarmond was hired to replace Dan Guerrero in 2020. The Bruins have won nine national championships under his watch, including when UCLA women's basketball went 37-1 and won the NCAA tournament earlier this spring.

But perhaps the biggest issue has been financial. According to the California Post , UCLA's athletic department ran a deficit of $21.6 million during the fiscal year ending in June 2025. That was down nearly $30 million from the previous year, too. The school has run a deficit in every year under Jarmond's watch, and ran up a tab of more than $241 million. The university had to come in and offer the athletic department a bailout after the end of the 2024 fiscal year.

UCLA officially joined the Big Ten in 2024, a move that should help relieve some financial strain in the years to come due to the league's media rights deals. Travel costs are up, too. Rutgers, the furthest Big Ten school from UCLA, is some 2,800 miles away.

"UCLA Athletics currently carries a significant financial deficit, and its current path is not sustainable," Frenk said. "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."

"UCLA Athletics currently carries a significant financial deficit, and its current path is not sustainable," Frenk said. "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."

While there were undoubtedly some successes, failing to revive a football program and running a constant financial deficit are major issues that the university decided it could no longer overlook.

Who ends up leading UCLA athletics long term remains to be seen. But for now, it'll be Harris' job to oversee the beginning of the Chesney era and start the process of turning the once-dominant Southern California sports school around.