UCLA replaced athletic director Martin Jarmond with former Lakers executive Tim Harris on Monday, making the change effective immediately and putting Harris in charge of UCLA Athletics on a pro bono basis. UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk cast the move as part of a new path forward for UCLA Athletics.
The decision lands because the department has been losing money for years. Since Jarmond arrived in the summer of 2020, UCLA Athletics has run in the red every fiscal year and accumulated a total tab of $241.1 million, a burden that required a university bailout to cover. That financial pressure has now become impossible for the university to ignore, and it sits behind the leadership change just as UCLA tries to reset its athletic future.
Jarmond took over after replacing Dan Guerrero in the summer of 2020 and later signed a five-year contract extension in May 2024. One person close to the situation said UCLA would honor the terms of that agreement, which call for Jarmond to receive the remaining balance of roughly $5.9 million. The school is not cutting him loose and walking away from the bill; it is changing direction while still absorbing the cost of the previous one.
Frenk thanked Jarmond for his leadership, but he also said UCLA Athletics carries a significant financial deficit and that its current path is not sustainable. That friction defines the move. UCLA is responding to a college sports market shaped by NIL, new compensation models for athletes and a faster-moving revenue race, and Frenk said Harris had already been tapped to consult on athletics finances before getting the job. Harris, a UCLA alumnus and former goalie on the Bruin men’s soccer team, spent more than 35 years with the Lakers, including as president of business operations.
Frenk said Harris will develop a new strategy to grow revenue through partnerships, licensing and other ventures, while also keeping the student-athlete experience at the center. UCLA is expected to eventually begin a national search for a permanent athletic director, but the timeline has not been set. For now, Harris is the face of the reset, and UCLA has made clear that the next hire will have to prove the department can pay its own way.
