TRANSCRIPT: UCLA AD Martin Jarmond's conference call after firing DeShaun Foster
Two hours after deciding to fire head coach DeShaun Foster three games into his winless second season, UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond held a conference call with reporters to explain the decision.
Jarmond also looked ahead to the national search for the next head coach and traits he is looking for, reflected on the circumstances Foster inherited, and more, during a 20-minute exchange with the media.
Here is the full transcript below in collaboration with the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register (questions are in bold and lightly edited for clarity):
OPENING STATEMENT
“Thank you everyone for joining today, I wish it were under different circumstances. Making a coaching change is never easy, especially so early in the season. It’s not a decision I made lightly, but it was important to take decisive action as soon as I determined a change was necessary. I want to thank DeShaun for everything he has given to this university – as a Hall of Fame student-athlete, an assistant coach and a head coach. While this didn’t work out the way we wanted, he is a Bruin for life. I’m grateful for the support of chancellor Frenk. He understands what a successful football program can do for a university and how important it is. We have nine games left to play. Making the change now gives our young men the opportunity to take a breath, recalibrate and shift the trajectory going into Big Ten Conference play–that’s where our focus lies, supporting our student-athlete and interim head coach, Tim Skipper, as we move forward. This change is also a message to our fans that the results we’ve seen so far are simply not acceptable. They deserve a program they can be proud to support, and we are dedicated to delivering on that.”
WHAT WAS CHANCELLOR JULIO FRENK’S LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT IN THIS DECISION AND DID HE HAVE TO SIGN OFF ON THE BUYOUT?
“The chancellor trusts me to lead the athletic department. This is a decision I made. I called the chancellor, I’ve been in conversation with him, and I ultimately made this decision and he supported it, which I’m very thankful for. We have constant communication and we’re in lockstep needing to have a successful football program. He gets that and he understands that and I’m grateful for his support.”
WHAT’S YOUR LEVEL OF CULPABILITY IN HIRING A COACH WITH NO HEAD COACHING OR COORDINATOR EXPERIENCE WHO YOU HAD TO FIRE 15 GAMES IN?
“I’m the athletic director; ultimately, I’m responsible for a hire, I understand that. I think you make the best decisions with the circumstances and the resources that you have to work with. I would say that in that time, I regret putting DeShaun in that situation where we were going into the Big Ten and even though we support it from a resource perspective, getting a start so late really disadvantaged his beginning to his coaching career here, but you do the best you can with the circumstances and the financial investment that you can make at the time.”
WHO WILL TAKE PART IN THE NEXT SEARCH?
“I’m working on that right now, I can tell you that we’re going to have a search committee that’s going to have some great experience. It’s going to be a few people – great Bruins, it’s going to be some people who have had successful careers in sports and business and close to the program. I’ve already begun conversations with some of them and I’ll finalize that soon and then I’ll let you guys know when it’s been finalized, but my focus now is the current student-athletes and this coaching staff and this season because we’ve got a lot of season to play, but we’re going to have a great search committee, very talented.”
WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH CHANCELLOR FRENK REGARDING YOUR PERFORMANCE AND YOUR OVERSIGHT OVER FOOTBALL AND POTENTIALLY GOING FORWARD, WILL YOU CONTINUE TO HAVE OVERSIGHT OVER FOOTBALL?
“Chancellor Frenk and I have not had any conversations about what you just asked–that’s the first I’ve ever heard of that. Chancellor Frenk and I are aligned. He’s been supportive, in lockstep, and he understands that football is important to our athletic program and he’s been super supportive, so we haven’t had any kind of conversation to what you’re alluding to.”
TRAITS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR IN NEXT HEAD COACH THAT MIGHT BE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT DESHAUN BROUGHT TO THE PROGRAM?
“You know, first and foremost, it’s got to be someone who exemplars our true Bruin values–respect, integrity and just understands those four letters– but we’ll be looking for a coach quite frankly who sees the vision to take UCLA to the playoffs. We want to win at the highest level. Someone who has confidence in that vision and the attitude and the skills to see it through. That said, I’m focused right now on the current, but make no mistake, we want more for our program. I expect more for our program, I expect more for our fans and we’re going to do what’s best and necessary to invest and position this program for excellence. And again, the circumstances around this next search are very different than the last one. We’re in a different situation, we have the chancellor’s support and we’re in the Big Ten, so this is a different picture this time.”
WHEN WAS THIS DECISION MADE? AFTER THE UNLV LOSS? AFTER THE NEW MEXICO LOSS? WHEN DID THE MOVEMENT BEGIN?
“As an athletic director, you’re constantly evaluating, you know, you look at football, I look at football in three segments: the off-season, the preseason, which is really a nonconference slate, and then the conference slate. And I just felt ultimately, we weren’t moving in the right direction. I know we have more talent than how we perform, but I felt there was no clear path forward to an upward trajectory in conference play. And once a decision is made, it’s not fair to draw this out, and I felt with the timing, the bye week, it gave our young men opportunity to just take a breath, recalibrate and change some things that give them the best chance to finish out the season strong and also as a signal to our fans that this is not what Bruin football is going to be. And I hope the Bruin community will continue to support these young men and this team as they move forward in the Big Ten Conference.”
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES CONSIDERING PLAYERS CAN TRANSFER? HOW DO YOU TRY AND COUNTERACT THAT TO RETAIN PLAYERS AND HOW DOES THE TIMING BENEFIT LOOKING FOR A HEAD COACH?
“That’s a good question. I’ll answer in two parts, the first one, as far as the current team and the players, this is a gut check moment. It’s like I told the whole team. This is character character-building, defining moment. When you have adversity, when you have challenge, you can either step into that or step out of that. And I have no doubt that our young men in that room are very focused and represent UCLA themselves, their family and the brotherhood that they have amongst each other. They’ve got to do this. This is not, this is not a coaching, coaching staff, coaching change. They’ve got to take responsibility for this season and work together and improve and keep getting better. And also told them they’ve got to have fun. They’ve got to find the joy in playing football like I noticed in preseason camp, and like they all have done since they were seven years old, you know. So I think that this is one of those moments where you’ve got to really look into your team leadership, and guys have got to really dig in and see, you know, what are we made of? And that’s, that was the message that I had for them earlier. So, you know, I don’t — that’s not something that I’m worried about, because I know we’ve got great character men in that locker room, strong leadership in that locker room. I met with the leadership committee today. Everyone wants to turn this around, and I expect our young men will fight. And as far as your second question about, what are the advantages? I think you asked about doing this this early, is that what you asked?”
YEAH, LIKE THE ADVANTAGES OF IT BEING EARLY IN THE SEASON. HOW QUICKLY DO YOU WANT TO GET THE SEARCH DONE?
“Yeah, well, you know, we’re going to take our time with the search. There’s obviously not a rush now. We’re going to do it right. We’re going to be very organized. And it’s an attractive job. It’s not an easy job. There’s a distinction between those two, but we are in the Big Ten. We are at one of the top academic and athletic programs in the country. We’re in the Big Ten. So I envision that this is an attractive job, but I’m not focused on that right now. Quite honestly, I’m focused on the coaches, the staff and these young men, and how we can take a breath, take a beat, look at things a little bit differently and look to getting better, and have these next two weeks to prepare for the Big Ten slate.”
THE 30-DAY WINDOW OPENS MONDAY. ANY PLAYERS ALREADY PLANNING TO TRANSFER?
“No, no. I didn’t hear any of that. And I met with the whole team. I met with some, some leadership, the leadership committee that I formed with the team. I have not heard that at all. The team is very focused on really turning this around. And like I told them, This is a new slate. This is a clean slate. Every, you know — we’re 0-0, in the Big Ten, and this is about getting better and finding joy and passion and energy and changing the trajectory of what this season is, but they’re ultimately going to write the season.”
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO EMPHASIZE IN RECRUITING WITH THE NEXT COACH THAT YOU MAY HAVE NOT TALKED WITH DESHAUN ABOUT?
“Well, I mean, recruiting is important. I think, I think DeShaun understood that. I mean, we’ve recruited, that’s, that’s the lifeblood of any program, so that’s going to be a very important component of whoever the next coach is going to be. But again, you know, I don’t, I don’t want to talk about the search today is really about these young men and these coaches that have a whole season left in front of them. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about the search, but this is really about the young men today and doing something different, because what’s been done so far hasn’t been acceptable.”
WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE TO THE FANS THAT MAYBE DON’T FEEL THAT YOU SHOULD BE LEADING THE SEARCH AFTER THE CHIP KELLY SITUATION LED TO ALSO HIRING DESHAUN? WHY DO YOU DESERVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HIRE?
“Yeah, I’ll remind you. You know, I made the best decision with the circumstances and resources that I had to work with. OK, if you’ve been in this business long enough, you make a lot of hires, you do the best you can with each one, with the resources and circumstances that they present you each time. I’m very confident my ability to hire coaches that win championships, I’ve done it. And that’s, that’s, that’s the deal. This search is going to be very different than the last one you’re making this change, this early positions us for a longer runway, with no set timeline for making a hire. That wasn’t the case the last time I made a hire, when it was after football signing day, and we had to make a change and get that done quickly. Very different situation, very different circumstances. We were in a different conference, as a matter of fact. So I would not, I would not compare this search to the last one, because they’re very different in nature. And we’re going to have a great search committee. We’re going to have great insight, very talented Bruins, and a couple of people I’ve had some great conversations with already that really want to help us get, get UCLA football, what we know it can be.”
I KNOW YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T WANT TO TALK TOO MUCH ABOUT THE SEARCH. IN THIS ERA OF NIL, IS THERE A PLAN FOR CREATING MORE DYNAMIC FUNDRAISING EFFORTS WITH A NEW COACH?
“I mean, NIL is something that we’re all evaluating, and learning and growing through. I absolutely — NIL is very important. I don’t see it going away. If anything, we’re enhancing that. You know, we’ve made some moves recently. We hired Article 41, we’re one of the few teams in the country that has done that. That works directly with our student-athletes as far as their content and doing things to help them generate true, third-party NIL deals. We made a significant investment in that, where they have people on the ground here in L.A. working that every day. So, we’re gonna provide whoever the next coach is with the resources and a financial investment that we haven’t done before, quite frankly. So, I’m confident of that. I’m confident of the administration and support. You know, we do rev-share to the max, $20.5 million. That’s not changing. So we’re gonna be very competitive from a financial investment in this program — make no mistake about that.”
SO JUST TO FOLLOW UP, YOU SAID THAT YOU’RE GOING TO ATTEMPT TO DO SOMETHING, OR DO SOMETHING, THAT HADN’T BEEN DONE BEFORE. WOULD YOU SAY THEN THAT MAYBE THE NIL RESULTS WEREN’T AS EFFECTIVE AS MAYBE YOU THINK THIS PROGRAM MIGHT HAVE NEEDED?
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. That’s not what — I didn’t say that. What I’m saying is everyone in the country wants more NIL opportunity. What I’m saying is we’re doing things now that are new, as in we hired Article 41 to help with our NIL with student-athletes. We’re doing other ventures to help with third-party prospects and providers. So, every school in the country is doing a lot, or trying to do more with NIL for our student-athletes. What I was saying is we’re sharing revenue now. That’s the difference now. We’re sharing revenue, which we weren’t doing before, and we’re doing it at the max at $20.5 million. So, I don’t know if I missed you all in that question. But, you know, everybody wants to do more in NIL — and we actually, we are doing more in NIL.”
NOT TRYING TO BE COMBATIVE WITH THIS QUESTION, BUT I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY COACH FOSTER HAD SUCH A ROBUST BUYOUT, GIVEN HIS LACK OF EXPERIENCE AND THE FACT HE WAS NOT REALLY A COMMODITY ON THE HEAD COACHING MARKET?
“I don’t want to get into particulars of buyout. I don’t think that’s appropriate for today. But if you would compare that to others, it’s the opposite. It’s not robust, by any means.”
EARLIER YOU SAID, ABOUT THE PROCESS OF HIRING DESHAUN, THAT YOU HAD REGRETTED PUTTING HIM IN THAT SITUATION WHILE YOU WERE GOING INTO THE BIG TEN AND THE TIMING. DO YOU HAVE REGRETS ABOUT NOT FIRING CHIP KELLY IN NOVEMBER 2023? AND WHAT RESPONSIBILITY DO YOU TAKE IN THE CREATION OF THAT TIMELINE?
“I understand the criticism. What I’ll remind you is these decisions aren’t made in a vacuum. There are many stakeholders and factors that go into where and when and how to make a coaching change. That said, ultimately, I’m the athletic director. I’m the steward of this program, and the buck stops with me. But I want to reiterate: These kind of decisions at this level are not made by one person, they’re made by the stakeholders and factors and circumstances that surround that. And, so that’s — you do the best you can and, you know, I don’t have any bones about that. You make the best choice with what you have.”
TO FOLLOW UP, ARE YOU SAYING THEN THAT YOUR HANDS WERE TIED IN NOVEMBER 2023?
“I’m saying it doesn’t matter about November 2023 right now. I’m saying that it matters today and where we are and moving forward. Like I said, every coaching search has different circumstances and resources that are available at the time, and that’s all I’m gonna say on that. That’s not, to me, what today is about. Today is about these young men and this season that we have in front of us, and doing everything we can to help them be successful.”
YOU MENTIONED A FEW TIMES THAT YOU HIRED DESHAUN WITH THE RESOURCES AND CIRCUMSTANCES YOU HAD AT THE TIME. I KNOW THE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE DIFFERENT BECAUSE YOU’RE IN A DIFFERENT CONFERENCE, BUT HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE DIFFERENCE IN RESOURCES NOW GOING INTO THIS HIRE?
“Let me just remind you: In the last coaching hire, we were in the Pac-12 in our last year where we had significantly reduced revenue. So we didn’t have a revenue base like we have now. Very different, night and day significance. So, that’s part of it. And also, the timing. It was unprecedented. We had to make a coaching hire in February, after signing day. That’s never been done. So, again, your timing contributes to your pool and to the resources and a lot of factors that determine that. And, again, I’m just — you know, today is not about that. But I’m just sharing that with you just so you understand the circumstances will be very different this search than it was the last search. We can take more time, we can be strategic. We’ve got a resource base and investment base, and we’re gonna have a great search committee, so I’m very confident in this next process because this next process is gonna be very different than the last process. Our situation is very different than the last process, and I don’t think too many people appreciate that. There’s a big difference in those two.”
