LA Times Report Claims Boston College Athletic Director Martin Jarmond is a Finalist for UCLA Job

Per an LA Times report, Boston College Athletic Director Martin Jarmond may be a finalist for the UCLA Athletic Director position, which is expected to be filled any time now. Also listed is UNLV’s Desiree Reed-Francois, and Penn’s M. Grace Calhoun is noted as a backup if negotiations fall through with both front runners.

Jarmond took over the AD position at Boston College in 2017, becoming the youngest power 5 athletic director. While at Boston College, Jarmond has made a number of impressive hires, including hiring Jason Kennedy to take over the volleyball program and Joanna Bernabei-McNamee to take over the women’s basketball program, both of whom completely turned their teams around in just a single season. Jarmond also was responsible for the hiring of new head football coach Jeff Hafley, which has been almost universally lauded by fans and media and has everyone excited for the next BC football season (whenever that may be).

Beyond coaching hires, one of the biggest things Jarmond has done at BC is getting beer and wine at football, men’s basketball, and men’s hockey games. This is something that had seen pushback from administration for years, but Jarmond came in and almost immediately got it done. He has also gone hard on fundraising, creating the Greater Heights campaign which is focused on raising money to continue to grow athletics resources. And on a very basic level, Jarmond has developed a good relationship with fans, making appearances at games for every sport and always greeting supporters with a smile.

While few people expected this to be a forever position for Jarmond (or even a particularly long term one), I don’t think many expect that he would leave so soon. On the other hand, it doesn’t come as a surprise that other schools would be targeting based on what he has accomplished in a short period of time. Here’s to hoping this is nothing more than a rumor...