UCLA Responds to Emails Regarding the State of Bruin Football

When was the last time UCLA's administration responded to concerns from alums, season ticket holders and fans?

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk (Photo Credit: @UCLAChancellor)

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If you emailed UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk last weekend like I did, you probably have a response in your inbox today.

It’s completely understandable that it has taken until today to receive a response. Heck, a relatively generic response such as this within a week is an improvement over the crickets we would receive during the Gene Block era.

For those readers who may have read my open letter to the Chancellor but chose not to send their own, I will share the response I received because it’s important to know that, not only were we heard, but Chancellor Frenk has clearly made the decision to respond to our emails.

I say “our emails” because this is, indeed, a generic response which has been sent to the many individuals who emailed the Chancellor. How do I know?

Well, for starters, the email comes from Mike Dirda, whose title is Executive Director, Executive and Internal Communications and Social Media with UCLA Strategic Communications. The second indicator is that the “To” field is empty, meaning that the same email was BCC’d to everyone who emailed the Chancellor, or at least was sent to those individuals who covered the same topics as I did in my email to Chancellor Frenk.

If anyone received a different response, please be sure to let me know.

Here’s the full text received from Mike Dirda:

Subject: Response to your recent message to UCLA regarding our football program
From: UCLA Strategic Communications <info@stratcomm.ucla.edu>
Date: Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 11:13 AM

Hello — My name is Mike Dirda, and I work with Chancellor Frenk at UCLA. I’d like to respond on his behalf to your message about AD Martin Jarmond and our football program.

First, thank you for reaching out. We recognize how deeply Bruins care about UCLA’s teams, and appreciate your concern during an important moment for UCLA Athletics.

As AD Jarmond has said, after three games this season, it became clear that things were not moving in the right direction with our football team. Making a change now, during the bye week and before the start of conference play, allows the team to reset and recalibrate. With nine games still to play, the focus is on finishing the season strong and supporting our student athletes. We hope this decision also signals to Bruins fans that they deserve better and that we are committed to getting it right.

Chancellor Frenk has been in regular communication with AD Jarmond throughout this process and has been supportive of this decision. The chancellor fully recognizes that a successful football program is core to UCLA and to our community.

AD Jarmond and Senior Associate AD Erin Adkins will lead the search for a new head coach, working alongside a search committee. Unlike last time, we will have more time for this search, which will help ensure we can find the right leader for the program.

The university is committed to building a football program that reflects UCLA’s broader excellence. Thank you again for your writing and for your support.

Mike

Michael Emerson Dirda
Executive Director, Executive and Internal Communications and Social Media
UCLA Strategic Communications

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There are a few key statements in the email which I think are worth highlighting.

The first comes in the second paragraph when Dirda writes:

First, thank you for reaching out. We recognize how deeply Bruins care about UCLA’s teams, and appreciate your concern during an important moment for UCLA Athletics.

Whoa! The Chancellor’s office is thanking people for reaching out? That maybe almost as unprecedented as UCLA firing a football coach so early in the season.

Then, there’s this:

Chancellor Frenk has been in regular communication with AD Jarmond throughout this process and has been supportive of this decision.

If there was any doubt, this confirms that the Chancellor is behind the change, and if he isn’t happy with how things go, I expect him to do the right thing.

The third, but perhaps most important, statement in the email worth noting is:

The chancellor fully recognizes that a successful football program is core to UCLA and to our community.

HALLELUJAH! We have a Chancellor who gets it!

When was the last time we could say that?

While I realize that it’s been a while, I think we can safely say that that we haven’t had a chancellor who gets it like this since at least Charles Young. While there are certainly plenty of things any of us can criticize Chancellor Young for, the fact is that Young’s 30-year term spanned some of the Wooden years, part of the Prothro years, the Vermeil and Donahue years, UCLA’s basketball resurgence under Jim Harrick and the start of the Toledo era of Bruin football.

While it may take some time to fix things, I think it’s safe to say that UCLA football hasn’t been been supported by the administration like this in a very, very long time. We may finally be on the verge of recovering from the malaise created by Carnesale, Block and Guerrero.

I cannot remember when there was this much reason for hope.

It will soon be morning again for UCLA football.


Go Bruins!!!

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