Great find, Dr Jones, and that article is damn near spot on. Plenty of us around here were screaming for Jarmond to do something near the end of that '23 season when Kelly was yanking us along. But he didn't (and neither did Block, by the way, and we're seeing other devastating fallout his apathetic ass left for us), so here we are.
Miami Football has seen quite the resurgence, and Frenk likely deserves some of that credit (I don't know the U's recent story well enough to know just how much Frenk had to do with it). At the least, the Chancellor was outspoken and involved and motivated.
<<Frenk told the LA Times he intends to be “very involved in the athletic department and the football program, recognizing that success in a marquee sport like football can be financially advantageous for the school as a whole.”>>
Hopefully Dr Frenk will bring that same approach to Westwood. While I am happy with the intangible things like school pride and competitive excellence and just having a lot of fun on a Saturday afternoon, I get that the ultimate driving force is always money. But since money applies here too, hopefully that driver nets positive results for our football program. I don't need us to have the #2 football team in the country like the 'Canes are right now, (and Melsby was frickin' down for goodness sakes) but I'd sure like to have a consistently competitive and competent program, the likes of which we have rarely glimpsed over the last 25 years.
Yes, particularly about the finances, Jarmond receiving a vote of confidence from Frenk, and mentioning a committee of "accomplished sports and business executives and UCLA greats" who did such a wonderful job in the past. What a shit show.
To quote the Shawshank Redemption, Joe: “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”
With that said I agree whole heartedly that this is an about face from the highest level of the administration. Almost a complete 180 from Block. And long overdue.
I can only hope there have been strategic conversations with whales and mega whales to show that this time is different, and that the university is committed to excellence in football (and basketball as well.)
"..I hope I can see a new coach before I cash in my chips and head towards the cheap seats in the upper cloud deck..
"..I hope I can see a new AD who chews nails and tells the crew coach he ain't paying no $25,000 for a boat where the athletes sit on their ass and go backwards..*
"..I hope I can see a fire-breathing athletic program that stops fidgeting with pseudo marketing gimmicks and tarps increasingly covering vacant seats in the RB..
"..I hope I can see us kick the Toe Jams' asses in football annually like we did in the 90s..
"..I hope I can see one more roundball banner hung up in the rafters of Pauley..
"..I hope I can see world-class T&F, H2O Polo, swimming, crew, and gymnastics athletes get cranked out by a hungry, active athletic department eager to make the blue** and gold colors famous again..
"..I hope.."
*When Elroy Hirsch, who was AD at Wisconsin, was apprised that the Wisconsin crew needed a new Pocock shell (boat) that cost $25,000, he was alleged to have responded thusly.
**And knock off this ridiculously phony tough "powder keg blue" crapola! It's either blue or it's some interior decorator's name for blue that doesn't cut it! Our guys should not be wearing unis whose colors sound like they are sporting ballerina tutus and toe shoes.
So for the sanity of the Bruin Fam, I hope this statement remains in the sphere of the 'dreaded vote of confidence'...
'"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."
Will Frenk and Committee will be making the final decision, yet publicly make it appear that it's Jelly 2.0's decision?
Will coaching candidates demand Jelly 2.0 be gone in order to ink the contract?
Is Frenk going to put Jelly 2.0 in some backroom job after the search?
Will a 'Mega Whale' as my dear friend War coined, get us out of this mess with a huge coaching contract and Jelly 2.0's buyout?
And this part on its surface covers for Jelly 2.0: 'Unlike last time'...
Jelly 2.0 gave the damn extension to Chipster, along with BFF accolades, then did nothing for 6 weeks when Chipster had 1.75 feet out the door and ZERO interest in staying at UCLA.
Jelly 2.0 is to blame! Lack of time is not at blame!
I see the hope to right the ship, I also see boilerplate words which we are left to decifer.
Like you, I am concerned by the sentence that Jarmond and Adkins will lead the search and other supportive words for Jarmond. Guess we just need to wait and see how it shakes out.
Joe we all appreciate your efforts in righting the sports ship at UCLA. The respondent to your email is a Chancellor Block homer (Google Michael Emerson Dirda and his LinkedIn account). He is a paid university communications dude to send out BS. Who the heck has a professional title: Executive Director, Executive and Internal Communications and Social Media With Strategic Communications? He sent you a BS canned email to appease you. My 8 year old niece could do better.
Forgive the rudeness. I neglected to give you a well-deserved pat on the back "and a laurel and hearty handshake" for your inaugural email efforts and getting recog from Boss Fella Frenk!
It's a damned fine start, old son!
You've opened up the hole; now it's up to us to run to daylight!
Hope springs eternal, but as a long time Bruin and a 20-year season ticket holder, I'm wondering if I'll see the great beyond before the Bruins attain any relevancy. I'm glad you still have hope Joe, but forgive me if don't share your optimism. Here (in collaboration with ChatGPT), let me decode Mr. Dirda's response:
A Totally Honest, No Hidden Meanings Whatsoever Response from UCLA
Hello — My name is Mike Dirda, and I work with Chancellor Frenk at UCLA. Translation: I’m the guy they pay to let you know we value your input and are actively exploring innovative ways to maintain the appearance of responsiveness while celebrating the art of polite ambiguity
First, thank you for reaching out. We love when alumni and fans remind us they still care about UCLA football, despite decades of evidence suggesting they shouldn’t. Your concern has been noted, filed, and placed in the “maybe when pigs fly” drawer.
Losing 59–0 to BYU in 2008, 50–0 to that other school in 2011, or 40–37 to Fresno State in 2021 while ranked weren’t enough to spark actual institutional change. So do you think starting 0–3 moves the needle? Honestly, it just reminded us that hiring our last coach was like ordering a mystery burrito at 3 a.m.—looks fine on the outside, turns catastrophic halfway through.
Making a change now, during the bye week, allows the team to “reset and recalibrate.” Which, in football-administration-speak, means: “We’re rolling this flaming wreck into a ditch and hoping everyone’s drunk enough by the next tailgate to forget.”
With nine games left, the focus is on “finishing strong.” Translation: if we can just avoid another national broadcast zooming in on the three remaining crying fans at the Rose Bowl, we’ll count that as a win. Our analytics team is also standing by to creatively massage attendance numbers until our last home game magically becomes a “sellout.”
Chancellor Frenk is in “regular communication” with AD Jarmond. By regular communication, we mean: polite nods, the occasional “👍” emoji, and the question, “Wait, remind me again—who exactly did we fire?”
The search for a new head coach will be “thorough.” We won’t just hire the first person we bump into - unlike last year when Jarmond got lost in the athletic building and stumbled into DeShaun Foster’s office. This time, we’ll at least wait for all the candidates who totally, definitely, absolutely will beat a path to our door.
UCLA remains committed to building a football program that “reflects our broader excellence.” Meaning: our chemistry department is nationally ranked, our film school pumps out Oscar winners, and our hospital saves lives. The football team, however, will continue as a tragicomic performance-art piece exploring the futility of hope.
Thank you again for writing. Please keep supporting the Bruins—your emotional investment makes our administrative juggling act infinitely more entertaining. Now, will you be making your deposit for next year's season tickets?
—Sincerely,
Mike Dirda, Professional Translator of Bureaucratic Disasters
Great find, Dr Jones, and that article is damn near spot on. Plenty of us around here were screaming for Jarmond to do something near the end of that '23 season when Kelly was yanking us along. But he didn't (and neither did Block, by the way, and we're seeing other devastating fallout his apathetic ass left for us), so here we are.
Miami Football has seen quite the resurgence, and Frenk likely deserves some of that credit (I don't know the U's recent story well enough to know just how much Frenk had to do with it). At the least, the Chancellor was outspoken and involved and motivated.
<<Frenk told the LA Times he intends to be “very involved in the athletic department and the football program, recognizing that success in a marquee sport like football can be financially advantageous for the school as a whole.”>>
Hopefully Dr Frenk will bring that same approach to Westwood. While I am happy with the intangible things like school pride and competitive excellence and just having a lot of fun on a Saturday afternoon, I get that the ultimate driving force is always money. But since money applies here too, hopefully that driver nets positive results for our football program. I don't need us to have the #2 football team in the country like the 'Canes are right now, (and Melsby was frickin' down for goodness sakes) but I'd sure like to have a consistently competitive and competent program, the likes of which we have rarely glimpsed over the last 25 years.
Greg...
Read Ben Bolch's article today and you will feel so much better about the state of UCLA Athletics (sarcasm font) smdh 😞
https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2025-09-22/ucla-perception-problem-football-coach-hire
Yes, particularly about the finances, Jarmond receiving a vote of confidence from Frenk, and mentioning a committee of "accomplished sports and business executives and UCLA greats" who did such a wonderful job in the past. What a shit show.
Translation for the creation of an ego driven committee:
We don't know WTH we are doing!
To quote the Shawshank Redemption, Joe: “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”
With that said I agree whole heartedly that this is an about face from the highest level of the administration. Almost a complete 180 from Block. And long overdue.
I can only hope there have been strategic conversations with whales and mega whales to show that this time is different, and that the university is committed to excellence in football (and basketball as well.)
"..I hope I can see a new coach before I cash in my chips and head towards the cheap seats in the upper cloud deck..
"..I hope I can see a new AD who chews nails and tells the crew coach he ain't paying no $25,000 for a boat where the athletes sit on their ass and go backwards..*
"..I hope I can see a fire-breathing athletic program that stops fidgeting with pseudo marketing gimmicks and tarps increasingly covering vacant seats in the RB..
"..I hope I can see us kick the Toe Jams' asses in football annually like we did in the 90s..
"..I hope I can see one more roundball banner hung up in the rafters of Pauley..
"..I hope I can see world-class T&F, H2O Polo, swimming, crew, and gymnastics athletes get cranked out by a hungry, active athletic department eager to make the blue** and gold colors famous again..
"..I hope.."
*When Elroy Hirsch, who was AD at Wisconsin, was apprised that the Wisconsin crew needed a new Pocock shell (boat) that cost $25,000, he was alleged to have responded thusly.
**And knock off this ridiculously phony tough "powder keg blue" crapola! It's either blue or it's some interior decorator's name for blue that doesn't cut it! Our guys should not be wearing unis whose colors sound like they are sporting ballerina tutus and toe shoes.
Oh, and this: today is annual "Talk Like a Pirate Day"!
Arrrrrggggg! Happy TLaP to ye all! Shiver me timbers and blow me down!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day
So for the sanity of the Bruin Fam, I hope this statement remains in the sphere of the 'dreaded vote of confidence'...
'"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."
Will Frenk and Committee will be making the final decision, yet publicly make it appear that it's Jelly 2.0's decision?
Will coaching candidates demand Jelly 2.0 be gone in order to ink the contract?
Is Frenk going to put Jelly 2.0 in some backroom job after the search?
Will a 'Mega Whale' as my dear friend War coined, get us out of this mess with a huge coaching contract and Jelly 2.0's buyout?
And this part on its surface covers for Jelly 2.0: 'Unlike last time'...
Jelly 2.0 gave the damn extension to Chipster, along with BFF accolades, then did nothing for 6 weeks when Chipster had 1.75 feet out the door and ZERO interest in staying at UCLA.
Jelly 2.0 is to blame! Lack of time is not at blame!
I see the hope to right the ship, I also see boilerplate words which we are left to decifer.
💙💛💙💛
Like you, I am concerned by the sentence that Jarmond and Adkins will lead the search and other supportive words for Jarmond. Guess we just need to wait and see how it shakes out.
It certainly sounds promising...
Does our football team have a Chaplain?
I am in no way of an official chaplain, but I frequently pray for the team. Not sure if that counts. lol
Joe we all appreciate your efforts in righting the sports ship at UCLA. The respondent to your email is a Chancellor Block homer (Google Michael Emerson Dirda and his LinkedIn account). He is a paid university communications dude to send out BS. Who the heck has a professional title: Executive Director, Executive and Internal Communications and Social Media With Strategic Communications? He sent you a BS canned email to appease you. My 8 year old niece could do better.
His title... Blockhead 2.0 Executive (squared) 🤣 ...
Jelly 2.0 has found his match in Frenk's admin.
Joe,
Forgive the rudeness. I neglected to give you a well-deserved pat on the back "and a laurel and hearty handshake" for your inaugural email efforts and getting recog from Boss Fella Frenk!
It's a damned fine start, old son!
You've opened up the hole; now it's up to us to run to daylight!
The WP
Hope springs eternal, but as a long time Bruin and a 20-year season ticket holder, I'm wondering if I'll see the great beyond before the Bruins attain any relevancy. I'm glad you still have hope Joe, but forgive me if don't share your optimism. Here (in collaboration with ChatGPT), let me decode Mr. Dirda's response:
A Totally Honest, No Hidden Meanings Whatsoever Response from UCLA
Hello — My name is Mike Dirda, and I work with Chancellor Frenk at UCLA. Translation: I’m the guy they pay to let you know we value your input and are actively exploring innovative ways to maintain the appearance of responsiveness while celebrating the art of polite ambiguity
First, thank you for reaching out. We love when alumni and fans remind us they still care about UCLA football, despite decades of evidence suggesting they shouldn’t. Your concern has been noted, filed, and placed in the “maybe when pigs fly” drawer.
Losing 59–0 to BYU in 2008, 50–0 to that other school in 2011, or 40–37 to Fresno State in 2021 while ranked weren’t enough to spark actual institutional change. So do you think starting 0–3 moves the needle? Honestly, it just reminded us that hiring our last coach was like ordering a mystery burrito at 3 a.m.—looks fine on the outside, turns catastrophic halfway through.
Making a change now, during the bye week, allows the team to “reset and recalibrate.” Which, in football-administration-speak, means: “We’re rolling this flaming wreck into a ditch and hoping everyone’s drunk enough by the next tailgate to forget.”
With nine games left, the focus is on “finishing strong.” Translation: if we can just avoid another national broadcast zooming in on the three remaining crying fans at the Rose Bowl, we’ll count that as a win. Our analytics team is also standing by to creatively massage attendance numbers until our last home game magically becomes a “sellout.”
Chancellor Frenk is in “regular communication” with AD Jarmond. By regular communication, we mean: polite nods, the occasional “👍” emoji, and the question, “Wait, remind me again—who exactly did we fire?”
The search for a new head coach will be “thorough.” We won’t just hire the first person we bump into - unlike last year when Jarmond got lost in the athletic building and stumbled into DeShaun Foster’s office. This time, we’ll at least wait for all the candidates who totally, definitely, absolutely will beat a path to our door.
UCLA remains committed to building a football program that “reflects our broader excellence.” Meaning: our chemistry department is nationally ranked, our film school pumps out Oscar winners, and our hospital saves lives. The football team, however, will continue as a tragicomic performance-art piece exploring the futility of hope.
Thank you again for writing. Please keep supporting the Bruins—your emotional investment makes our administrative juggling act infinitely more entertaining. Now, will you be making your deposit for next year's season tickets?
—Sincerely,
Mike Dirda, Professional Translator of Bureaucratic Disasters