Martin Jarmond was hired on May 19, 2020 as UCLA’s Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics, becoming the ninth athletic director in school history.
Jarmond came to UCLA from Boston College, where he served as the school’s Director of Athletics for three years. During his time there, he orchestrated the Eagles' first-ever strategic plan, a comprehensive five-year goal to advance the program by fostering student-athlete formation, strengthening competitive excellence, increasing external engagement and enhancing facilities. The strategic plan was supported by BC's first-ever athletics-only capital campaign, at the time, the largest campaign of any Atlantic Coast Conference institution at $150 million. The campaign has raised $121 million to date. Among the new ventures he brought to Boston College were a student-athlete fueling station, a program for first-generation student-athletes, and a fan council focused on improving the atmosphere and fan experience.
Boston College teams enjoyed on-the-field success during his tenure, with the football team playing in a bowl game each season, the women's lacrosse team reaching the national championship game in 2018, the 2019 women's field hockey team advancing to its first Final Four, and the men's and women's hockey teams combining for three conference championships in the last two years. Among Jarmond's successful coaching hires were women's basketball coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, who was named ACC Coach of the Year this season after leading BC to its best ACC finish in school history, and women's volleyball head coach Jason Kennedy, who turned around a seven-win team and won 20 games in just his second year.
Academically, Boston College continued to thrive under Jarmond's leadership. The school ranks eighth in the nation with an overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 94% in all sports among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, with 12 teams scoring a perfect 100 GSR. Boston College also ranks among the highest in the nation in Academic Progress Rate (APR). Six Eagles teams recently received the NCAA APR Public Recognition Award, which is bestowed upon teams finishing in the top 10% of their respective sport, based on the multi-year APR. Included in those six was football, one of only 13 football programs at the FBS level to earn a Public Recognition Award, and one of only five to earn an award for the last three years.
Prior to joining Boston College in 2017 and becoming the youngest athletic director of any Power Five institution at age 37, Jarmond previously served as deputy director of athletics at Ohio State, moving up the ranks after arriving as an associate athletic director for development in 2009. During his time at Ohio State, he was the lead administrator for a variety of sports, including football and men's basketball, and directed external and internal relations and day-to-day operations. He also had responsibility for football scheduling, served on the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee, and was a member of the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Advisory Group and the Rose Bowl Advisory Committee. As Ohio State Athletics' chief advancement officer, Jarmond helped raise more than $120 million between 2010-2012.
Jarmond was also an assistant athletic director for development for seven years at Michigan State, where he served on the athletic director's executive leadership team. He was a key member of the $1.2 billion "Campaign for MSU" development team and a liaison between Michigan State's university development and alumni association leadership.
Jarmond recently served on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee and is on the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation Board of Directors. In 2017 and 2019, he was named to Sports Business Journal's Forty Under 40.
A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Jarmond, 40, earned a bachelor's degree in communication studies from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. A two-year captain of the men's basketball team, he led his team to the program's first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2000 and earned Colonial Athletic Association All-Academic honors in 2001. He holds both a M.B.A. and a master's in sports administration from Ohio University