football program

A large group of former UCLA football players sent a letter to chancellor Julio Frenk earlier this month asking for besieged athletic director Martin Jarmond to be replaced “to reestablish the university’s commitment to excellence, both on and off the field.”

The 64 players, who represent multiple eras of UCLA football spanning coaches Bob Toledo to Chip Kelly and include several who went on to play in the NFL, wrote to “express deep concern with the current direction of UCLA Athletics under Martin Jarmond. Despite the resources, history, and opportunities at his disposal, Mr. Jarmond has not demonstrated the level of leadership or vision consistent with UCLA’s proud legacy. Rather than building on the foundations of greatness established by those before him, his tenure has fallen short of advancing UCLA to its rightful place among the nation’s premier programs.

“UCLA deserves an athletic director who understands that this role is not merely about administration, but about stewardship of a legacy — one rooted in excellence, historic achievement, and national leadership. Unfortunately, Mr. Jarmond has not embodied these values, nor has he positioned UCLA Athletics to rise to the standard its history demands.”

The letter went on to call for new leadership, saying it was part of a movement “bigger than any one of us. Former players have joined forces — through countless calls, texts, and meetings — to push this cause forward. We are united in our commitment to protecting the proud legacy of UCLA football and athletics.”

A UCLA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jarmond has come under fire since the dismissal of coach DeShaun Foster after only 15 games illuminated the athletic director’s stewardship of the football program. Jarmond’s refusal to fire Kelly before Kelly abruptly left in February 2024 to take a job as offensive coordinator at Ohio State led to the whirlwind hiring of Foster, a position coach whose deficiencies as a head coach were on full display while posting a 5-10 record that included an 0-3 start this season.

Others have since criticized Jarmond for a broad range of shortcomings, including an insufficient response to leaked donor data, lowered expectations for success involving a once-proud football program and carte blanch spending that has led to staggering athletic department deficits.

A petition seeking Jarmond’s removal or resignation garnered 1,462 signatures and a mobile billboard truck circled Westwood with messages such as “UCLA Football Deserves Better Fire AD Martin Jarmond” and “$7 Million Buyout for UCLA’s AD? Failure Never Paid So Well.”

Some have questioned why Jarmond was granted a contract extension in May 2024, at a time when UCLA was transitioning from outgoing chancellor Gene Block to Frenk. According to the terms of that extension, Jarmond would be owed roughly $7.1 million, or the full amount of a contract that runs through June 30, 2029, if he was terminated without cause.

Many appear to want him gone before then. Before each of the football team’s last two home games at the Rose Bowl, an airplane has flown over the stadium pulling a banner calling for his dismissal.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State fired coach Trent Bray on Sunday after the team fell to 0-7, its worst start to a season since 1991.

Robb Akey will be the interim head coach for the rest of the seson pending a national search for Bray’s successor, athletic director Scott Barnes said.

“I want to thank Coach Bray for the energy and determination he brought to the role. A former student-athlete, proud graduate, and dedicated mentor, Trent’s connection to Oregon State runs deep — he will always be a Beaver,” Barnes said. “This was a difficult decision, but the results on the field were not acceptable and after evaluating every aspect of the football program, I believe it is in the best interests of OSU football student-athletes, our fans and our university.”

The move came a day after backup quarterback Deshawn Purdie threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns in his first start for Wake Forest and the visiting Demon Deacons beat Oregon State 39-14 in front of a listless home crowd. The Beavers haven’t started this poorly since 1991, when they started 0-10.

After the game, Bray said he planned to keep showing up “until they tell me I can’t.”

“I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed. I look at myself, and I’ve got to fix it,” Bray said after the game. “It’s unacceptable to me where we’re at. That’s just how I look at it. What can I do? I’ve got to look at it. What can I do different to get these guys going?”

A week ago, Oregon State fired special teams coach Jamie Christian and Barnes said he and Bray were evaluating the program with an eye toward making immediate changes.

The buyout of Bray’s contract will be paid “exclusively using donor-generated funds,” the school said.

Akey is a veteran coach with experience in college and as an NFL assistant.

Well, it is starting to appear that we are on the way to another in a series of mediocre football seasons at my alma mater UCLA.

I am now officially in the “I don’t care about UCLA Football anymore” camp. I graduated from UCLA in 1975 and while every once in a while UCLA will have a somewhat successful season, the best they seem to be able to do is be invited to a second-tier bowl game. The College Football Playoff? Forget about it.

Coach DeShaun Foster is very clearly in way over his head. I predict he will be gone after this season.

Bruce Dunklin
Thousand Oaks

It has to be painfully obvious that the DeShaun Foster experiment at head coach is a dismal failure. The loss to UNLV was not just embarrassing but shameful. It was once said that Foster was Karl Dorrell 2.0, but that is unfair. Dorrell had a 10-win season and beat USC. Coach “We’re Close” Foster is in way over his head. His team is undisciplined and unprepared. This clueless performance will lead to a completely empty Rose Bowl and eventual desertion of NIL sponsors. What is the athletic department going to do when we lose to New Mexico and go 0-12 for the year?

Thomas Auyong
Diamond Bar

DeShaun Foster has to be the worst head coach in UCLA history. If a team is a reflection of their coach, then this is the worst UCLA team every. Does the team have a weight program? They are getting pushed around out there and it’s only going to get uglier. We are going to lose 100-0 to Ohio State.

Ed Villanueva
Chino Hills

UCLA fell for the third consecutive game to open the season, with their drubbing at the hands of New Mexico. Maybe it’s time for AD Martin Jarmond to consider dropping the football program to a lower division, or just dropping football completely (the latter might help balance the athletic budget). Either way, coach DeShaun Foster and the Bruins are in for a long season.

Chris Sorce
Fountain Valley

My 98-year-old father and I are 25-year UCLA football season-ticket holders. We love our Bruin football, but let’s face facts. When our AD, Martin Jarmond, hired coach DeShaun Foster, he looked at us with a straight face and told us that they had interviewed upward of 40 candidates for the head coaching position and that Foster was the best of the group. A man with no offensive, defensive or head-coaching experience.

It sadly is now painfully obvious that Jarmond and Foster should be replaced with more experienced and qualified candidates.

Christopher Armen
Woodland Hills

Brett Steigh, a Narbonne High graduate, booster, local businessman and gambler, claims he violated City and Southern Section rules by paying parents of high school football players to help level the playing field.

Steigh said during a Monday night appearance on the “Fattal Factor” podcast that he paid parents to secure transfers for Narbonne and St. Bernard before currently “helping” Bishop Montgomery. Narbonne in Harbor City is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles operates St. Bernard in Playa del Rey and Bishop Montgomery in Torrance.

While name, image and likeness policies allow for payment of players, recruiting transfer athletes and paying their parents as much as $50,000 remains a violation of the California Interscholastic Federation’s undue influence rules.

“I ain’t doing nothing that others aren’t doing,” Steigh said, alleging Orange County private schools, including national powerhouse Mater Dei, paid to secure transfer players.

A Mater Dei spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for comment in response to the allegation.

Steigh said he recruited players in 2018 and 2024 to Narbonne without the knowledge of the head coaches while paying parents to move. Both times, Narbonne was sanctioned by the City Section for rule violations.

He said he met with St. Bernard President Carter Paysinger in 2020 and agreed to support that school after former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas took over the program. Douglas told The Times on Tuesday the payments reached close to $1 million between funding tuition for incoming freshman football players and improvements at the school. Douglas said school administrators were aware of the contributions.

Douglas and Steigh became the subject of FBI and IRS investigations after Douglas failed to report donations from Steigh and didn’t pay taxes on them. Steigh said they didn’t face any charges. Douglas resigned in 2020 and St. Bernard shut down its football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Steigh said he has now been “supporting” Bishop Montgomery with the knowledge of the school’s president, Patrick Lee.

Bishop Montgomery had five transfers declared ineligible by the Southern Section and has received more than 20 transfers in its football program entering this school year. The school fired its head coach, Ed Hodgkiss, on Saturday.

In a text message to The Times, Lee denied any connection to Steigh.

“What he said was an outright lie,” Lee said. “Neither the principal nor I ever met this man, spoke to him, emailed him, texted him — nothing.”

The City and Southern Section commissioners are aware of the statements Steigh made during the podcast, with one telling The Times they are reviewing them.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is investigating why five Bishop Montgomery transfer students were declared ineligible for two years by the Southern Section for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves submitting false information. The archdiocese declined to address questions about Steigh’s allegations.

“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles does not discuss details of an ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson told The Times. “Once we have more information, we’ll share that with you.”

Bishop Montgomery canceled the game it was scheduled to play Friday against Leuzinger High, the second consecutive week the team forfeited a game after calling off a contest against Mater Dei last week. If Bishop Montgomery cancels the remainder of its football season, the players on the roster might be free to immediately transfer to other programs if they get a hardship waiver.

Steigh said he agreed to appear on reporter Tarek Fattal’s podcast because he felt it was wrong that Hodgkiss — the Bishop Montgomery football coach — was fired.

“Pat knew what the deal was and now he’s backing away. Not fair,” Steigh said, referring to the Bishop Montgomery president.

Hodgkiss told The Times he has been advised by legal counsel not to answer any questions.

A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times that an influx of football transfers joining the program was given preferential treatment.

“Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit,” the parent wrote. “Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure. Despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”

In the spring, The Times asked new Bishop Montgomery Principal Michele Starkey if she was aware of any involvement by Steigh in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.

When Steigh was asked during the podcast why he would risk players’ eligibility by getting involved at Bishop Montgomery, Steigh said he felt previous administrations he worked with didn’t have the backbone to succeed at recruiting players.

“They told us it wouldn’t be … sorry I shouldn’t say that,” Steigh said of Bishop Montgomery’s leadership. “They’re basically supporting to win right now.”

When pressed for more details, Steigh said, “I can’t comment on any players at Bishop Montgomery.”

He said he has now decided to retire from supporting high school football programs.

Steigh said he previously was a traditional booster at Narbonne, making donations to help pay for helmets, uniforms and a washing machine.

“In 2018, I decided to play the game that everyone else was playing,” Steigh said. “The head coach at the time did not want to do this. It was all on me. I lied to him. These players just showed up. Why? I wanted to compete with the private schools. I felt it was unfair public schools being left behind.”

Four coaches of Marine League schools forfeited games against Narbonne last season while demanding a City Section investigation into whether transfers were paid to play for the school.

“All these rumors through all these years, it’s all true,” Steigh said. “It was all me.”

There’s another Catholic school sports scandal under way, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles apparently was the only one who didn’t see it coming.

On Saturday, Bishop Montgomery in Torrance announced football coach and co-athletic director Ed Hodgkiss was no longer employed by the school.

In other words, he was fired.

He’s apparently going to be the fall guy for five Bishop Montgomery transfer students being declared ineligible by the Southern Section, multiple Bishop Montgomery suspensions imposed after players left the bench with 24 seconds left in a loss in Hawaii and Bishop Montgomery having to forfeit to No. 1 Mater Dei on Friday because of lack of players.

People in the Southern California football community have been talking about Bishop Montgomery for months as they saw one transfer after another welcomed to the school. Southern Section officials waited for weeks to receive the transfers’ paperwork. Five players were declared in violation of CIF bylaw 202, which includes providing false information.

If a school trying to rapidly improve its football program with short cuts sounds familiar, it is.

In 2020, St. Bernard turned to former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas, who won eight City titles. Douglas was forced out at Narbonne and didn’t coach in 2019 after a nine-month Los Angeles Unified School District investigation. Narbonne was banned from the 2019 playoffs and forced to forfeit its 2018 City title for use of an ineligible player.

Douglas later resigned in the spring of 2020 when he came under an FBI and IRS investigation over money received from a Narbonne booster to pay for a trip to Hawaii while coaching at Narbonne.

St. Bernard proceeded to drop its football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

This past week, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese wrote in an email in response to a request for an update about Bishop Montgomery, “The investigation is ongoing and there are no developments to share at this time. The school and the Department of Catholic Schools are in communication with the CIF Southern Section office as the investigation continues.”

Last spring, Bishop Montgomery’s new principal, Michele Starkey, was asked by The Times in a phone call, whose participants included new school president Patrick Lee, if she was aware of any involvement by the same Narbonne booster tied to Douglas’ resignation in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.

The archdiocese should start its investigation right there. Players don’t start suddenly showing up from all over Southern California with no reason.

Lessons were not learned. Players from last year’s Bishop Montgomery team saw what was happening and transferred out. Maybe the Archdiocese should ask them what was happening.

A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times, “Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit; Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure; despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”

Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee on Saturday were not returned.

It’s another big mess for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to clean up, and it was very much preventable if lessons from the past had been learned.

Ed Hodgkiss is no longer the football coach or co-athletic director at Bishop Montgomery. Principal Michele Starkey and president Patrick Lee made the announcement in a letter to parents on Saturday, writing Hodgkiss is “no longer employed at Bishop Montgomery.”

Bishop Montgomery and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have been scrambling to deal with the fallout from weeks of turmoil in the football program.

It started with the Southern Section declaring five transfer students ineligible this season for violation of CIF bylaw 202, which is providing false information. Then the team had numerous players suspended after a first-game loss in Hawaii when they left the bench with 24 seconds left. That forced Bishop Montgomery to forfeit Friday’s game against Santa Ana Mater Dei because of a lack of players.

The Archdiocese announced it would conduct an investigation into the transfer issues.

Hodgkiss came to Bishop Montgomery in 2010 from the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League.

Bishop Montgomery changed principals and presidents last school year and appeared to move to a different sports philosophy, accepting numerous transfer students with the hope of elevating the football program to a higher level of competition. The school is scheduled to leave the Camino Real League after this season.

No new coach was announced. Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee were not returned.