KAPPAS IN SPORTS
The Journal: So now you find yourself navigating unchartered waters. It used to be that football games were sched- uled five years in advance. But I saw a situation last season at UCLA where you were scheduled to play Utah Friday, and you end up playing Cal that Sunday instead. What has that been like to deal with that level of uncertainty? Jarmond: Oh yeah. It came together within the course of a couple of hours. Friday morning waking up thinking we were going to play Utah. Friday afternoon by 1:30pm we had a game scheduled Sunday against Cal. And that hadn’t been done. It was the first time all season something like that had hap- pened. It was crazy! The Journal: With the pandemic and it’s effects on college sports, give us a sense of what a normal day is like for you as you navigate all of the intricacies and uncertainties it presents all while in- suring the safety of the student athletes as well. Jarmond: First of all, there’s no normal day. I will tell you the thing that you always have to remember during a time that’s chaotic. And this is chaotic. You’ve got to be able to absorb change, and you’ve got to foster resiliency. But during this pandemic for an athletic director, there’s a lot of anxiety. Especially during the fall with football season right. Every day you’re getting tested at this level. So as you await the results of the COVID testing, there’s a level of anxiety and concern because you’re just waiting. You don’t know if somebody’s going to be affected, and that knocks them out where they can’t practice or they can’t compete and then that won’t give your team the best chance to be successful for that game. More importantly, these guys work so hard and sacrifice so much that, say they don’t get COVID, but they are contact traced. So they may be out a week or two weeks and they did everything right. You feel so bad because they sacrifice so much and you know, this is a time where things can be taken
from you. People forget when you talk about playing or not playing, theses guys are 17, 18, 19, 20 years old. They have a very small window. Most of these guys aren’t going to play in the NFL. I played college ball and I’d give anything to go back to those days. So when you have a small window, you want to maximize those opportunities because it could be taken tomorrow. Your career could be ended on the next play. So from my seat I want to do everything I can to give our swimmers, to give our volleyball players, to give them all the best chance to com- pete. Because that’s what they love. So a normal day is anxiety filled because you don’t know what’s coming. You’re waiting for test results. You know, we’ve never been through it. And any time you’ve got to go through something that’s foreign and that’s chaotic, you’ve got to have a level of calm and resilience. So that’s why I try to get my workouts in. I try to stay consistent. Because I know for me to be my best I’ve got to be consistent in the energy that I give to everybody that I serve. So that’s what I try to focus on is how can I take a chaotic situation and try to normalize it more. How do I try to eliminate some of the unknowns? Me for example, I getting my COVID test today. I don’t know what the results are going to bring, but I do know that I’m going to get a run in today. I do know I’m going to get a sweat in. I do know I’m going to take some time to reflect and think. Because you’ve got to have a foot in the present and a foot in the future. If you have both in either, you’re doomed. You’ve got to be able to see what’s com- ing, but you’ve also got to have your butt and your mind where your job is and what’s most important. So that’s a long way of saying it’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of unknowns, but you try and keep your energy up, stay positive, control the controllables and try to normalize your routine as much as you can to bring a level of normalcy and calm to your day. The Journal: You’ve been an athletic director at the Power 5 level for a few years now. Both at Boston College and UCLA. What would you say is the most difficult part of your job?
Jarmond: Oh that’s a great question. There’s so many challenges in the Power 5 and at UCLA, but I need to answer your question. The hardest aspect of the job is making coaching changes. And the reason why is it effects so many people. One way or the other. One man’s loss is another man’s gain. Any time you make a leadership change it’s very disruptive to your program. And it’s not only impact- ing those coaches, it’s also impacting the student athletes. In a positive or a negative way based on the situation. So you don’t take those decisions lightly be- cause it impacts so many people. It can change the trajectory of people’s careers. And I’m not even talking about just the head coach. It could be an assistant coach. It could be a staffer. It could be someone that works behind the scenes. It alters their trajectory. And that’s a lot of responsibility for one person to have as the athletic director. That weighs on you. And if somebody says that coaching changes doesn’t, they’re lying. It weighs on you. It’s not easy. It’s tough. But you have to work through it and do what’s best for the institution and program in your mind. And sometimes too what makes it hard is you don’t have all the data points. I don’t know if I make this change whether it’s going to be for the better ultimately or not. We don’t know that. We don’t have that luxury when we make a change. So you have to do the best you can with the information you have. But it’s just really disruptive for people’s lives. And the program too. It effects so many people. That’s the hard- est thing by far. The Journal: So you inherited a crazy situation when took over the reins at UCLA. UCLA’s apparel sponsor Under Armor essentially flew the coup and reneged on it’s apparel sponsorship deal leaving the sports teams without an ap- parel sponsor. How good did it feel when you, a proud son of North Carolina, were able to come in and secure that exclusive Air Jordan sponsorship for the university’s athletics programs?
50 | WINTER 2020-SPRING 2021 ♦ THE JOURNAL
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