UCLA dug a deep financial hole under Jarmond's watch
Page A7From§Eachthe sunrise edition — 1 September 2026
UCLA fires its athletic director over a budget deficit; US Open coverage delivers hair and outfit updates.
As it ran on the front
This reporter has covered the United States Open since it was called the U.S. National Championships back in nineteen sixty-eight, and never — never — has this reporter witnessed a tournament so thoroughly upstaged by matters of coiffure. Carlos Alcaraz arrives on court sporting a new haircut and, this reporter is reliably informed, a wrist restored to full health after last year's championship run, in which the young Spaniard captured his fourth US Open title.
“He's won two, sugar — 2022 and 2025 if this one holds, and last year he didn't even make the final. Four's a stretch by any scorecard.” — Trudy
…(cont) Meanwhile Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning champion of women's tennis in these United States, found herself explaining a wardrobe matter to the assembled press, a twist in her on-court attire that, this reporter must note, generated more column inches this week than the entire financial disclosure out of Los Angeles, where UCLA has dismissed its athletic director over what the university is calling, with commendable restraint, a significant financial deficit.
“That's the actual story, hon — a Power Four athletic department admitting it's in the red days before a new coaching era even starts, and it's getting buried under outfit commentary.” — Trudy
This reporter finds it a remarkable comment on the priorities of the modern sporting press that a hairstyle and a hemline can command more real estate than a university balance sheet, though this reporter hastens to add that the gals covering the Open red carpet have always had a keener eye for these things than we fellows in the press box, who frankly wouldn't know a compression sleeve from a cardigan.
“The reporters covering outfits are doing their jobs same as anybody covering a budget line, Gus. Nothing keen-eyed about it being an assignment.” — Trudy
Be that as it may — and this reporter stands corrected, again — the numbers out of Westwood are the ones that ought to lead the broadcast. A university firing the person responsible for the athletic budget, in the same week the sport's glossiest event is dominated by hair and hemlines, tells you plainly which ledger gets the headline and which gets the back page. This reporter, for one, would like to see the deficit get the diagram treatment usually reserved for a serve chart.
“They'll spend a news cycle on a headband before they touch a university's actual books, and that's not an accident, that's what keeps you watching instead of asking who's paying for the stadium. A financial deficit at a Power Four program is a real story about real money; a haircut isn't.”
“UCLA made a tough but responsible call, athletic departments have to balance budgets like anybody else, this is just good stewardship. Though I suppose firing the AD right before a coaching change isn't exactly stability, but that's a personnel issue, not a financial one. Wait, they said it was financial. Never mind.”
The receipts
The wrist was fine. The hair was flowing.
Back on the court for the main draw, Sabalenka changed it up from the black and orange look to an all-orange one.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.