An open letter to UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk about Bruins athletics

Dear Chancellor Frenk,It’s your other pro-bono consultant here.Congratulations are in order after you adopted some of my suggestions from late last year.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story Martin Jarmond is gone, Bob Chesney is here and now it appears that you’re going to stay at the Rose Bowl through the end of an ironclad lease that essentially locked you in all along.Nicely done.The hiring of Tim Harris as CEO and athletic director was a bold, out-of-the-Bruin-box move that deserves an eight-clap.Unlike his predecessor, Harris gets the UCLA culture, not to mention the financial challenges that have buried the athletic department at his alma mater under a pile of debt higher than the Bel-Air hills that border campus.If anyone can fix that, it’s the former Lakers business boss who knows how to land big deals and make things happen.

Harris also seems to fully understand the importance of NIL as the lifeblood of any big-time athletic department.He’s sharp, savvy and will be worth every penny once you sign him to a long-term contract as Jarmond’s replacement.Moving on from Jarmond made you the first UCLA chancellor to dismiss an athletic director, a courageous move at a place known for inertia.Kudos are also in order for barreling toward the end of the Rose Bowl lawsuit mess.

Once you ditched CFO Stephen Agostini and his apparent notion that moving to SoFi Stadium was a good idea, it was just a matter of time before this got resolved.Hopefully the announcement that UCLA is staying through the end of its 2044 lease comes soon.It was inspiring to see Harris speak so passionately about the Rose Bowl at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Field Club.The place is going to be a game-changer not just for fans who hang out in the swanky hotspot but also for...