For just a moment, UCLA football appeared to have stabilized. After the DeShaun Foster firing, interim coach Tim Skipper had provided much-needed calm, players were reacting, and the Bruins’ locker room at last seemed cohesive. The walls above Skipper are collapsing, and the tension has escalated into a full-fledged uprising, even if his camp has found rhythm on the field.

Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that 64 former UCLA players from various program periods had signed a letter to new Chancellor Julio Frenk calling for athletic director Martin Jarmond’s dismissal.

Jarmond hasn’t made sound decisions in the last two years. The Bruins’ didn’t recover from his refusal to let go of Chip Kelly until Kelly departed on his own for Ohio State. Then the rushed hiring of DeShaun Foster, whose brief 5–10 tenure ended in chaos. Jarmond is seen by the alumni as a symbol of UCLA football’s problems, including poor leadership and mismanagement.

The letter is brutally blunt. It calls Jarmond’s tenure “a disappointment to the proud standard of excellence the Bruins stand for” and charges him with failing to sustain “the stewardship of a legacy” that once defined UCLA athletics.

In order to “protect the proud legacy of UCLA football,” the 64 alumni, which included several former NFL players, said they are a part of “a movement bigger than any one of us.” A mobile billboard with the slogan “Failure Never Paid So Well” circling Westwood, a petition with over 1,400 signatures, and planes flying banners over the Rose Bowl demanding Jarmond’s dismissal are just a few examples of how their campaign has grown.

But Frenk has strengthened his backing for Jarmond in spite of the controversy. He commended the AD’s leadership and promised to “continue working with him to build a successful program that embodies the greatness of the Bruins” in a statement to the Times.

Yet, many in the UCLA community saw this as a tone-deaf defense of a $2.1 million admin who has presided over one of the most unstable football eras in the school’s history. Tim Skipper is trying his hardest to keep the locker room safe for the time being, but even he is aware that the storm won’t last long when 64 legends stand together to oppose the man in charge.

DeShaun Foster took the fall, but UCLA’s problems run much deeper

The dominoes began to fall the day DeShaun Foster lost his locker room. Also it wasn’t just an ugly 35–10 loss to New Mexico. It was about what that loss represented. Under the same roof that had once reverberated with pride, UCLA football, once a proud institution with banners, legends, and swagger, now appeared lost. As Josh Pate said “I don’t really blame DeShaun Foster because he never should have had the job.” And he is correct. This isn’t a coaching problem. The program is being ruined from the top down by this leadership issue.

Pate’s opinion reflects the collective cries of 64 former players. Their letter to Chancellor Julio Frenk was a scream from those who laid the foundation for UCLA football. As the squad continues to lag behind the rest of the Big Ten, they are fed up with the same pattern of bad hiring, hollow promises, and PR-friendly remarks. And that’s what gives the scenario its raw feel. Right now, Tim Skipper is the only one holding this house together.

Jarmond is busy creating committees to identify “the right head coach who embodies true Bruin values” as banners calling for “Fire AD Martin Jarmond” fly above the Rose Bowl. Looks like things couldn’t get any worse. How does a man who is struggling to maintain his own career end up being the face of the rebuilding process? Fans have seen this before, and it never ends nicely. One former player allegedly said, “You can’t fix the roof when the foundation is cracking.”