Join us as we hear from LA-based university Athletic Directors in a discussion on the future of college athletics. 

Mike Bohn, University of Southern California

Mike Bohn was appointed director of athletics on November 11, 2019. He holds the Charles Griffin Cale Director of Athletics’ Chair.

Bohn has more than 35 years of experience in collegiate athletics administration and an established record of integrity and strength in critical areas including compliance, recruiting and athletic excellence. He provides strategic and administrative oversight of the USC athletics department, including the university’s 21 women’s and men’s varsity teams. Prior to joining USC, he held leadership positions in athletics with the University of Cincinnati, University of Colorado, San Diego State University, University of Idaho and Air Force Academy.

In his five-year tenure at the University of Cincinnati starting in 2014, Bohn oversaw dramatic improvements across the university’s intercollegiate sports, including a resurgence of its men’s football team and consistent NCAA Tournament appearances by the men’s basketball team.

He emphasized academic performance as well, and 77% of student-athletes at the University of Cincinnati earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher during his final year. Bohn prioritized diversity in the athletics department and received a top rating from the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport for hiring female coaches. He also led a major renovation and expansion of the University of Cincinnati’s football stadium and oversaw improvements to its soccer, track and field, baseball and tennis facilities.

Prior to Cincinnati, Bohn led the University of Colorado from 2005 to 2013, including its transition to the Pac-12 Conference. The university secured four conference championships in two years under his watch, and his emphasis on academics led to departmental records for GPA and APR, an academic progress metric for student-athletes. His department also earned acclaim for creating the first zero-waste stadium initiative in collegiate and professional sports in 2008.

As athletic director at San Diego State University, Bohn increased fan enthusiasm and attendance, including setting the university’s single-game attendance record for football and the NCAA single-game attendance record for baseball. In his prior post as director of athletics at the University of Idaho, he led the university’s transition to Division I-A, the top collegiate football subdivision. He also spearheaded construction of a major athletics center and increased support for the university’s athletics scholarship fund. Bohn holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, where he played quarterback for the Jayhawks football team and competed as a member of the baseball team. He earned his master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University.

Daryl Gross, Cal State LA

Dr. Daryl Gross is in his fourth year as the Executive Director of Athletics at Cal State LA. Under his leadership, the Golden Eagles have established a new culture of high expectations and success as many teams have achieved rapid national success, with many teams advancing to the NCAA tournament, while producing multiple national and conference academic honors. He has assembled an extraordinary group of head coaches who have elevated the status of Cal State LA athletics. Recently, the athletic program had its highest national finish (16th in the country) in 11 years.

During the past four years, Golden Eagle teams have combined to earn 25 All-America awards, 67 All-Region awards, 132 All-Conference awards, three California Collegiate Athletic Association team championships (one regular-season and two tournament), nine individual CCAA titles, two CCAA Player of the Year awards, four CCAA Newcomer of the Year awards, four CCAA Freshman of the Year awards and four CCAA Championship Scholar awards. In addition, the Golden Eagles have increased their conference All-Academic Awards in each of his four years leading the program.

Gross was part of the team on campus that was instrumental in navigating one of the largest intercollegiate athletic facility enhancements in Cal State LA history, partnering with the professional soccer franchise LAFC, who reside permanently and practice in new facilities on campus. He is currently working with alumna Billie Jean King to create the Billie Jean King Legacy Center on campus, which will be a major beacon of hope and opportunity and an experiential, “Presidential Library” type landmark that will include global educational programming.

As the Director of Athletics at Syracuse University, Gross was the architect and leader for Syracuse becoming a member of the Power 5, ACC conference. He led the largest facility and donor campaign in Syracuse Athletic history and hired a coaching staff that established the highest overall national athletic ranking in Syracuse University history, elevating the Syracuse athletic annual budget from $28 million to $93 million. Gross also restructured academics and enhanced staffing and facilities in a way that produced the highest graduation rates ever for Syracuse athletics. Dr. Gross led the Athletics Department at Syracuse University for 10 years as Director of Athletics before moving to his role of Vice President and Special Assistant to the Chancellor where he continued to serve on the Chancellor’s Cabinet. In addition, Gross was an Adjunct Professor in the David B. Falk College of Sports Management and Human Dynamics. 

Prior to his appointment at Syracuse, Gross served as senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern California.  During his 14 years in athletics administration at USC, the Trojans won 16 national and more than 30 Pac-10 championships, fielded 145 Olympians, played in nine bowl games, and finished in the top 10 of the Directors’ Cup ranking regularly. The University’s signature program – football – dressed two Heisman Trophy winners and won two national championships.

At USC, he directed coaching searches and contract discussions, served as the department’s spokesman, led marketing and corporate sponsorship efforts, negotiated television contracts, developed and contracted football and men’s basketball schedules, directed student-athlete academic services, and directly supervised 10 of the University’s 19 intercollegiate sports programs, among other responsibilities.  In 2001, he led the effort to sign long-time NFL coach Pete Carroll.  Gross’ searches also produced multiple coaches who won multiple national championships and named national coach of the year. Gross was named a senior associate athletic director in 2002. In that role, he led USC Athletics’ corporate sponsorship program to record revenues, and he headed the football marketing effort that broke USC attendance records.  Gross also assisted in the biggest building program in the history of USC Athletics, including facilities for track & field, tennis, football, women’s soccer, basketball, and volleyball.

Gross holds both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in educational psychology from USC, as well as a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Davis, where he was a football wide receiver and was teammates with future New York Jets quarterback Ken O’Brien.  He coached on the UC Davis football coaching staff. He also coached the UC Davis men’s and women’s tennis teams. Gross was a graduate assistant football coach at USC coaching quarterbacks and receivers and coaching in two bowl game Citrus Bowl and Rose Bowl Gross. From 1989 to 1991, he worked for the New York Jets as a personnel scout, worked in the front office and conducted all psychological testing and analysis. Gross joined the USC athletic administration as an assistant athletic director in 1991.

A native of Los Angeles, Gross and his wife, Lael, reside in Southern California, with their daughters, Jamie, Jolie, Zoe, and Averie.

 

Martin Jarmond, University of California Los Angeles

Martin Jarmond was hired on May 19, 2020 as UCLA’s Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics, becoming the ninth athletic director in school history.

Jarmond came to UCLA from Boston College, where he served as the school’s Director of Athletics for three years. During his time there, he orchestrated the Eagles' first-ever strategic plan, a comprehensive five-year goal to advance the program by fostering student-athlete formation, strengthening competitive excellence, increasing external engagement and enhancing facilities. The strategic plan was supported by BC's first-ever athletics-only capital campaign, at the time, the largest campaign of any Atlantic Coast Conference institution at $150 million. The campaign has raised $121 million to date. Among the new ventures he brought to Boston College were a student-athlete fueling station, a program for first-generation student-athletes, and a fan council focused on improving the atmosphere and fan experience.

Boston College teams enjoyed on-the-field success during his tenure, with the football team playing in a bowl game each season, the women's lacrosse team reaching the national championship game in 2018, the 2019 women's field hockey team advancing to its first Final Four, and the men's and women's hockey teams combining for three conference championships in the last two years. Among Jarmond's successful coaching hires were women's basketball coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, who was named ACC Coach of the Year this season after leading BC to its best ACC finish in school history, and women's volleyball head coach Jason Kennedy, who turned around a seven-win team and won 20 games in just his second year.

Academically, Boston College continued to thrive under Jarmond's leadership. The school ranks eighth in the nation with an overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 94% in all sports among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, with 12 teams scoring a perfect 100 GSR. Boston College also ranks among the highest in the nation in Academic Progress Rate (APR). Six Eagles teams recently received the NCAA APR Public Recognition Award, which is bestowed upon teams finishing in the top 10% of their respective sport, based on the multi-year APR. Included in those six was football, one of only 13 football programs at the FBS level to earn a Public Recognition Award, and one of only five to earn an award for the last three years.

Prior to joining Boston College in 2017 and becoming the youngest athletic director of any Power Five institution at age 37, Jarmond previously served as deputy director of athletics at Ohio State, moving up the ranks after arriving as an associate athletic director for development in 2009. During his time at Ohio State, he was the lead administrator for a variety of sports, including football and men's basketball, and directed external and internal relations and day-to-day operations. He also had responsibility for football scheduling, served on the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee, and was a member of the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Advisory Group and the Rose Bowl Advisory Committee. As Ohio State Athletics' chief advancement officer, Jarmond helped raise more than $120 million between 2010-2012.

Jarmond was also an assistant athletic director for development for seven years at Michigan State, where he served on the athletic director's executive leadership team. He was a key member of the $1.2 billion "Campaign for MSU" development team and a liaison between Michigan State's university development and alumni association leadership.

Jarmond recently served on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee and is on the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation Board of Directors. In 2017 and 2019, he was named to Sports Business Journal's Forty Under 40.

A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Jarmond, 40, earned a bachelor's degree in communication studies from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. A two-year captain of the men's basketball team, he led his team to the program's first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2000 and earned Colonial Athletic Association All-Academic honors in 2001. He holds both a M.B.A. and a master's in sports administration from Ohio University.

Jarmond is married to Dr. Jessica Jarmond, a dentist. They have three daughters: Scarlett, Savannah and Serena.

Craig Pintens, Loyola Marymount University

Craig Pintens began his first year as Athletic Director at Loyola Marymount University in 2018-19 after being named to the position in the summer of 2018.

In his time at LMU, Pintens has overseen the athletics portion of the campus rebrand, which includes an updated Gersten Pavilion court, championship banners, and wall paintings, in addition to a new-look lobby and spirit shop. The redesign efforts have extended across multiple facilities including Page Stadium and Smith Field.

In March of 2020, Pintens hired Stan Johnson as the next men's basketball coach at LMU. In his first two years, Pintens has named Nathan Choate the head coach for baseball, Jenny Bindon the head coach for women's soccer, and Karl Huhta the head rowing coach.

A proven athletic administrator with leadership experience at national championship-winning programs, Pintens came to LMU from the University of Oregon, where he served as senior associate athletic director for the past seven years. In that role, he helped lead Oregon's athletic programs to tremendous success in competition and transformed the fan experience, strategic planning processes, athletics operations, promotions, and fundraising while overseeing the marketing and communications departments.

Pintens, who served as National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) President in 2013-14, guided each of the revenue-producing departments under his oversight at Oregon to increases and achievement of record numbers. Additionally, Pintens helped Oregon build one of the most influential digital and social presences in college athletics.

"Craig Pintens will be a game changer for the LMU Lions," LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D. said of the hiring. "He is a leader, a champion, a builder, and a collaborator who will challenge our student-athletes to be fierce competitors with purpose and integrity. Together with our coaches, he will lionize our athletics programs and amplify LMU's renown."

"I am honored to lead LMU's athletic programs, and look forward to building the next generation of Lion champions," Pintens said upon being appointed. "LMU is a top-tier university with a celebrated athletics history in the heart of a dynamic global city. We will compete for championships, we will graduate our student-athletes and we will make the LMU community proud. I thank President Snyder for this incredible opportunity and Jill, our children and I cannot wait to join the LMU family."

Prior to his tenure at Oregon, Pintens worked in the athletic departments at Louisiana State University, Marquette University and the University of Texas-Pan American. As he would at Oregon, as Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing at LSU, Pintens implemented strategic ticket sales plans, leading to record ticket sales and attendance numbers, while also developing a social media strategy that led to one of the largest social media imprints in college athletics.

At Marquette, he enacted fundraising initiatives that generated more than $2 million while increasing the donor base by 33 percent. At the University of Texas-Pan American, he managed sales, promotions, game-day operations; and he successfully negotiated the university's first Spanish radio broadcast deal.

"We're excited for Craig Pintens to bring his experience and enthusiasm to the Lion family," said Charity Elliott, head coach of LMU's women's basketball team and a member of the search committee. "His zeal to win on the court and on the field with integrity is a great match for our programs. Our coaches and players will benefit from Craig's optimism and energy."

"Craig Pintens' record of success makes him a natural choice to lead LMU's athletics programs into a promising future," said West Coast Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez. "Craig's experience in developing excitement and fan engagement is a great fit with the WCC's demonstrated commitment to excellence and the development of the whole person. This hire signals LMU's bold ambition and investment in the upward trajectory of LMU and the WCC."

Pintens is an accomplished public speaker, appearing at conferences throughout the country. The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators has honored him with 35 awards in the areas of season ticket campaigns, advertising, ticket sales, new media, video, and corporate sponsorship.

Pintens is also a member of the Wisconsin Bar; he earned his Juris Doctor from Marquette University School of Law and his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in marketing cum laude from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

Pintens resides in Westchester with his wife, Jill, and children Kaitlin, Jackson, Tate and Avery.