Martin Jarmond paused mid-sentence – something had just clicked.
He inched toward the edge of his seat, lifted his eyebrows and held up a hand to sift through his thoughts.
“Let’s go – Kelly, softball. Alicia, women’s golf. Billy, men’s tennis. Stella, women’s tennis. Jenny Johnson Jordan, beach volleyball,” Jarmond said, his hand moving steadily as he continued through the list.
As the names rolled on – like a coach rattling off a starting lineup – Jarmond’s hands had no room left to count. By the end, he had tallied up 10 UCLA programs now helmed by Bruin alumni.
Even Jarmond – the athletic director behind many of those hires – had to stop and enumerate the sheer volume of former Bruins now spearheading Division I teams, appearing to be momentarily stunned by the alumni thread woven through the university’s head coaching ranks.
“This is a great institution that delivers on developing young men and young women to go out and do great things,” Jarmond said. “When you can bring someone back, there’s a different level of love and appreciation for the place. … It means more. It’s personal.”
There’s a strong connection to be made between UCLA’s ability to develop its future coaches and the fact that the school boasts the nation’s second-most NCAA championships of all time.
A total of 18 coaches have donned the blue and gold as former Bruin student-athletes, representing 16 of UCLA’s 21 different athletic programs.
“As a minority, I know what it means for people to see me and feel seen,” Jarmond said. “Bruins that are head coaches have that level of, ‘I’ve been in your shoes’ with their student-athletes. That’s special. There’s something to that.”
Women’s tennis coach Stella Sampras Webster, who graduated from UCLA in 1991, will enter her 30th season as head honcho of the women’s tennis program and is only the third to do so after Bill Zaima and Gayle Godwin – both of whom were also UCLA alumni.
As a student, the four-time All-American was an NCAA doubles champion in 1988 and the runner-up in 1991. She won another pair of doubles titles in the Pac-10 tournament, culminating in a No. 3 doubles national ranking by the end of her career.
Sampras Webster then had a lengthy professional career where she ranked as high as 142 in doubles while also making appearances in the U.S. Open and Lipton Championships. After concluding her professional playing career, Sampras Webster returned to where she knew best – Westwood.
“After three or four years as an assistant, I really enjoyed the coaching part and working with such great athletes who come to UCLA and to be able to help those players succeed, do well, be able to graduate from UCLA and help them on and off the court,” Sampras Webster said. “It was really rewarding. Bill Zaima was my coach and such a great mentor to me. After he resigned, I shifted up to take over as the head coach. ”
The UCLA Hall of Famer’s success didn’t waver as a coach, either.
The program’s most successful coach, boasting a .732 winning percentage, has overseen 35 All-American selections.
One of them was Jennifer Brady, a member of the 2014 national championship team before she turned professional after only her second year of college competition. In 2021, Brady was a finalist in the Australian Open singles and ranked as high as 13th internationally.
Other notable products of Sampras Webster include Grand Slam champions Abigail Spears and Ena Shibahara.
“We may not have won the team championship, but it’s (been) so many rewarding years of players becoming young adults,” Sampras Webster said. “To see them now as moms, heads of companies, players that are playing pickleball and doing very well there and some that are still on the pro tour is really rewarding.”
From former All-Americans to professional athletes to Olympic medalists, there’s a level of prestige that comes with the UCLA brand.
And it all folds into the pitch when coaches hit the recruiting trail – pointing to their paths to flaunt what donning the blue and gold can lead to.
“You can tell people it’s the school that we probably have the most head coaches that are ex-players at that school,” said football coach DeShaun Foster, who was a star running back at the Rose Bowl from 1998 to 2001. “I try to make sure that I tell our recruits this. You know, this is a 40-year plan, and I’m a walking blueprint of what actually can happen to you.”
But at the root of it, it’s the players who first carve a name for themselves.
Take track and field and cross country director Joanna Hayes.
As a Bruin, she was a six-time All-American, a seven-time Pac-10 titleholder and 1999 NCAA champion in the 400m hurdle event. She then went on to win the 2004 Olympic gold medal in the 100m hurdles.
But the work ethic and character it takes to achieve such feats is nothing short of inspirational, especially for her coaching staff today.
“It’s really easy to want to work hard and be really good at what you do, because I don’t know anybody who works harder than she (Hayes) does and wants it better than she does,” said track and field assistant coach Tate Curran. “I swear she never sleeps.”
Curran graduated from UCLA in 2022, and was hired in 2024 to lead the pole vaulting squad.
In his final year as a student-athlete, Curran won silver in the Pac-12 championship for pole vaulting.
But for people like Curran, the Bruin legacy goes beyond just his competitions.
It spans generations.
Curran’s father, Anthony, piloted the same mantle as his son for over three decades after competing at UCLA himself. During his tenure, Anthony Curran coached 17 All-American pole vaulters, nine Pac-10 champions and six Olympians.
“It is really important to create a culture where you have, on those athletics teams, Bruins that were a part of the program, that know how everything works at UCLA – but also that they really care,” Curran said. “Not only are you representing UCLA, but you’re representing your university where you went to school, so there’s a little bit of extra care and passion that you have for your work.”
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