Note: This is Part 2 in a series on new UCLA CEO and athletics director Tim Harris. You can read Part 1 here.

The UCLA chancellor wanted to see him, and Tim Harris figured that couldn’t be good.

The former Lakers business boss had agreed to teach a sports marketing class at his alma mater when he received an email calling him in to visit with Chancellor Julio Frenk.

“I thought, oh my gosh,” Harris told the California Post, “I haven’t even taught a class and I’m in trouble.”

Actually, it was the school’s athletics department that was in peril.

Mounting debt and an outdated way of doing things were inescapable problems that threatened to compound themselves if nothing changed.

Frenk wanted to meet Harris, who had helped build the Lakers into one of the world’s most successful sports franchises, to get a read on the way he viewed college athletics. The first meeting went so well, several others followed.

The more the men talked, the more they realized their visions aligned.

By last month, as it became increasingly obvious that major changes to UCLA athletics were necessary, Frenk asked Harris to take over the operation. Harris agreed to do so — on a pro-bono basis until a more permanent arrangement could be worked out.

As he sat behind the desk in his corner office inside the Morgan Center this week, having taken over as CEO and athletics director, Harris unveiled his vision.

The idea is to reimagine his department as an entertainment company whose product is college athletics. If such a move sounds transformative, that’s exactly the point.

“The landscape of college athletics is evolving at a breakneck pace, and our athletics department needs a leader who can navigate that change with both vision and discipline,” Frenk told The Post. “Tim has UCLA in his heart, and he brings a clear commitment to our student-athletes, as well as a deep understanding of our university and how to create a program that sustains itself for generations to come. We are proud to welcome him back to the Bruin community as UCLA athletics writes its next chapter.”

A tag-team approach

Just as Frenk was drawn to Harris, the man who replaced Martin Jarmond realized his new boss would be a major asset in this reinvention.

Harris compared Frenk to the new owner of a professional sports franchise that just got sold.

“This new owner is very engaged,” Harris said, “and this new owner values the student-athletes and this new owner values the coaches and this new owner values the entity and this new owner understands the value of what UCLA athletics is to the overall university in terms of a global marketing piece.”

What Frenk told Harris about his vision for success — providing tools and resources to athletes so they can compete at the highest level while still running a responsible business — made him believe that he was the right man for the job.

“If he had said, ‘It’s providing some resources and tools to our student-athletes so they can try their best while we just cut the heck out of this thing,’” Harris said, “then I’m not your person.”

Having received a reported $24 million payment after the Lakers were sold to Mark Walter in the summer of 2025, Harris didn’t need to keep working upon his departure from the organization earlier this year.

But that financial security made the prospect of serving his alma mater all the more appealing.

“Because I don’t need a job, I can be hyper-focused on the entity and not myself,” Harris said, “and yet, because I love this place so much, I can’t be reckless with it. It’s impossible for me to be reckless because I love it so much. And that certainly helps me. I have complete clarity as to what the objective is.”

The path to success

Becoming more of a professional operation means adopting a professional approach.

That includes revenue generation through enhanced social media activation and strengthening relationships with current fans while also cultivating new ones.

The pathway to financial sustainability and raising the resources to acquire and retain top athletic talent, Harris said, revolves around a robust season ticket base.

“It’s why the Lakers were so successful because we started out sold out of season tickets, you know, every year, right?” Harris said. “It is a huge relief when you have that going in because tickets are the portal to everything because a ticket is the ultimate expression of interest.

“If you can sell tickets, you can sell sponsorships. If you’re selling tickets, you’re gonna get social media engagement. If you’re selling tickets, donors are paying attention. It’s the ultimate expression.”

All those things would help the Bruins compete with the top teams in the Big Ten in terms of providing resources — something Harris said he’s committed to doing.

College athletics adopting a salary cap in terms of combined NIL and revenue-sharing support would provide welcome clarity about how much money is necessary to be raised.

“I think, hope and believe,” Harris said, “that it’s going to settle into something that is not moving, right, in some form or another through legislation or governance is going to get into something that we can understand so we can go to the coaches and say, ‘This is what’s in the pantry.’ And then we can go to our different buckets [of people] and say, ‘This is how much we need to raise to put into the pantry.’”

Harris, who will turn 65 in December, fully acknowledged that this endeavor is going to take time. UCLA’s athletics department has run in the red for seven consecutive fiscal years, piling up a total tab of more than $241 million.

But as he embarked on this passion project, it’s the opportunity that drives Harris on his morning commutes to the office from his Manhattan Beach home.

“We have a chance here to wake up the giant that everyone has been talking about, and I think that is the thing that excites me,” Harris said. “The thing gets me going every single morning is, how soon can we get there?”