UCLA Chief Financial Officer Stephen Agostini, one of the principal drivers of the school’s proposed move from theRose Bowl to SoFi Stadium, is out in what amounts to ahuge blowfor the Bruins athletic department.

Agostini’s immediate departure was announced Tuesday in a memo from UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk to faculty and staff.

Frenk named Reem Hanna-Harwell, senior associate dean for finance and administration in the UCLA College, as interim vice chancellor and chief financial officer while a search for Agostini’s permanent replacement begins.

As he searched for new revenue sources, Agostini had pushed for UCLA to play home football games at SoFi Stadium, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation.

The planned arrangement included a mixed-use development project that would financially benefit the school, potentially offsetting departure costs associated with a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by the Rose Bowl and the City of Pasadena intended to keep UCLA at its current football home.

Agostini also backed UCLA’s athletic department in other significant ways, understanding its importance as one of the largest marketing and branding arms of the university.

Along with Frenk, Agostini supported the university’s decision to provide $30 million in direct institutional support to the athletic department in each of the last two fiscal years while also wiping accumulated debt off the books. That brought the balance to zero even though the athletic department had run $241.1 million in the red over the last seven fiscal years.

The athletic department’s financial situation has drawn a strong rebuke from the UCLA Academic Senate, which has called for an independent audit and a “phased plan toward break-even or substantially reduced subsidy” from the university.

Agostini had been on the job for less than two years after arriving in May 2024 from a similar post at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

His departure may have been precipitated by remarks he made to the Daily Bruin regarding widespread mismanagement of university finances that led to a forecasted $425-million deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos