Kevin Plank just replaced the CEO who might have saved Under Armour . . . with himself

After a mere 13 months at the helm, Stephanie Linnartz is out as CEO at Under Armour. Her replacement? Kevin Plank, the original founder of Under Armour who, despite stepping down in 2020 in a wake of scandals, is still the majority shareholder at the company.



Linnartz was a legendary Marriott executive who worked her way up from the finance department to Global Chief Commercial Officer. She spent 25 years in the hotel industry before joining the struggling athleticwear company in 2023. During my own brief conversation with her last November, Linnartz seemed to understand why Under Armour had lost its luster. The always-brotastic brand missed the rise of athleisure and generally lacked style. It had a sea of midrange product and nothing all that inspiring at the top. But most of all, only 25% of its sales were to women, meaning there was a pretty obvious market opportunity for Under Armour to pursue.



While Under Armour has been struggling (for nearly a decade at this point), other smaller athleticwear companies have been growing. Lululemon in particular has experienced explosive growth that Linnartz had clearly studied; it slingshotted from a comfy yoga pants company into a $9 billion force in athleticwear that’s smaller than Adidas but actually second to Nike by market cap. Aside from that, On Running, Hoka, and Brooks have all been enjoying double-digit revenue gains, carving out pieces of the sneaker industry that Under Armour has also hoped to spread into.



To counter this inertia, Linnartz had plans to expand Under Armour’s retail footprint. She also hired a lot of new talent, pointing out that two-thirds of her direct reports “across product, marketing, communications, operations, and the regions” were new to their roles. That included Under Armour’s new head of design, John Varvatos, who started in September 2023. Varvatos literally invented the boxer brief during his time at Calvin Klein, but it would be 18 months before anyone could see the fruits of his labor at Under Armour. It appears Linnartz was let go before her vision could come to life.



I’ve heard that Plank has never really stopped being in charge, even when he ceased being CEO. In this sense, Linnartz’s shocking departure was perhaps more predictable. She’s actually the second CEO to be ousted from the position since Plank first stepped down. Patrik Frisk, promoted from his role as President and COO at Under Armour, filled the role from 2020-2022 before he was ousted. (COO Colin Browne served as interim CEO between them.)



Now, maybe Linnartz would have turned around the brand, and maybe she wouldn’t have. But she was hardly given a chance, especially given that many CEOs spend their first six months to a year simply getting familiar with a company’s operations inside and out before doing anything drastic.



Meanwhile, in a post on LinkedIn, Plank wrote, “This period of self-reflection and learning has been invaluable, shaping my understanding of our business and reinforcing our mission, vision, and values. The experience of not being a CEO has taught me more about what it truly means to be a CEO. I am deeply humbled to have been entrusted by our Board to lead Under Armour at this pivotal time for the company.”



Plank is anything but a sure bet for the company; its sales had stalled and golden age ended before he ever stepped down as CEO. What we do know at this point is that Plank—who oversaw the company during a wake of scandals ranging from Under Armour endorsing trophy hunting and violating securities laws, to his personal accusations of misleading investors while dumping stock, maintaining a questionable relationship with a journalist, and supporting Trump—doesn’t appear to think anybody else can run his company but him.