Any chance he'd consider a role at Cal?
Ron Rivera fired by Commanders
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Last: 1 yr ago by calumnus
I don't get the fascination with Ron Rivera. Please explain.
Hypothetically, if he somehow got involved with the program while he figures out his next pro move, that seems like an obvious positive for us. Now, is he a good college HC, who knows but we aren't lookin for one.oskidunker said:
I don't get the fascination with Ron Rivera. Please explain.
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
He DOES have square jaw, and that seems to be the primary attribute desired hereabouts.
I'd much rather he takes an outside consultant role with the mission of improving football operations within the athletic department apparatus. Get someone with football knowledge to help fight for football.
oskidunker said:
I don't get the fascination with Ron Rivera. Please explain.
*A former NFL head coach isn't coming to Cal under normal circumstances.
*His involvement in the sport over the years brings great resources for seeking out coaches
*His understanding of Cal and the "student athlete" concept is special. He and Stephanie's relationship with Cal is pretty well documented.
*The above means zero if he can't recruit. If you met Ron for 5 minutes you would be impressed... If you saw him interact with other people then you know he would hit recruiting out of the park.
The only chance it happens is if he takes a year off, and even then, it's not a lock
He can land an NFL DC job easily...
golden sloth said:
I'd much rather he takes an outside consultant role with the mission of improving football operations within the athletic department apparatus. Get someone with football knowledge to help fight for football.
I'm fine with that...I would probably bet on that scenario, or something similar.
Why? With all due respect he's seen better football days.
Why not, we are already the Washington Commanders / Carolina Panthers of college football
No one got the fascination with Harbaugh, right? Then he proved he could coach. Rivera's teams haven't exactly been stacked in the NFL, but he's got a lot of experience coaching, 20 years in fact, this isn't Joe Kapp with zero experience, this is someone with serious experience. I don't see a big difference between the two, other than the fact that one is a total a** and the other is one of the nicest human beings I've ever met. Well connected and networked, I'd have no doubt there are a lot of benefits he'd bring to the table. That being said, I don't know if he'd be a great college coach. What I do know is that Cal fans and alums have been searching and looking for answers. He may not be the right answer but he is absolutely one of the possibilities and that's why Cal alums talk about him. He may be better positioned to be in the AD department after someone is finally booted out.
Josh Harris wrote a very kind press release announcing the dismissal, and Rivera wrote a very classy thank you to the organization and the fans. I think he was stuck in an awful situation in the closing days of the Dan Snyder ownership era, and his fate was sealed when his defensive assets were traded for picks at the deadline.
I'd love to see him in a role at Cal. As stated by someone else in the thread, this wouldn't be a Joe Kapp situation if he were brought in to coach; he has coaching experience in addition to deep ties to the university. Personally, I also think he'd be an improvement over Knowlton as AD.
I'd love to see him in a role at Cal. As stated by someone else in the thread, this wouldn't be a Joe Kapp situation if he were brought in to coach; he has coaching experience in addition to deep ties to the university. Personally, I also think he'd be an improvement over Knowlton as AD.
Bobodeluxe said:
He DOES have square jaw, and that seems to be the primary attribute desired hereabouts.
Ideal candidate = square jaw + Neanderthal brow ala Judas
But at this point I'll settle for just square jaw
If Rivera was interested, and if he can become a prolific fundraiser, this would work.Quote:
Personally, I also think he'd be an improvement over Knowlton as AD.
Rivera actually won a division title in 2020 with the Commanders, under perhaps the most dysfunctional ownership regime in NFL history. IMO he did an amazing job even since then, given the environment, owner interference, and scandal that led to the NFL forcing a sale of the franchise. He maintained his professionalism and control of the locker room through some very difficult years. The man is a great coach and anyone who has followed him knows what a class act he is as a person. At a minimum, it would behoove Knowlton to reach out and determine if he would be willing to associate with Cal at some level. I believe he'd be a dream head coach, but I'd love to see him as a strategic advisor, or in any role where he could contribute to Cal football. If he's at a point where he's ready to move on from the NFL, and is desirous of returning to the west coast, there needs to be at least a serious conversation if he'd be interested in talking.
Due to our poor leadership, our athletic department has a massive deficit and our revenues are about to decrease by (roughly) $20 million next year.
Wilcox has had 7 years (only Utah's Wittingham longer) and Cal has had the worst record in the conference over that time. Even propped up with an FCS win and an FBS patsy every year he has a losing record. He has proven to not be a good head coach with little hope for improvement.
However, again due to our poor leadership, it would cost $20 million to fire Wilcox right now. Given our financial circumstances we cannot afford to pay two football coaches $20 million each over the next 4 years.
The fascination with Rivera is that there is an idea that, given his wealth, his love for Cal and stated desire to coach at Cal before he retires, he might come to Cal and defer his compensation until after we are clear of Wilcox's contract. It might be a fantasy, but there is no other coach that is even plausible.
Thus, for those parsing Rivers's record, the only question is "Between Rivera and Wilcox, who would you take?" because that is our only choice, if we even are lucky enough to have any choice.
The ONLY question should be if Rivera would come for initially no compensation, because if he would we would be crazy not to take that offer.
Wilcox has had 7 years (only Utah's Wittingham longer) and Cal has had the worst record in the conference over that time. Even propped up with an FCS win and an FBS patsy every year he has a losing record. He has proven to not be a good head coach with little hope for improvement.
However, again due to our poor leadership, it would cost $20 million to fire Wilcox right now. Given our financial circumstances we cannot afford to pay two football coaches $20 million each over the next 4 years.
The fascination with Rivera is that there is an idea that, given his wealth, his love for Cal and stated desire to coach at Cal before he retires, he might come to Cal and defer his compensation until after we are clear of Wilcox's contract. It might be a fantasy, but there is no other coach that is even plausible.
Thus, for those parsing Rivers's record, the only question is "Between Rivera and Wilcox, who would you take?" because that is our only choice, if we even are lucky enough to have any choice.
The ONLY question should be if Rivera would come for initially no compensation, because if he would we would be crazy not to take that offer.
DoubtfulBear said:
Why not, we are already the Washington Commanders / Carolina Panthers of college football
You have to go back a long ways to compare Carolina's 2014 and 2105 to anything in Cal football....
Panthers have only been around since '95, so '15 Panthers is basically Cal in '91mbBear said:DoubtfulBear said:
Why not, we are already the Washington Commanders / Carolina Panthers of college football
You have to go back a long ways to compare Carolina's 2014 and 2105 to anything in Cal football....
DoubtfulBear said:Panthers have only been around since '95, so '15 Panthers is basically Cal in '91mbBear said:DoubtfulBear said:
Why not, we are already the Washington Commanders / Carolina Panthers of college football
You have to go back a long ways to compare Carolina's 2014 and 2105 to anything in Cal football....
As he said, you have to go back a long ways.
DoubtfulBear said:Panthers have only been around since '95, so '15 Panthers is basically Cal in '91mbBear said:DoubtfulBear said:
Why not, we are already the Washington Commanders / Carolina Panthers of college football
You have to go back a long ways to compare Carolina's 2014 and 2105 to anything in Cal football....
Ron took the Panthers to the championship game of the NFL...I'm fine considering that Cal team 2nd best in the conference... and sure that's kind of the same thing....
Weren't Ron and his wife instrumental in helping to raise money after our move to the ACC?
mbBear said:DoubtfulBear said:Panthers have only been around since '95, so '15 Panthers is basically Cal in '91mbBear said:DoubtfulBear said:
Why not, we are already the Washington Commanders / Carolina Panthers of college football
You have to go back a long ways to compare Carolina's 2014 and 2105 to anything in Cal football....
Ron took the Panthers to the championship game of the NFL...I'm fine considering that Cal team 2nd best in the conference... and sure that's kind of the same thing....
He won his division, which is like winning the conference, won two playoff games to win the NFC Championship, then lost the Super Bowl.
For NIL, yeah.YuSeeBerkeley said:
Weren't Ron and his wife instrumental in helping to raise money after our move to the ACC?
Strykur said:For NIL, yeah.YuSeeBerkeley said:
Weren't Ron and his wife instrumental in helping to raise money after our move to the ACC?
They were both charter members on the Board of Directors (if that's what it's called) for Calegends.com, our NIL collective.
Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
How about AD?
Pittstop said:Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
How about AD?
Why? If he would come for an AD salary (or less) we should make him the head football coach, his proven expertise. He took a team to tge Suoer Bowl. There are better, cheaper alternatives for AD. There is no other alternative for head football coach, given Wilcox's contract.
I highly doubt Rivera would take the head coaching job (or AD) for free, even though he loves Cal, and free is about all we can afford right now while paying Wilcox's salary.calumnus said:Pittstop said:Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
How about AD?
Why? If he would come for an AD salary (or less) we should make him the head football coach, his proven expertise. He took a team to tge Suoer Bowl. There are better, cheaper alternatives for AD. There is no other alternative for head football coach, given Wilcox's contract.
Because old tired retread NFL head coaches rarely make good recruiters and recruiting is what wins and loses college football gamescalumnus said:Why? If he would come for an AD salary (or less) we should make him the head football coach, his proven expertise. He took a team to tge Suoer Bowl. There are better, cheaper alternatives for AD. There is no other alternative for head football coach, given Wilcox's contract.Pittstop said:How about AD?Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
golden sloth said:
I'd much rather he takes an outside consultant role with the mission of improving football operations within the athletic department apparatus. Get someone with football knowledge to help fight for football.
Neither Knowlton nor Wilcox is smart enough to make such a move.
Eastern Oregon Bear said:I highly doubt Rivera would take the head coaching job (or AD) for free, even though he loves Cal, and free is about all we can afford right now while paying Wilcox's salary.calumnus said:Pittstop said:Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
How about AD?
Why? If he would come for an AD salary (or less) we should make him the head football coach, his proven expertise. He took a team to tge Suoer Bowl. There are better, cheaper alternatives for AD. There is no other alternative for head football coach, given Wilcox's contract.
Agreed, but that is the only question we should be debating, not whether Rivera would be an upgrade over Wilcox. That should be obvious. I can't believe people are arguing otherwise.
You'll usually hear that argument about journeyman NFL coordinators (I'm looking at Musgrave & our journeyman OL coach from several years back that seemed like a really unispired hire) but I think former NFL head coaches might fare better. It's obviously very much up to the individual but Saban (55 years old in 2007) and Carroll (49 in 2001) could've been considered "tired, retread" NFL head coaches at one point.Bear Naked Ladies said:Because old tired retread NFL head coaches rarely make good recruiters and recruiting is what wins and lose college football gamescalumnus said:Why? If he would come for an AD salary (or less) we should make him the head football coach, his proven expertise. He took a team to tge Suoer Bowl. There are better, cheaper alternatives for AD. There is no other alternative for head football coach, given Wilcox's contract.Pittstop said:How about AD?Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
Now granted Rivera would be a bit older than either of them (currently 62) and lacks the prior college coaching experience (26 years all in the NFL), but he does have experience as a former NFL player which could be relatable to recruits on a unique level and in Cal's case would be able to personally speak about his time here. Those are things that might make him a little different from your run of the mill ex-NFL coach. Add on the fact that he's involved with the NIL collective and there's another reason to believe he might have above-average saavy as first-time college recruiter.
But all this is probably irrelevant since it doesn't look like Cal has the money to hire him and fire Wilcox and any coaching changes would happen next year or later. I'm realistically resigned to just hoping Wilcox actually improves next year and we make the best of what we've got. But in the meantime if there was any way to get Rivera involved like on an AD level as other's have suggested (though different set of questions about his qualifications for that) or some kind of consultant/advisor role or even a Coordinator role (though I doubt he'd settle for what would appear to be a demotion) I think that'd be great. Might help us lock him up a bit and perhaps would mean he's at least a candidate should we actually have a HC vacancy in the near-future.
Bear Naked Ladies said:Because old tired retread NFL head coaches rarely make good recruiters and recruiting is what wins and lose college football gamescalumnus said:Why? If he would come for an AD salary (or less) we should make him the head football coach, his proven expertise. He took a team to tge Suoer Bowl. There are better, cheaper alternatives for AD. There is no other alternative for head football coach, given Wilcox's contract.Pittstop said:How about AD?Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
"Rarely"? Seems to me more often than not they make great recruiters. Walsh st Stanford, Carroll at USC, Saban at Alabama, Harbaugh at Michigan even Edwards at ASU recruited well, especially initially. If they are not successful it usually comes from other areas. Can you think of a head coach that took a team to the Super Bowl, went to college and didn't recruit well?
But let's turn this around. By what measure do you consider Wilcox to be a good recruiter?
StillNoStanfurdium said:You'll usually hear that argument about journeyman NFL coordinators (I'm looking at Musgrave & our journeyman OL coach from several years back that seemed like a really unispired hire) but I think former NFL head coaches might fare better. It's obviously very much up to the individual but Saban (55 years old in 2007) and Carroll (49 in 2001) could've been considered "tired, retread" NFL head coaches at one point.Bear Naked Ladies said:Because old tired retread NFL head coaches rarely make good recruiters and recruiting is what wins and lose college football gamescalumnus said:Why? If he would come for an AD salary (or less) we should make him the head football coach, his proven expertise. He took a team to tge Suoer Bowl. There are better, cheaper alternatives for AD. There is no other alternative for head football coach, given Wilcox's contract.Pittstop said:How about AD?Valleyblue said:
I know he's stated that he'd love to coach Cal. I wonder if he's ready to slow down a bit and would he consider coming back to Cal as DC/Associate HC. Personally, I've thought our defense just hasn't been what it was when DeRuyter was here. I wouldn't mind seeing us go in "another direction" from Sirmon.
Now granted Rivera would be a bit older than either of them (currently 62) and lacks the prior college coaching experience (26 years all in the NFL), but he does have experience as a former NFL player which could be relatable to recruits on a unique level and in Cal's case would be able to personally speak about his time here. Those are things that might make him a little different from your run of the mill ex-NFL coach. Add on the fact that he's involved with the NIL collective and there's another reason to believe he might have above-average saavy as first-time college recruiter.
But all this is probably irrelevant since it doesn't look like Cal has the money to hire him and fire Wilcox and any coaching changes would happen next year or later. I'm realistically resigned to just hoping Wilcox actually improves next year and we make the best of what we've got. But in the meantime if there was any way to get Rivera involved like on an AD level as other's have suggested (though different set of questions about his qualifications for that) or some kind of consultant/advisor role or even a Coordinator role (though I doubt he'd settle for what would appear to be a demotion) I think that'd be great. Might help us lock him up a bit and perhaps would mean he's at least a candidate should we actually have a HC vacancy in the near-future.
I don't see why people think Rivera might settle for a coordinator salary, consulting salary or even AD salary and the role that comes with it, but wouldn't accept the same salary to be head football coach where he can make the greatest impact? That just doesn't make sense to me. I agree it is unlikely he comes to Cal, but if he does it is not to be Justin Wilcox's defensive coordinator.
It would be a big story if he were to come here in any capacity. And if it's not as head coach it would clearly be perceived as coach in waiting, which would also make it abundantly clear that Wilcox is on the hot seat.
JimSox said:
It would be a big story if he were to come here in any capacity. And if it's not as head coach it would clearly be perceived as coach in waiting, which would also make it abundantly clear that Wilcox is on the hot seat.
I guess consultant and coach in waiting would be more typiCal for us. I agree with others. If we are going to wait out Wilcox's contract, then we should do a full search at that time, The huge attraction of Rivera is that he might allow us to replace Wilcox now. If it is just Wilcox on the "hot seat" then does he keep his job if he goes 6-7 again next year? Because Rivera would just be wasting his time. It also puts Rivera in a weird position. He would be using his superior coaching to maintain a mediocre coach, possibly getting him another extension and forgoing Rivera's dream to lead his alma mater.
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