Cal_79 said:

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Under the circumstances of Wilcox's extension, I don't disagree with the extension per se... What I adamantly disagree with is Knowlton giving JW the coach-friendly, fully guaranteed extension.

At the time of the extension, JW had an overall losing record. (and still does). Why handcuff Cal with such a one-sided contract for a coach with a losing record?

If extending JW made some sense at the time, sobeit; but load the contract with incentives and make it Cal-friendly.

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Knowlton: "Give him whatever he wants. I can't be bothered. He says Oregon is after him? All the better - that's a great reason [pretext]."

RedlessWardrobe said:

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Econ141 said:

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HKBear97! said:

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falseintellect said:

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Strykur said:

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PTownYogi said:

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Maybe going 6-7 finally won't cut it.

Go Bears!!

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10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat

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100%. With this move, there is no way this is not his last season (obviously he will do poorly this year, because he has proven time and again that he ****ing sucks). I can survive one more wasted year, I guess. Considering I expected many more. Maybe we can even get a midseason firing- hey we got a great interim coaching candidate in house!

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So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?

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What happens if we do reach 10 wins? Rivera comes at a critical time to be able to know whether it is Wilcox that drove the 10 win season or one of the new assistant coaches? He is going to have to a .ake a major decision at the end of this coming season.

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Seriously? After all we've already been through? No matter what Rivera's role is, if this coming season Cal goes 10-2 there's NO WAY Wilcox gets fired.

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Amen to that.
What are some people smoking.
If JW gets to 10-2 he will be poached, jump or renegotiate his contract
[IMO cal could have been 10-2 in 2024 with a slightly better offense/special teams]
Those who think JW will not be hired by another team because of his overall losing records IMO are wrong:
1. JW will blame his poor prior record on having to coach at Cal (ala Donny Dykes)
2. College football is all about what have you done lately

Shocky1 said:

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bluehen, the time to terminate knowlton is NOW!!

Sondheimer: Harvard-Westlake's new sports complex is taking shape https://t.co/s8W5AFqhTD

— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) February 5, 2025

pathological liar (the biggest whooper being his bald faced lie to carol christ that northwestern wuz gonna hire him as their athletic director) jim knowlton has been lying to everybody including mark madsen for years that shovels are gonna be in the ground soon for the critically needed basketball practice facility just north of haas pavilion

nothing has happened...NADA

meanwhile harvard prep (around the corner from shocky's beloved erewhon) is constructing a $200,000,000+ athletics facility in a timely manner just like my brah lou richie engineered the bishop o'dowd sparking new basketball facility just miles from the berkeley campus

california high schools are getting projects fundraised & constructed while the #1 ranked public university in the world got it's hoop dreamers sharing set practice times with intramural rec leagues because of the scarcity of available court time

fun fact: con artists r full of caca

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You might have noticed all the multimillion dollar projects going up all around Campus (and beyond as the Campus expansion has reached Shattuck Ave).
Unfortunately (for some) Cal's academic side is getting all the money

Wonder what Rivera's contract looks like. Hopefully Knowlton didn't play a role in any of it.

TandemBear said:

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"Wilcox 10 wins" "10-2" ????

OMG!!! Unreal.

Wow, what the HELL are y'all smoking?

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LOL, that doesn't even count the bowl win!

TandemBear said:

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"Wilcox 10 wins" "10-2" ????

OMG!!! Unreal.

Wow, what the HELL are y'all smoking?

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You laugh but come back. I expect 10 wins next season. I think we're going to be disappointed even if it's 10, because somehow we're going to blow our shot at the ACC title game by one stupid loss, or blow the title game and our change at the playoff. You laugh, but come back.

calumnus said:

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Great, great news!

People went out of their way to attack me for suggesting Rivera might come here for little compensation just out of his love for Cal.


Though for the same cost I rather have Rivera be the head coach and pay Wilcox not to coach. Maybe we get there before it is too late.

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Great to have Rivera back, but I think I'd much rather have an offensive minded head coach. Cal will never get it done by emphasizing defense. They must have an offense in this day and age.

bearsandgiants said:

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Wonder what Rivera's contract looks like. Hopefully Knowlton didn't play a role in any of it.

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Good point. The move is exciting, but there's no guarantee of success. Ostensibly, Rivera will be helping in many administrative tasks, but is dealing with those items really what is constraining Wilcox in the wins/losses department? He and the staff are still the ones game planning and making the calls on the field. Again, exciting and innovative, but I remain skeptical of the actual impact on the field.

And I do wonder about the contract. One of the biggest issue with Cal Athletics, aside from the apathetic administration, is agreeing to very unfavorable contracts and extensions. That's why I ask about the Wilcox buyout - he's owed $5 million a year through 2027. The highest buyout Cal has paid to date was $5.9 million to Dykes in 2017 followed by $5.5 million to Tedford in 2013. Rivera would need to have some serious fundraising success to manage a buyout of Wilcox anytime soon.

HKBear97! said:

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bearsandgiants said:

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Wonder what Rivera's contract looks like. Hopefully Knowlton didn't play a role in any of it.

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Good point. The move is exciting, but there's no guarantee of success. Ostensibly, Rivera will be helping in many administrative tasks, but is dealing with those items really what is constraining Wilcox in the wins/losses department? He and the staff are still the ones game planning and making the calls on the field. Again, exciting and innovative, but I remain skeptical of the actual impact on the field.

And I do wonder about the contract. One of the biggest issue with Cal Athletics, aside from the apathetic administration, is agreeing to very unfavorable contracts and extensions. That's why I ask about the Wilcox buyout - he's owed $5 million a year through 2027. The highest buyout Cal has paid to date was $5.9 million to Dykes in 2017 followed by $5.5 million to Tedford in 2013. Rivera would need to have some serious fundraising success to manage a buyout of Wilcox anytime soon.

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Unless Ron can do something about JW's "1 TD per quarter" mindset, I'm not sure how he can affect the fb program. I wonder what Ron thought when he first heard JW say that.

Pittstop said:

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HKBear97! said:

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bearsandgiants said:

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Wonder what Rivera's contract looks like. Hopefully Knowlton didn't play a role in any of it.

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Good point. The move is exciting, but there's no guarantee of success. Ostensibly, Rivera will be helping in many administrative tasks, but is dealing with those items really what is constraining Wilcox in the wins/losses department? He and the staff are still the ones game planning and making the calls on the field. Again, exciting and innovative, but I remain skeptical of the actual impact on the field.

And I do wonder about the contract. One of the biggest issue with Cal Athletics, aside from the apathetic administration, is agreeing to very unfavorable contracts and extensions. That's why I ask about the Wilcox buyout - he's owed $5 million a year through 2027. The highest buyout Cal has paid to date was $5.9 million to Dykes in 2017 followed by $5.5 million to Tedford in 2013. Rivera would need to have some serious fundraising success to manage a buyout of Wilcox anytime soon.

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Defacto AD of the entire fb program, including hiring & firing authority and making resource ($$$) allocation decisions - at all levels re FB. It will be IMPOSSIBLE for Rivera to NOT be better for Cal fb than Knowlton.

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It's not clear what his authorities will be. Ron, himself, has said that the details and specifics of his role are still being worked out. Who gets to decide how the revenue generated by football will be allocated? Would be nice if it went 100% to the football program and if Rivera controlled it. Let all the minor sports be self supporting or let them die

NCAA FBS requirement is that a school field a minimum of 16 teams in NCAA-recognized sports, so Cal can't just let all minor sports die off.

HearstMining said:

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NCAA FBS requirement is that a school field a minimum of 16 teams in NCAA-recognized sports, so Cal can't just let all minor sports die off.

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Yes, but the NCAA only requires a total of 200 scholarships be given and the ACC only requires football, men's and women's basketball and one of women's volleyball or women's soccer. So many minor sports could have scholarships eliminated and compete in a local conference like the Big West.

From my reading I also think rugby and men's crew may count toward the minimum even though they are not NCAA regulated.

Golden One said:

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Pittstop said:

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HKBear97! said:

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bearsandgiants said:

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Wonder what Rivera's contract looks like. Hopefully Knowlton didn't play a role in any of it.

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Good point. The move is exciting, but there's no guarantee of success. Ostensibly, Rivera will be helping in many administrative tasks, but is dealing with those items really what is constraining Wilcox in the wins/losses department? He and the staff are still the ones game planning and making the calls on the field. Again, exciting and innovative, but I remain skeptical of the actual impact on the field.

And I do wonder about the contract. One of the biggest issue with Cal Athletics, aside from the apathetic administration, is agreeing to very unfavorable contracts and extensions. That's why I ask about the Wilcox buyout - he's owed $5 million a year through 2027. The highest buyout Cal has paid to date was $5.9 million to Dykes in 2017 followed by $5.5 million to Tedford in 2013. Rivera would need to have some serious fundraising success to manage a buyout of Wilcox anytime soon.

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Defacto AD of the entire fb program, including hiring & firing authority and making resource ($$$) allocation decisions - at all levels re FB. It will be IMPOSSIBLE for Rivera to NOT be better for Cal fb than Knowlton.

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It's not clear what his authorities will be. Ron, himself, has said that the details and specifics of his role are still being worked out. Who gets to decide how the revenue generated by football will be allocated? Would be nice if it went 100% to the football program and if Rivera controlled it. Let all the minor sports be self supporting or let them die

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While what you say is technically true, Sebasta and Greg were pretty unambiguous and descriptive in their earlier 'allusions' regarding the breadth and scope of Ron's expected authority over "all things fb" - to the exclusion of "all things Knowlton" - before cautioning us to "pump the brakes" a bit until all of the details have been finalized and an official announcement of Ron's appointment is made public. Appropriately, both Ron (in his off the cuff, drive by interview with Pat MacAfee) and Chancellor Lyons (in his tweet a couple of days ago) have been duly circumspect in their public statements. Nevertheless, the dots that that are being publicly connected are glowing neon.

HearstMining said:

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NCAA FBS requirement is that a school field a minimum of 16 teams in NCAA-recognized sports, so Cal can't just let all minor sports die off.

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I didn't say let them all die off. Challenge them to become self-supporting.

If it was only financial, Sandy Barbour's attempt to cut teams would have succeeded years ago. Just look at what happened to Stanford two years ago and now at Sonoma State where they are being sued as they try to cut their entire sports program. To be successful in cutting the program, it will require a huge strategic push by the administration and it will be nasty. That is why no one has done it.

Chabbear said:

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If it was only financial, Sandy Barbour's attempt to cut teams would have succeeded years ago. Just look at what happened to Stanford two years ago and now at Sonoma State where they are being sued as they try to cut their entire sports program. To be successful in cutting the program, it will require a huge strategic push by the administration and it will be nasty. That is why no one has done it.

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Can't take any action nowadays that's the least bit controversial without being sued. That's just modern America.

Chabbear said:

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If it was only financial, Sandy Barbour's attempt to cut teams would have succeeded years ago. Just look at what happened to Stanford two years ago and now at Sonoma State where they are being sued as they try to cut their entire sports program. To be successful in cutting the program, it will require a huge strategic push by the administration and it will be nasty. That is why no one has done it.

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What would it have been beyond financial?

Pittstop said:

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Rushinbear said:

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HKBear97! said:

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bearsandgiants said:

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Wonder what Rivera's contract looks like. Hopefully Knowlton didn't play a role in any of it.

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Good point. The move is exciting, but there's no guarantee of success. Ostensibly, Rivera will be helping in many administrative tasks, but is dealing with those items really what is constraining Wilcox in the wins/losses department? He and the staff are still the ones game planning and making the calls on the field. Again, exciting and innovative, but I remain skeptical of the actual impact on the field.

And I do wonder about the contract. One of the biggest issue with Cal Athletics, aside from the apathetic administration, is agreeing to very unfavorable contracts and extensions. That's why I ask about the Wilcox buyout - he's owed $5 million a year through 2027. The highest buyout Cal has paid to date was $5.9 million to Dykes in 2017 followed by $5.5 million to Tedford in 2013. Rivera would need to have some serious fundraising success to manage a buyout of Wilcox anytime soon.

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Unless Ron can do something about JW's "1 TD per quarter" mindset, I'm not sure how he can affect the fb program. I wonder what Ron thought when he first heard JW say that.

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Hence the relevance, and importance, of Ron's extensive rolodex of quality coaching candidates & contacts, acquired through 'years' of scouting/interacting with college coaches on potential draft prospects or UDFA candidates and through playing and coaching at the highest levels of professional fb, if replacing a fb HC is needed.

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I recall similar statements being made when ASU hired Herm Edwards. How well did that turn out?

mbBear said:

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Chabbear said:

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If it was only financial, Sandy Barbour's attempt to cut teams would have succeeded years ago. Just look at what happened to Stanford two years ago and now at Sonoma State where they are being sued as they try to cut their entire sports program. To be successful in cutting the program, it will require a huge strategic push by the administration and it will be nasty. That is why no one has done it.

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What would it have been beyond financial?

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What I meant was that other issues stopped the cutting from happening that were not financial.

HKBear97! said:

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Pittstop said:

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Rushinbear said:

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HKBear97! said:

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bearsandgiants said:

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Wonder what Rivera's contract looks like. Hopefully Knowlton didn't play a role in any of it.

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Good point. The move is exciting, but there's no guarantee of success. Ostensibly, Rivera will be helping in many administrative tasks, but is dealing with those items really what is constraining Wilcox in the wins/losses department? He and the staff are still the ones game planning and making the calls on the field. Again, exciting and innovative, but I remain skeptical of the actual impact on the field.

And I do wonder about the contract. One of the biggest issue with Cal Athletics, aside from the apathetic administration, is agreeing to very unfavorable contracts and extensions. That's why I ask about the Wilcox buyout - he's owed $5 million a year through 2027. The highest buyout Cal has paid to date was $5.9 million to Dykes in 2017 followed by $5.5 million to Tedford in 2013. Rivera would need to have some serious fundraising success to manage a buyout of Wilcox anytime soon.

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Unless Ron can do something about JW's "1 TD per quarter" mindset, I'm not sure how he can affect the fb program. I wonder what Ron thought when he first heard JW say that.

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Hence the relevance, and importance, of Ron's extensive rolodex of quality coaching candidates & contacts, acquired through 'years' of scouting/interacting with college coaches on potential draft prospects or UDFA candidates and through playing and coaching at the highest levels of professional fb, if replacing a fb HC is needed.

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I recall similar statements being made when ASU hired Herm Edwards. How well did that turn out?

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They made the mistake of hiring Herm as a HC, with no guardrails to shield Herm and his staff against rampant recruiting violations. Cal hasn't traditionally had "those" types of issues which go directly to culture. And in any event RR as GM would be the ultimate 'guardrail'. Apples & oranges.