The news has broken - Ron Rivera as Cal's new GM of Football

11,102 Views | 93 Replies | Last: 12 days ago by Pittstop
HawaiiBear33
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TandemBear said:

That was a nice surprise in my inbox today!

The impossible has happened! OMG, such amazing news!!!

I would leave it at that, but I simply HAVE to ask about the useless AD. Bummer he's still there. Or is he?

Since a HUGE aspect of his job has been forfeited (by him), his salary is being cut, right? Take some of that $1.3M and redirect it toward the more deserving recipient: Mr. Rivera! If Knownothing complains, send him packing!

Wow, things are indeed looking up.



Please make this happen and keep the momentum rolling on
MiZery
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Can he recruit and coach part time
HearstMining
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Ideally, Knowlton would see Rivera's hiring and charter as a personal slight and quit. Maybe to up the ante, Lyon should mandate that The Colonel be in his office 5 days a week. That might be enough to get him to walk out the door.

or

Well-heeled alumni see that Lyon is getting serious and pony up the $$$ to buy out Knowlton immediately.
pingpong2
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I remember there being some doubters here who claimed that Lyons was just Tien reincarnate. Glad to see they were wrong.
Cal88
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pingpong2 said:

I remember there being some doubters here who claimed that Lyons was just Tien reincarnate. Glad to see they were wrong.

It was a pretty skillful move by Lyons, upturning the hierarchy in the AD without flipping over the fruit cart.
HKBear97!
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falseintellect said:

Strykur said:

PTownYogi said:

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

Go Bears!!
10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat
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!


So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?
bluehenbear
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If JK no longer has any responsibilities with respect to football then his salary is definitely not justified.
Shocky1
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bluehen, the time to terminate knowlton is NOW!!


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
Econ141
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HKBear97! said:

falseintellect said:

Strykur said:

PTownYogi said:

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

Go Bears!!
10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat
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!


So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?


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.
Give to Cal Legends!

https://calegends.com/donation/ Do it now. Text every Cal fan you know, give them the link, tell them how much you gave, and ask them to text every Cal fan they know and do the same.
75bear
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Shocky - You of all people shouldn't be celebrating Harvard-Westlake's new facility - they demolished a golf course to build it! Before you disparage Whitsett (then renamed Weddington), this is the pitch and putt and range where I grew up and learned to play golf. I probably would never have gotten into the game without this local, rough around the edges gem. I have many memories there - teeing off on #1 for my first ever golf hole with Ernie Banks watching 13 year old me and rooting me on. Having Tony Danza yell at me on #6 - what a di$k. Seeing my buddy hit a hole in one on #8 when we were 17 years old.

I guess progress inevitably moves on, but I'm still allowed to be sad about it.
Shocky1
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75, feel ur pain, let's meet up some evening at erewhon around the corner for a lite dinner (my treat) & then let's go hit some wedges (replacing divots of course) on the football field until the sun goes down, ok??

and shouldn't the track long jump pit be functional for some bunker practice too??

maybe we could permanent ink the spot of ur hole in one just to memorialize it for future generations or something

fore#
okaydo
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1. Did Ron Rivera take this job because he missed working in the ACC part of the country?

2. Why didn't College Gameday show Ron?
HoopDreams
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calbearsfan said:

Welcome home Ron and Stephanie!!!
I see them both at so many events... Game Day, Big Game, etc
HungryCalBear
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I wonder if Cal and Stanford talked, with Andrew Luck and RR taking a similar "new" role all of a sudden. Coincident?
oskidunker
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Can Rivera fire Wilcox? He wont need Knowltons ok.
Bring back It’s It’s to Haas Pavillion!
Rushinbear
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oskidunker said:

Can Rivera fire Wilcox? He wont need Knowltons ok.
when harsin and THEN Rolo were announced, the thought crossed my mind that JW might be contemplating his volun/involun departure to leave the two of them to work it out. Crazy, I know.
SoFlaBear
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bear2034 said:

If Wilcox and his subsequent replacements don't work out, do we have to replace Ron too?
Not necessarily, but Ron Rivera has been brought in to troubleshoot what ails the football program. Money and coaching top that list.
SoFlaBear
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Rushinbear said:

oskidunker said:

Can Rivera fire Wilcox? He wont need Knowltons ok.
when harsin and THEN Rolo were announced, the thought crossed my mind that JW might be contemplating his volun/involun departure to leave the two of them to work it out. Crazy, I know.
That's my read (that he can fire Wilcox after checking with the Chancellor), but my sense is that this is more like something Nebraska did 10 years ago. They brought Tom Osborne in to "coach the coach" (who, at that time, was Bo Pelini). I think Ron will be imparting wisdom; evaluating assistants; and raising and approving the distribution of NIL funds.

I wonder if there will be an analog GM for MBB and WBB. which would essentially relegate Knowlton to AD of non-revenue sports?
SoFlaBear
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Econ141 said:

HKBear97! said:

falseintellect said:

Strykur said:

PTownYogi said:

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

Go Bears!!
10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat
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!


So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?


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.
My initial reaction is "let's reach 10 wins and find out."

- If the question is would JW be offered a fat extension for 10 wins, I'd say "probably" but it's equally likely he'll declare victory and leave for a B1G job.

- Ron Rivera would have an easier (note: I'm not saying easy) time fundraising a JW buyout than Knowlton would. That said, JW gets us to a weak bowl every other year and has done great winning Big Game, so my guess is he'll be given the entirety of this season to sink or swim, given the costs involved.

- It is doubtful there would be a mid-season firing for simply having a bad record. There would have to be misfortune (a health issue) or scandal. But I agree that if he were to resign/be bought out/be fired for cause that Rivera would be the obvious choice to immediately step in.
6956bear
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SoFlaBear said:

Rushinbear said:

oskidunker said:

Can Rivera fire Wilcox? He wont need Knowltons ok.
when harsin and THEN Rolo were announced, the thought crossed my mind that JW might be contemplating his volun/involun departure to leave the two of them to work it out. Crazy, I know.
That's my read (that he can fire Wilcox after checking with the Chancellor), but my sense is that this is more like something Nebraska did 10 years ago. They brought Tom Osborne in to "coach the coach" (who, at that time, was Bo Pelini). I think Ron will be imparting wisdom; evaluating assistants; and raising and approving the distribution of NIL funds.

I wonder if there will be an analog GM for MBB and WBB. which would essentially relegate Knowlton to AD of non-revenue sports?
I think Ron is being brought in to evaluate all things football. Including of course the HC and his staff. A key point you make which I agree with completely is the raising of money for revenue distribution to players (NIL) and how it will be distributed. A strategy so to speak.

I am very hopeful that this is the beginning of becoming a high perfoming organization. That the revenue sports will be handled much differently than the non revenue sports. The revenue sports are well behind most of their peers in performance. That has to change. And it wasn't going to under the current set up.

The football GM has to be the change agent that takes Cal football to the next level. Performance and accountability. Winning needs to be important and necessary. No more settling. Cal can be a high performing football operation. But it needs leadership and direction.

I know many folks are hoping that Ron somehow becomes the HC. I think at this point in time the football GM is the most important role. He is well suited to be that leader. Now get in line or get out of the way. Time to win.
Pittstop
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6956bear said:

SoFlaBear said:

Rushinbear said:

oskidunker said:

Can Rivera fire Wilcox? He wont need Knowltons ok.
when harsin and THEN Rolo were announced, the thought crossed my mind that JW might be contemplating his volun/involun departure to leave the two of them to work it out. Crazy, I know.
That's my read (that he can fire Wilcox after checking with the Chancellor), but my sense is that this is more like something Nebraska did 10 years ago. They brought Tom Osborne in to "coach the coach" (who, at that time, was Bo Pelini). I think Ron will be imparting wisdom; evaluating assistants; and raising and approving the distribution of NIL funds.

I wonder if there will be an analog GM for MBB and WBB. which would essentially relegate Knowlton to AD of non-revenue sports?
I think Ron is being brought in to evaluate all things football. Including of course the HC and his staff. A key point you make which I agree with completely is the raising of money for revenue distribution to players (NIL) and how it will be distributed. A strategy so to speak.

I am very hopeful that this is the beginning of becoming a high perfoming organization. That the revenue sports will be handled much differently than the non revenue sports. The revenue sports are well behind most of their peers in performance. That has to change. And it wasn't going to under the current set up.

The football GM has to be the change agent that takes Cal football to the next level. Performance and accountability. Winning needs to be important and necessary. No more settling. Cal can be a high performing football operation. But it needs leadership and direction.

I know many folks are hoping that Ron somehow becomes the HC. I think at this point in time the football GM is the most important role. He is well suited to be that leader. Now get in line or get out of the way. Time to win.


With Stephanie Rivera's deep fundraising and NIL experience and financial acumen as a founding board member of the Cal Legends Collective, she will be an invaluable and important piece of Ron's GM administration when it comes to advising re the generation of (raising) and appropriate allocation & distribution of FB revenues, as well as with many other areas of facilitating the financial/economic strategies between the GM's office, the Collective, and the Chancellor's office. She will be a great help to Ron. Rivera is right where he needs to be - and exactly where he is most needed by the fb program.
Pittstop
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6956bear said:

SoFlaBear said:

Rushinbear said:

oskidunker said:

Can Rivera fire Wilcox? He wont need Knowltons ok.
when harsin and THEN Rolo were announced, the thought crossed my mind that JW might be contemplating his volun/involun departure to leave the two of them to work it out. Crazy, I know.
That's my read (that he can fire Wilcox after checking with the Chancellor), but my sense is that this is more like something Nebraska did 10 years ago. They brought Tom Osborne in to "coach the coach" (who, at that time, was Bo Pelini). I think Ron will be imparting wisdom; evaluating assistants; and raising and approving the distribution of NIL funds.

I wonder if there will be an analog GM for MBB and WBB. which would essentially relegate Knowlton to AD of non-revenue sports?
I think Ron is being brought in to evaluate all things football. Including of course the HC and his staff. A key point you make which I agree with completely is the raising of money for revenue distribution to players (NIL) and how it will be distributed. A strategy so to speak.

I am very hopeful that this is the beginning of becoming a high perfoming organization. That the revenue sports will be handled much differently than the non revenue sports. The revenue sports are well behind most of their peers in performance. That has to change. And it wasn't going to under the current set up.

The football GM has to be the change agent that takes Cal football to the next level. Performance and accountability. Winning needs to be important and necessary. No more settling. Cal can be a high performing football operation. But it needs leadership and direction.

I know many folks are hoping that Ron somehow becomes the HC. I think at this point in time the football GM is the most important role. He is well suited to be that leader. Now get in line or get out of the way. Time to win.


100% agree. Ron's appointment to the GM position is the perfect appointment to utilize his vast FB experience and connections to the Cal donor community, as well as his having the extensive rolodex connections to both the college and NFL coaching network and coaches fraternity. There is no person better equipped or qualified to fill any future coaching vacancy (or vacancies), from a readily accessible - and amenable - contact list of highly qualified, quality candidates to fill any open coaching vacancy without needing to even consider adding HC responsibilities to his plate. His GM portfolio will be vast enough as it is. And he is absolutely the man for that job.
Chabbear
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Rolodex=digital contact lists for those a little younger. Just hassling lol.
StillNoStanfurdium
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SoFlaBear said:

Econ141 said:

HKBear97! said:

falseintellect said:

Strykur said:

PTownYogi said:

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

Go Bears!!
10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat
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!


So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?


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.
My initial reaction is "let's reach 10 wins and find out."

- If the question is would JW be offered a fat extension for 10 wins, I'd say "probably" but it's equally likely he'll declare victory and leave for a B1G job.

- Ron Rivera would have an easier (note: I'm not saying easy) time fundraising a JW buyout than Knowlton would. That said, JW gets us to a weak bowl every other year and has done great winning Big Game, so my guess is he'll be given the entirety of this season to sink or swim, given the costs involved.

- It is doubtful there would be a mid-season firing for simply having a bad record. There would have to be misfortune (a health issue) or scandal. But I agree that if he were to resign/be bought out/be fired for cause that Rivera would be the obvious choice to immediately step in.


If, and it's a big IF, Wilcox gets to 10 wins I think it'd be far more likely that Harsin or Rolovich get poached as it would be a successful rehab for them (and I don't see us getting 10 wins without the offense working smoothly). Rolovich especially as he's just an offensive assistant right now.

I think schools know what Wilcox is at this point and wouldn't take one year of clear success as enough to show he's different. Getting attention after a single 10 win season works if you're an upstart coach who pulled off an immediate turnaround of a program but not when you've been around for 8 years.
calumnus
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StillNoStanfurdium said:

SoFlaBear said:

Econ141 said:

HKBear97! said:

falseintellect said:

Strykur said:

PTownYogi said:

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

Go Bears!!
10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat
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!


So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?


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.
My initial reaction is "let's reach 10 wins and find out."

- If the question is would JW be offered a fat extension for 10 wins, I'd say "probably" but it's equally likely he'll declare victory and leave for a B1G job.

- Ron Rivera would have an easier (note: I'm not saying easy) time fundraising a JW buyout than Knowlton would. That said, JW gets us to a weak bowl every other year and has done great winning Big Game, so my guess is he'll be given the entirety of this season to sink or swim, given the costs involved.

- It is doubtful there would be a mid-season firing for simply having a bad record. There would have to be misfortune (a health issue) or scandal. But I agree that if he were to resign/be bought out/be fired for cause that Rivera would be the obvious choice to immediately step in.


If, and it's a big IF, Wilcox gets to 10 wins I think it'd be far more likely that Harsin or Rolovich get poached as it would be a successful rehab for them (and I don't see us getting 10 wins without the offense working smoothly). Rolovich especially as he's just an offensive assistant right now.

I think schools know what Wilcox is at this point and wouldn't take one year of clear success as enough to show he's different. Getting attention after a single 10 win season works if you're an upstart coach who pulled off an immediate turnaround of a program but not when you've been around for 8 years.


Agreed, in that unlikely scenario the outside world gives credit to Harsin or Rivera. It would be Rivera's decision how much credit to give to Wilcox and decide what to do with his contract.
RedlessWardrobe
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Econ141 said:

HKBear97! said:

falseintellect said:

Strykur said:

PTownYogi said:

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

Go Bears!!
10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat
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!


So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?


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.
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.
sycasey
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smh
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much thanks S, though somehow it took me a while to be sure that was the 2025 edition of RR standing right there
#gobears
calumnus
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RedlessWardrobe said:

Econ141 said:

HKBear97! said:

falseintellect said:

Strykur said:

PTownYogi said:

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

Go Bears!!
10 wins, no excuses, Wilcox on the hot seat
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!


So will Ron cover Wilcox's buyout then?


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.
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.


At that point Wilcox would be at .500 overall, but still well below .500 versus conference or even D1 competition. I agree, almost certainly doesn't get fired, but going into year 10 with tougher schedules in the future and the likely loss of the assistants who helped get those 10 wins, but only one year left on his contract, do we avoid the pressure some insiders will undoubtably bring to extend him once again? I mean, most of this board was thrilled with him being extended after a losing season and a losing record overall.

The hope is Rivera will be able to sort out the degree to which Wilcox helped get that 10-2 and the likelihood he gets us to 10-2 in the future. I do think the Portal makes the argument that coaches need to be extended "for recruiting" less compelling. So maybe he coaches in 2026 and we evaluate after that season when his buyout is down to $5 million.

I also think 7-9 wins is more likely, which many would still view as "success."
Cal_79
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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.
Big C
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If we go 10-2 next year, first we celebrate! After that (and it would take a while for the party to die down), give him a one-year extension at 50% buyout, or a two year extension at 25% buyout,,, something like that. It was the six-year extension at 100% buyout that was nutty.
Strykur
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Big C said:

If we go 10-2 next year, first we celebrate! After that (and it would take a while for the party to die down), give him a one-year extension at 50% buyout, or a two year extension at 25% buyout,,, something like that. It was the six-year extension at 100% buyout that was nutty.
Extend him one year for every win after 10, leave it at that, re-visit in 2026 (I would not offer him any deal unless we make the playoff)
UrsineMaximus
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With a GM in place, why would we even need a head coach? Decisions like "fourth down and one to go" are almost automatic in today's game depending on which side of the field you are on.
BearChemist
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UrsineMaximus said:

With a GM in place, why would we even need a head coach? Decisions like "fourth down and one to go" are almost automatic in today's game depending on which side of the field you are on.
Have you seen Wilcox's in-game management in the last few years?
UrsineMaximus
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Exactly my point.
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