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The Ron Rivera Announcement - A meaningful and yet seemingly insufficient step forward

March 21, 2025
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It’s with a mixed sense of relief, excitement, hope as well as confusion and concern that we greet the news that Cal legend and NFL playing and coaching great Ron Rivera returns to Berkeley to be the GM of the football program.

Make no mistake, this has all the hallmarks of a seminal moment in the University’s athletic program, a potential life-line in a tumultuous maelstrom of conference realignment, a disempowered NCAA and student-athlete empowerment via NIL and the transfer portal.  With the appointment of Rich Lyons as Cal’s Chancellor, the University finally has a leader who not only wants athletic excellence that matches Berkeley’s academic prestige but understands its essential role in building and engaging an enduring and generous alumni and fan community around the school.  And eight long months into his tenure, he has ostensibly if not belatedly put his mark on Cal athletics with the appointment of Ron Rivera.

To put this decision in perspective, it’s important to realize that the University’s leadership has historically viewed the athletic department with what can be best be described as a mixture of frustration and not so benevolent tolerance, with the complete absence of vision or understanding of its import and potential to the school’s broader goals.   Chancellor Christ who preceded Rich Lyons, realized that athletics has been treated as a second-class citizen and elevated for the first time the athletic director to the Chancellor’s leadership team and stopped the unfair taxation and financial mining of Cal’s sports teams by the University including taking over the debt for the retrofit of Memorial Stadium.   Beyond that, she was a complete novice to College Athletics and its accelerating complexity and dynamism.   She mistakenly hired a wholly unqualified Athletic Director in Jim Knowlton and gave him the mandate of making sure the revenue sports (Football and Basketball) were “decent” while instead focusing on limiting investment into and the costs associated with running the department.  Beyond that, the goal for Knowlton would be to make sure Cal was a paragon in the eyes of both the toothless NCAA and the academic side of the University.

The net result has seen declining attendance to all major sports events, inarguably the worst seven-year performance of the Men’s Basketball team along with a Football program that hasn’t seen a winning record in conference play since 2009.  Jim Knowlton came to Cal after a short stint as the Athletic Director of the Air Force Academy.   Prior to Berkeley, he had never raised money from a donor base or managed a major conference sports program.  He came from the military where his imperative was not to lead, empower and educate his superiors whose focus and expertise lied elsewhere but rather to without question follow orders.   If there is any school in the country’s whose leadership needed to be educated and informed by their athletic leadership, it’s Cal.  

Since Knowlton has arrived, Cal’s performance in its athletic endeavors have hit an all-time low, donor interest outside of the entirely donor inspired and led Caliber funds and the Cal Legends Collective have been anemic.  What has pervaded the athletic department under Knowlton’s leadership is a culture of “No”.  Knowlton never understood or realized the importance of Football to the success and outright survival of the school’s other sports and instead knowingly and intentionally misled donors who believe they were giving to Cal Football only to disperse those funds to other sports.  The day-to-day operations of sports inside Cal are ones that require coaches to work around the administration or anguish in stifled frustration at the misaligned priorities and complete lack of imagination and creativity.  To be clear, there’s zero chance that Cal would be in the ACC right now and be anywhere close to being competitive in Football and Basketball without donors directly intervening and forcing Jim Knowlton to invest their money in the Bears football program.   And NIL, for all the disruption and discomfort it has caused, has been a literal life saver thanks to the heroic efforts of Kevin Kennedy and its donors.   

Point of fact is that the donors who created the Caliber fund and the Collective have had to fight, scratch and claw every day to overcome an Athletic Department actively standing in their way.  And coaches who have succeeded in Berkeley the past seven years have done so despite rather than as a result of the support of their leadership.

Enter Ron Rivera - Here’s a person who turned down far more money to return to the NFL and who is risking his personal reputation and brand to revive Cal Football and therefore the entire Athletic Department.  He is well aware of the track record of the program and the challenges the Athletic Department is facing and is undaunted and resolute in his belief that he can be a catalyst for positive change.  It’s hard to quantify the upside potential of his appointment and the gratefulness the Cal community must have for his willingness to take on this task.  

Yesterday’s headlines invoked an energy and anticipation that’s been missing for at least 15 years only to find that the press release and subsequent press conference worked to take much of the air of that hopeful balloon.  To not make transparently clear that Ron would have direct and overall responsibilities for all of Cal football creates confusion and sows doubt at a time where bold leadership is required.  To have Cal’s Head Football Coach continue to report to Jim Knowlton defies common sense, logic and at least optically makes it that much harder for Ron Rivera to succeed in his new role.   It’s important to understand that Football success does not start and end with the programs coaching staff.   The marketing team, the medical staff, the stadium and facilities management, the admissions department, the compliance team and so many more people impact the program every day in positive or negative ways.   It is beyond essential for all those people to be rowing in the same direction, to share the same set of priorities and to be led by a single and unified vision.

To be clear, words in press release are more often about managing optics and what we can only guess are hidden tertiary goals.   The reality may well be that Ron Rivera will be overseeing all of Cal football and have the ability to forever change the culture of “No”, to upgrade and empower the broader team tasked with making Cal football as successful on the field as the University is in its academic endeavors.  The real litmus test of Rich Lyons leadership will happen in the coming days as Ron takes on his new role.   While there’s certainly reason for cautious optimism, there’s more than enough of a track record to suggest patient skepticism.  

We’re proud that this community has been an essential part of the aforementioned donor lifelines, with more than two thirds of the caliber donors and almost 90% of the dollars contributed to the Legends Collective coming from the Bear Insider populace.  Each of you needs to come to your own conclusions about the state of Athletic Department and the potential impact of Ron Rivera’s appointment.   For now, we will be refraining from donating to the program and further will not encourage any of you to do so.  Instead, regardless of your feelings, we strongly suggest you reach out to Chancellor Lyons and share how you feel about the state of Cal Athletics, Jim Knowlton as your Athletic Director and how you believe he can best support Ron Rivera as the Cal Football General Manager.  

The Chancellor can be reached at Lyons@berkeley.edu

Discussion from...

The Ron Rivera Announcement - A meaningful and yet seemingly insufficient step forward

19,224 Views | 104 Replies | Last: 2 days ago by bear2034
Shocky1
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BearlyCareAnymore
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In reply to sycasey • 7:13p, 3/25/25
sycasey said:
Oh man, the replies.



Wow.
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7:54p, 3/25/25
rich, shocky is kinda tired of typing rite now, u get the point, right??

https://instagr.am/p/DHjsTr7Mh-c

bears fans love letters to cal football#
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bear2034
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1:02a, 3/26/25

Keys to Ron or we key yo Tesla!
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8:14a, 3/26/25






[url=https://x.com/SturdyGoldWrite/status/1904800988181258611]
^ chancellor lyons, plz read this post
[/url]
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Bobodeluxe
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8:18a, 3/26/25
X posts. Please.
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12:24p, 3/26/25
I posted a version of this on the insider board, but will add it here as well for those who are interested.

I am becoming increasingly sure that it is a question of "when" not "if" Ron takes operational control of football. But IMHO, ""when" is equally critical. The current situation is untenable. Not only are donors almost completely and universally united in their demands for change, but many many fans are even refusing to renew their season tickets until this gets done. The pressure is extremely high. Couple that with the emails many of you have sent the Chancellor and we have a good shot to get this done quickly.

Of course."quickly" can mean different things to different people and in my mind justice delayed is justice denied. This has to happen soon. I repeatedly warned Cal about what was about to go down before they put out that press release. I even talked to the Chancellor 30 minutes before the press conference in a last ditch effort. They didn't want to hear about the damage their muddled message would cause and so here we are.

To be clear, my call with the Chancellor was relatively one-sided. I would not want to say what he said or even implied since that's not my place to disclose. But in this case in particular, I really just wanted to make sure that he understood how I thought the donor community would react to the press release as drafted and also what I would be telling donors who asked me what I was doing with my personal checkbook. What I told him is that I believe we need a reset. I know others feel differently but in my mind, it is largely irrelevant whether Jim Knowlton is good or bad at his job. What matters is that we have someone unquestionably more qualified than just about anyone in college sports to run a football program on staff and it would be a crime not to use him to do that.

You don't hire Mario Andretti and ask him to sit in the passenger seat.

I also keep trying to communicate that if the Chancellor truly wants Ron Rivera to maximize how much revenue he is going to generate the best way to do that is to put him in operational control of football. If Ron Rivera spends 10% of his time fundraising and 90% of his time running football, he will raise far more money than he would if those percentages were reversed. We aren't so dumb that we will just invest in someone because of their name or as a figurehead. We want to support the substance of the transformation.

I don't need Ron Rivera to call me to make me happy. I need him to fix this program.
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Big C
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In reply to Sebastabear • 12:38p, 3/26/25

^ I especially love your last line there, Sebastabear!
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BearlyCareAnymore
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In reply to Sebastabear • 12:46p, 3/26/25
Sebastabear said:
I posted a version of this on the insider board, but will add it here as well for those who are interested.

I am becoming increasingly sure that it is a question of "when" not "if" Ron takes operational control of football. But IMHO, ""when" is equally critical. The current situation is untenable. Not only are donors almost completely and universally united in their demands for change, but many many fans are even refusing to renew their season tickets until this gets done. The pressure is extremely high. Couple that with the emails many of you have sent the Chancellor and we have a good shot to get this done quickly.

Of course."quickly" can mean different things to different people and in my mind justice delayed is justice denied. This has to happen soon. I repeatedly warned Cal about what was about to go down before they put out that press release. I even talked to the Chancellor 30 minutes before the press conference in a last ditch effort. They didn't want to hear about the damage their muddled message would cause and so here we are.

To be clear, my call with the Chancellor was relatively one-sided. I would not want to say what he said or even implied since that's not my place to disclose. But in this case in particular, I really just wanted to make sure that he understood how I thought the donor community would react to the press release as drafted and also what I would be telling donors who asked me what I was doing with my personal checkbook. What I told him is that I believe we need a reset. I know others feel differently but in my mind, it is largely irrelevant whether Jim Knowlton is good or bad at his job. What matters is that we have someone unquestionably more qualified than just about anyone in college sports to run a football program on staff and it would be a crime not to use him to do that.

You don't hire Mario Andretti, and ask him to sit in the passenger seat.

I also keep trying to communicate that if the Chancellor truly wants Ron Rivera to maximize how much revenue he is going to generate the best way to do that is to put him in operational control of football. If Ron Rivera spends 10% of his time fundraising and 90% of his time running football, he will raise far more money than he would if those percentages were reversed. We aren't so dumb that we will just invest in someone because of their name or as a figurehead. We want to support the substance of the transformation.

I don't need Ron Rivera to call me to make me happy. I need him to fix this program.
Sebasta -

Thank you for your honesty throughout this. I know this is a really difficult time for you.

I have a follow up question for you, which of course you can choose to respond to or not. You say


Quote:
I am becoming increasingly sure that it is a question of "when" not "if" Ron takes operational control of football.
When you say this, is that because of what you are hearing? Or because you are looking at the circumstances and deducing that the situation is becoming clearly untenable and no one in their right minds would think they could continue?

If it's the latter, I completely agree. However, I wouldn't have thought anyone in their right minds would hire Rivera without clearly giving him operational control. I wouldn't have thought anyone in their right minds would have gone out with that release/zoom call. I wouldn't have thought anyone in their right mind would send out the tweet that Lyons sent out under the current circumstances. (Did he really think that was going to help? He just inflamed things more) So, honestly, if it is the latter, I don't trust that anyone there is going to behave like someone in their right mind now. I can see them genuinely convincing themselves that this will blow over.

In any case, as you say, timing matters. They could wait so long the damage is done.

And what is almost equally disturbing is at this point it feels like even if they do give Rivera operational control, it won't be because they realized it was the right strategy. It will be because they had a mob with torches and pitchforks at their door.

Again, appreciate what you have done and your communication. I know you are balancing sensitive info and also balancing what course you think is best for the program and essentially deciding whether we give chemotherapy in hopes of killing the cancer before we kill the patient.
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BearlyCareAnymore
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In reply to BearlyCareAnymore • 12:51p, 3/26/25
By the way. While I realize football is king, even if the keys are given to Rivera, we still haven't taken any outward steps to address basketball or the cratering athletic department finances. Football would be a great step, but the other issues are also untenable.
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sycasey
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In reply to BearlyCareAnymore • 1:38p, 3/26/25
BearlyCareAnymore said:
And what is almost equally disturbing is at this point it feels like even if they do give Rivera operational control, it won't be because they realized it was the right strategy. It will be because they had a mob with torches and pitchforks at their door.
Yes, though haven't you said before that what is really required for a consistently successful program is that at those schools the major donors will get right in the face of the AD or President/Chancellor and demand that a change be made or else the money goes away? That they won't stand for the same old mediocrity?

Seems like we might be finally seeing the Cal version of that.
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Sebastabear
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In reply to BearlyCareAnymore • 1:45p, 3/26/25
BC, thank you for your kind words. Always appreciate hearing from you.

As you say, yours is a difficult question. I'm having to balance a lot of factors.. Suffice it to say that my belief (and it is just a belief at this point, albeit a strong one) is not just based on how ludicrous this situation is. I fully appreciate that ludicrous is basically our middle name. But having swum in the bowels of the Cal Athletics' bureaucracy on a full-time basis for the past three years, I have some sense of how things work and why and when. For a number of reasons, I think we are going to get this done.

There is a part of me that thinks that Lyons tweet about "coming together" was designed to elicit the response that it did. I don't think I've ever seen the Cal community this unified on anything. If he wanted social media proof of that he just got it. I believe he is smart enough to know that he can't just tell us to come together; he has to give us a reason to do so.

On MBB, yes that is also a problem but we need to start somewhere and football is the right place to start for the obvious reasons. I have significant confidence in Coach Madsen. I think he could be one of the all-time greats. He just needs our support. But football first.
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BearlyCareAnymore
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In reply to sycasey • 2:10p, 3/26/25
sycasey said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
And what is almost equally disturbing is at this point it feels like even if they do give Rivera operational control, it won't be because they realized it was the right strategy. It will be because they had a mob with torches and pitchforks at their door.
Yes, though haven't you said before that what is really required for a consistently successful program is that at those schools the major donors will get right in the face of the AD or President/Chancellor and demand that a change be made or else the money goes away? That they won't stand for the same old mediocrity?

Seems like we might be finally seeing the Cal version of that.
I'm not going to vouch for everything I may have said, but I don't think I've said exactly that. Donors running the place is dysfunctional. I think calumnus is more in that realm. However, there is a balance. Donors just constantly handing over money with no results is dysfunctional too. In a pro setting, you win on the field or you lose money. Donors blunting that impact doesn't lead to more winning. I do feel at some point you have to say "you are failing. I'm not paying for it any more."

What is functional is an athletic department that doesn't need donors in their faces. But yes, at some point the donors need to get in their faces. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

But to be further blunt here, the donors need to triple their donations if they want this to work. Mainly what I have said is the community needs to show that they can support the program to the level top 20 programs do and they have yet to do that.

Honestly, I don't even know if Rivera is the right guy. Or if he will be given the right resources. I know he is a million times more likely to be the right guy than Knowlton.
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BearlyCareAnymore
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In reply to Sebastabear • 2:13p, 3/26/25
Sebastabear said:
BC, thank you for your kind words. Always appreciate hearing from you.

As you say, yours is a difficult question. I'm having to balance a lot of factors.. Suffice it to say that my belief (and it is just a belief at this point, albeit a strong one) is not just based on how ludicrous this situation is. I fully appreciate that ludicrous is basically our middle name. But having swum in the bowels of the Cal Athletics' bureaucracy on a full-time basis for the past three years, I have some sense of how things work and why and when. For a number of reasons, I think we are going to get this done.

There is a part of me that thinks that Lyons tweet about "coming together" was designed to elicit the response that it did. I don't think I've ever seen the Cal community this unified on anything. If he wanted social media proof of that he just got it. I believe he is smart enough to know that he can't just tell us to come together; he has to give us a reason to do so.

On MBB, yes that is also a problem but we need to start somewhere and football is the right place to start for the obvious reasons. I have significant confidence in Coach Madsen. I think he could be one of the all-time greats. He just needs our support. But football first.
Thank you.
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sycasey
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In reply to BearlyCareAnymore • 2:13p, 3/26/25
BearlyCareAnymore said:
sycasey said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
And what is almost equally disturbing is at this point it feels like even if they do give Rivera operational control, it won't be because they realized it was the right strategy. It will be because they had a mob with torches and pitchforks at their door.
Yes, though haven't you said before that what is really required for a consistently successful program is that at those schools the major donors will get right in the face of the AD or President/Chancellor and demand that a change be made or else the money goes away? That they won't stand for the same old mediocrity?

Seems like we might be finally seeing the Cal version of that.
I'm not going to vouch for everything I may have said, but I don't think I've said exactly that. Donors running the place is dysfunctional. I think calumnus is more in that realm. However, there is a balance. Donors just constantly handing over money with no results is dysfunctional too. In a pro setting, you win on the field or you lose money. Donors blunting that impact doesn't lead to more winning. I do feel at some point you have to say "you are failing. I'm not paying for it any more."

What is functional is an athletic department that doesn't need donors in their faces. But yes, at some point the donors need to get in their faces. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

But to be further blunt here, the donors need to triple their donations if they want this to work. Mainly what I have said is the community needs to show that they can support the program to the level top 20 programs do and they have yet to do that.

Honestly, I don't even know if Rivera is the right guy. Or if he will be given the right resources. I know he is a million times more likely to be the right guy than Knowlton.
Right, my thinking is that this seems like we're finally moving in that direction. Maybe we don't get there, but the only way to see if it's possible is for the donors to get their way now and put Rivera fully in charge.
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BearlyCareAnymore
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In reply to sycasey • 2:35p, 3/26/25
sycasey said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
sycasey said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
And what is almost equally disturbing is at this point it feels like even if they do give Rivera operational control, it won't be because they realized it was the right strategy. It will be because they had a mob with torches and pitchforks at their door.
Yes, though haven't you said before that what is really required for a consistently successful program is that at those schools the major donors will get right in the face of the AD or President/Chancellor and demand that a change be made or else the money goes away? That they won't stand for the same old mediocrity?

Seems like we might be finally seeing the Cal version of that.
I'm not going to vouch for everything I may have said, but I don't think I've said exactly that. Donors running the place is dysfunctional. I think calumnus is more in that realm. However, there is a balance. Donors just constantly handing over money with no results is dysfunctional too. In a pro setting, you win on the field or you lose money. Donors blunting that impact doesn't lead to more winning. I do feel at some point you have to say "you are failing. I'm not paying for it any more."

What is functional is an athletic department that doesn't need donors in their faces. But yes, at some point the donors need to get in their faces. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

But to be further blunt here, the donors need to triple their donations if they want this to work. Mainly what I have said is the community needs to show that they can support the program to the level top 20 programs do and they have yet to do that.

Honestly, I don't even know if Rivera is the right guy. Or if he will be given the right resources. I know he is a million times more likely to be the right guy than Knowlton.
Right, my thinking is that this seems like we're finally moving in that direction. Maybe we don't get there, but the only way to see if it's possible is for the donors to get their way now and put Rivera fully in charge.
Completely agree. I just think it is a problem that this is the only way it is possible. I'll take what I can get, but it doesn't give me much confidence in every other decision that needs to be made if the only way the administration can not do something obviously stupid is to have their butts publicly roasted.
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sycasey
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In reply to BearlyCareAnymore • 2:58p, 3/26/25
BearlyCareAnymore said:
sycasey said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
sycasey said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
And what is almost equally disturbing is at this point it feels like even if they do give Rivera operational control, it won't be because they realized it was the right strategy. It will be because they had a mob with torches and pitchforks at their door.
Yes, though haven't you said before that what is really required for a consistently successful program is that at those schools the major donors will get right in the face of the AD or President/Chancellor and demand that a change be made or else the money goes away? That they won't stand for the same old mediocrity?

Seems like we might be finally seeing the Cal version of that.
I'm not going to vouch for everything I may have said, but I don't think I've said exactly that. Donors running the place is dysfunctional. I think calumnus is more in that realm. However, there is a balance. Donors just constantly handing over money with no results is dysfunctional too. In a pro setting, you win on the field or you lose money. Donors blunting that impact doesn't lead to more winning. I do feel at some point you have to say "you are failing. I'm not paying for it any more."

What is functional is an athletic department that doesn't need donors in their faces. But yes, at some point the donors need to get in their faces. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

But to be further blunt here, the donors need to triple their donations if they want this to work. Mainly what I have said is the community needs to show that they can support the program to the level top 20 programs do and they have yet to do that.

Honestly, I don't even know if Rivera is the right guy. Or if he will be given the right resources. I know he is a million times more likely to be the right guy than Knowlton.
Right, my thinking is that this seems like we're finally moving in that direction. Maybe we don't get there, but the only way to see if it's possible is for the donors to get their way now and put Rivera fully in charge.
Completely agree. I just think it is a problem that this is the only way it is possible. I'll take what I can get, but it doesn't give me much confidence in every other decision that needs to be made if the only way the administration can not do something obviously stupid is to have their butts publicly roasted.
It would be a long haul to change what is obviously a sclerotic culture over there. But it's gotta start somewhere.
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Jeff82
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3:58p, 3/26/25
If nothing else, bringing things to a head maybe will provide some clarity. Does the school (whatever that means, given the variety of constituencies involved) care about being successful in Division I football and basketball, or not? I've pointed out in the past, to the consternation of others here, that if we ever did get to a point where the so-called Olympic sports were all endowed on their own, we're going to have faculty members (Barsky) argue: "See, we don't need football to support everything else anymore, and it's antithetical to mission of the school to support a sport that, among other things, appears to result in brain damage to participants."

I believe that the strength of Lyons is his belief that football is the front door to the school, and needs to be supported to keep alumni engaged and contributing more generally. I think he believes that, but there are others on campus that don't, including apparently people in his own athletic department. If pressure from alumni help him make that case, by appearing at the door with pitchforks and torches, that helps him.
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GivemTheAxe
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In reply to Jeff82 • 6:41p, 3/26/25
Jeff82 said:
If nothing else, bringing things to a head maybe will provide some clarity. Does the school (whatever that means, given the variety of constituencies involved) care about being successful in Division I football and basketball, or not? I've pointed out in the past, to the consternation of others here, that if we ever did get to a point where the so-called Olympic sports were all endowed on their own, we're going to have faculty members (Barsky) argue: "See, we don't need football to support everything else anymore, and it's antithetical to mission of the school to support a sport that, among other things, appears to result in brain damage to participants."

I believe that the strength of Lyons is his belief that football is the front door to the school, and needs to be supported to keep alumni engaged and contributing more generally. I think he believes that, but there are others on campus that don't, including apparently people in his own athletic department. If pressure from alumni help him make that case, by appearing at the door with pitchforks and torches, that helps him.
Agree!!!!
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Shocky1
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5:41a, 3/27/25
real talk: renewing ur basketball season tix(s) is basically sending a message to the worthless bureaucrats that ur willing to drive thru traffic to haas pavillion on rainy bay area thursday nites to watch ur bears try to unsuccessfully compete without adequate nil funding & a long promised but never delivered dedicated practice facility

thx to jimmy & markeisha's dumb az **** decision to AGAIN not offer FREE tixs to all berkeley students cal's men basketball finished 17th out of 18 teams in acc attendance last season & the roster is being decimated in real time because there's nowhere to develop/practice (unless ur dad is a former nba star & ur mansion in carmichael gotta tricked out private basketball court)

nothing is gonna CHANGE until a men's & women's basketball gm is hired 100% autonomous from the athletic department

call ur sales rep today & let them know you will not be renewing ur tixs until a gm is hired

send the message NOW: tell rich lyons, jim knowlton, jennifer simon-o'neil & markeisha everett to **** off
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BearlyCareAnymore
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In reply to Shocky1 • 8:20a, 3/27/25
Shocky1 said:
real talk: renewing ur basketball season tix(s) is basically sending a message to the worthless bureaucrats that ur willing to drive thru traffic to haas pavillion on rainy bay area thursday nites to watch ur bears try to unsuccessfully compete without adequate nil funding & a long promised but never delivered dedicated practice facility

thx to jimmy & markeisha's dumb az **** decision to AGAIN not offer FREE tixs to all berkeley students cal's men basketball finished 17th out of 18 teams in acc attendance last season & the roster is being decimated in real time because there's nowhere to develop/practice (unless ur dad is a former nba star & ur mansion in carmichael gotta tricked out private basketball court)

nothing is gonna CHANGE until a men's & women's basketball gm is hired 100% autonomous from the athletic department

call ur sales rep today & let them know you will not be renewing ur tixs until a gm is hired

send the message NOW: tell rich lyons, jim knowlton, jennifer simon-o'neil & markeisha everett to **** off
I agree with you Shocky and I think that hiring a football GM and a basketball GM is a good idea because those are fundamentally different from the rest of the sports. However, it feels like a large portion of the desire for that is to remove Knowlton from any management of those two things because he is an idiot. That is good reasoning, but the best way to do that is to fire Knowlton. The other sports don't deserve his management either and as I noted elsewhere, the financial shortfalls have nearly tripled in Knowlton's tenure and that can't stand either.

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sycasey
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9:20a, 3/27/25
If you got rid of Knowlton then you probably don't need any other GMs to manage individual sports (I think there is a strong argument that football is different, regardless of the AD). Is this difficult just because of the buyout?
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Shocky1
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5:44a, 3/28/25


2025 harvard mba FINAL EXAMINATION: can u spot the 2 out of place worthless do nothing bureaucrats (who have never worked a day in capital based markets) & the 1 future nfl hall of famer in the above video??


chancellor lyons, we're at the final battlefield, FIRE the worthless ****tards jimmy, jenny & markeisha and enpower/promote SMART & STRONG berkeley grads ron rivera, andrew mcgraw & valerie grimaldo (and continue to develop someday future head coach in waiting mike saffell) to lead our california golden bears into 2025 acc battles further afar on the east coast!!



let's ******* go (make the right choice unlike marius, eponine is a SMOKESHOW, wut a dumb azz)!!#
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Shocky1
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8:44p, 3/28/25
and here we are, another week gone by with lyons still supporting knowlton having the keys to the cal football program

rich does NOT get it, he's a career bureaucrat who is most comfortable with the status quo even at a time that uc chancellor drake is taking dramatic action such as freezing all new uc hires & the state schools are consolidating their administrative services & cal poly is dropping both the men's & women's swimming programs

lyons is just sleeping on pride rock watching the financial tsunami build momentum with its existential waves crashing into berkeley just hoping that donors are gonna support knowlton & that funds will be raised to endow all the sports teams even tho the BIG GIVE wuz an abysmal failure (according to a knowlton video it raised a non binding 2 million plus)

once again, kevin kennedy is the proxy to the cal fanbase in these ludicrous discussions/negotiations with lyons...when kennedy is done, the majority of the fanbase including shocky is gonna be ******* done too

if the financial mismanagement & wasteful spending of the athletic department is typical of the lyons oversight of the rest of the university, there is ZERO chance that berkeley is gonna remain as the #1 ranked public university in the world
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bear2034
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12:42a, 5/4/25
It seems both Knowlton and his accomplice, Simon-O'Niell, have been inactive on X for a long time, their last tweets were around March-April 2021. Does anyone know if they're active on Instagram?



Even former director, Sandy Barbour is still retweeting Cal Bear content from time to time.
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