knowlton's plans never got any details, doug goldman had a $10,000,000+ lead donation on the table back in the cal's monster class era of winning basketball games but that's off the table now

jim is playing a nyc shell game con, buying time towards 2029 is the ultimate goal

I gotta agree with Shocky

Re: "the only way a practice facility gets campus approval is if its multi-use mixed sports ... " that sounds like a selling issue, a good AD should likely be able to give it straight to campus authorities- tell this this is the only thing donors will fund, rather have a men & womens bball practice facility than nothing. What backwards psychopaths would tank a project in favor of a 125M pipe dream that won't get funded??

Re: Easier said than done to raise direct NIL money - that makes sense but I think you need to reframe the pitch to donors- say this is the way we make Cal basketball relevant again. Maybe it's because I personally am not exorbitantly wealthy, but in my mind the businessmen who would donate are ROI-centric people. What will yield the biggest ROI for Cal basketball? A cool practice facility that requires 10+ donors to go in at 8 figures which will ultimately just pull us even with the national landscape, or a direct payment system that will literally put us at the forefront of D1 basketball and land us top-20 classes if we pay these the players with the money.

I get the reasons why we're trying to do the practice facility-- I understand that it is more tangible for donors and thus easier to sell. it just seriously feels like fighting an antiquated battle when the reality is any top recruit will take the NIL check with no practice facility over a substantially smaller check with an accompanying practice facility. Why waste 100M+ & 4-5 years of this process when we could become nationally relevant immediately if we stop beating around the bush and just recognize that NIL money is the name of the game. Sit in front of these donors and tell them that if they cut a check for several million dollars, the best way to translate their money into measurable success for Cal basketball is to use it for NIL. They are smart guys! Personally I'd rather be the reason Cal basketball goes from basement dweller to perenially sweet-16 competitive than to be 1/10th of the funding for a great not amazing practice facility that doesn't really pull us ahead in the national picture.

Just my 2 cents.

Edit: I'll throw this in because otherwise I think this conversation will keep going in circles with nothing substantially new being added in-- Knowlton told me he had a list of 10 donors he was going to go to and ask to buy in at an 8 figure donation. Given that it has been multiple decades where this 'practice facility' has been on the table and we've been unsuccessful thus far, why would a 100M+ facility (even if it serves multiple sports) be convincing to donors now?

eastcoaster, keep in mind this isn't a "donation" which is often part of a will & a bequest after death, jimmy k's shell game requires him to collect the $125,000,000+ up front before the 1st shovel can be in the ground

preapid calling card concept (not gonna happen)#

Yeah. This is just another JK excuse. He is putting up a tajmahal and when it inevitably isn't funded he will be able to point to that to excuse the on court performance.

3 pages above and probably 100,000 words but here is the simple bottom line.

San Diego ****ing State has a practice facility.
https://www.jmisports.com/our-work/jeff-jacobs-jam-center/

Built in California. SDSU probably MORE space constrained (before the Mission Valley expansion) than the Cal Campus. Completed 7 years ago (there has been construction inflation but not that much) and for the price tag of $16 million with 26K Sqf.

I really hate to break it to you but the Athletic article made it clear. Leadership does not care about winning. You have to ask yourself whether you want to support that vision with your hard earned $$ and time.

And really that should be donors who have Christ and JK's ears question.

"OK, I get it. But SDSU built something for a 10th of the cost. They have all the same rules. They have a tiny little campus which is very much "built out". Why can we not do that? It is much more fundable. Jeff, do you even KNOW about their facility and shouldn't you as an AD in the state of California?"

Shocky1 said:

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only flaw in the practice facility architectural renderings is that it's never ever gonna get built, this is knowlton''s $125,000,000 snow castle for quidditch, etc.

too bad cal don't got an athletic director like andrew mcgraw who got the credibility as a berkeley grad & 26 years of campus relationships to sell this as a modestly priced men's & women's basketball practice facility that meets title ix statues that will try to accommodate other sports when possible...instead we got a dumb azz decision to pursue something that's politically expedient but that never gonna happen & then jim retires in 2029

i talk to as many people as you do, there's no donor will to get this built...none

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1. Regarding "donor will" on another thread, there's talk of a $1.5 B Powerball. When I win that sucker, let's talk again about "donor will". Do I have to buy a ticket or something?

2. You've been hyping Andrew McGraw... I like that at least he "gets" Cal. Is there evidence that he would be far better than Knowlton in terms of the latter's noted shortcomings. I don't know the man.

So Fox's strategy, which failed at Georgia, is to bring in a lot of athletic players with low skill level and low basketball knowledge that he can then develop? This at the one school by his defenders' insistence that does not have a dedicated practice facility? The school that probably has the toughest academic load for its students in the country? With players who are using the scholarship to get a great education and have the least motivation to spend the long hours in the practice facility (if we had one) instead of the library?

Can people not see that Cal is the worst school in the country to implement such a strategy? And that means that is the worst possible strategy for Cal? And a coach that relies on such a strategy is therefore the worst possible coach for Cal? It will not work, the more time we give it hoping for a different result the worse the results will be.

calumnus said:

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So Fox's strategy, which failed at Georgia, is to bring in a lot of athletic players with low skill level and low basketball knowledge that he can then develop? This at the one school by his defenders' insistence that does not have a dedicated practice facility? The school that probably has the toughest academic load for its students in the country? With players who are using the scholarship to get a great education and have the least motivation to spend the long hours in the practice facility (if we had one) instead of the library?

Can people not see that Cal is the worst school in the country to implement such a strategy? And that means that is the worst possible strategy for Cal? And a coach that relies on such a strategy is therefore the worst possible coach for Cal? It will not work, the more time we give it hoping for a different result the worse the results will be.

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I don't know if it is the worst school for such a strategy, but I will say it is better than Jones' idea of running the Louisville press. I knew Cal was dead at the first Jones press conference. If I was the AD in an interview when Jones mentioned that strategy I would have removed him from the premises.

I think developing low skills players is a bad strategy when the three point shot is so important. And when players can transfer or go pro if they get good. And Fox is not even good at developing players (Bradley and Kelly came in as skilled players). But other than that, it is great.