Rivera, Lyons and Knowlton Talk About New GM Role at Cal

Thursday afternoon saw the culmination of months of work in creating a new General Manager role to assist in building a more successful football program by bringing in Cal Hall of Fame and NFL linebacker, head coach and GM to help run the program. Today, Rivera, Chancellor Rich Lyons and AD Jim Knowlton talked about Rivera's hiring and what the new position will look like.

"So literally, it was about an hour and a half ago, I guess, that the final vote at the regents came through, and there was a prior committee meeting yesterday, discussion of things, but lots of excitement at the regental level, and even more excitement here at Cal," the Chancellor said. 
"Ron, as you know, was a stellar player at Cal. He he bleeds blue and gold, as we often say, and he and I have been talking, and I can't think of a better person to play this role at Cal right now, and with all the changes that are happening, I don't need to remind this group that we've got a conference realignment that we just went through, we've got transfers, we've got a house settlement in the offing, etc. It's exactly the right time to be thinking about, and in our judgment, acting on a general manager position. I don't think there's a president/chancellor in a power four conference that's not at least thinking hard about a general manager position. And we think we have designed this one just right for Cal. So I think I'll stop there. I couldn't be more excited about what we are going to be able to achieve together going forward."

"I'll just echo what the chancellor just said. We are thrilled," Knowlton said. "We've been talking about this position now for a while. We've watched the professionalization of college sports, and in particular football, and we knew that to help our coach, to help our staff, this could be a huge benefit for our football program and obviously, as the chancellor said, there's no better person than Ron Rivera, And when you look at the commitment to this university, you look at bleeding blue and gold.

“You look at what he did, both as a player, what he did once he left here as an NFL player, an NFL coach, a Hall of Fame member in our Cal Hall of Fame, you just have to smile when you think that he's going to be able to help us as we continue to raise the bar for not only our football program, but our athletic department and the entire university. Because I look at Ron as this wonderful university resource, and he's been that for many, many years and now, it's a more defined position, but the help that he's going to give us is amazing. And of course, because I'm the athletic director, I can't go past without talking about Stephanie, his wife, who is another superstar. And when you think of having both Ron and Stephanie, Stephanie, a former athlete, a Board of Trustees member, you just smile and say, these are two truly special people that are now part of our team. So couldn't be more excited."

"First off, I want to thank the UC Board of Regents and I want to thank Chancellor Lyons for this opportunity for Stephanie and I to come home. You know, as Jim said, Stephanie is a big part of this. You know, Stephanie and I met on campus, and from that point on, the rest is history, as they say. But I do feel like I am uniquely qualified for this. I was a student athlete here at the University of California, and I am an alumni. So I think that's real important, because, again, it gives me a different perspective, a perspective that a lot of people don't have onwhat it takes to be a college athlete here at the University of California, at Berkeley. So to me, that's a very important aspect to this. It gives me perspective, and it gives me an opportunity to share what I've been through with our student athletes. So I'm really excited about this. I'm fired up for the opportunity, I really do think this is going to be something very special here at the university. So let's just, Go Bears!"

Rivera was asked what it was about the Cal job that drew him back to Berkeley.

“First off, to be upfront about this, this is an opportunity to come home and give back. The university has given me so much in my lifetime, and it was kind of the launching pad that got me going into the direction that I did, as far as playing professionally, and then ended up being an NFL coach, and all together, 36 years involved in the NFL, I think that this is what I really feel, is something that's just exciting, and that's what is, I think I'm looking for another challenge, another opportunity, but where better than to come home to the university and give back. And so I think that's a big part of why I want to do this.

“I think the biggest thing, and the thing a lot of people understand, is that that the opportunity to do this is different, because I had an opportunity to stay in the NFL, work as an assistant head coach and mentor somebody. But when I took a step back, Stephanie and I talked about this, mentoring somebody that really I think needs an opportunity or support, why not come home and do that? And Stephanie was all behind this 100%. In fact, she's the one who said, let's go.  And so I think for me, this is what this is about. It's about helping the university grow. And I'm excited about that challenge."

Rivera was also asked about some of the specifics with the newly-created GM position.

"Well, for the most part, I'll be involved with the football team in every aspect of it," Rivera noted. "I think that the best part about it is I get an opportunity to work with Justin, talk to Justin, explain to Justin certain things from my point of view, from a different perspective, something that he probably hasn't heard. I mean, this will be different, and it'll be an opportunity for him to grow, but also get an opportunity to work with their with their other coaches, the assistant coaches, get an opportunity to share some insight. Be available for them if they had questions. Look at practice. Watch practice. Have have an opinion on that. Obviously, be at the games.

“Look at the game, see how things go, and again, give an opinion, and to share those thoughts, and then to work with Jim, talk to Jim, get his perspective on things. I mean, he's going to be a great, valuable resource because he's done this for such a long time. So having the opportunity to do something different and new, and yet, knowing that there are people that do do this, have done this, that I can rely on as well for their advice and their direction. This is important, this really is. But the best part, abvoe everything else, is being involved in football. Every aspect of it is going to be really a unique situation. And I really do believe I can share a lot of things, not just with the coaches, but with our student athletes, guys that sit there and are trying to do this, trying to be accomplished as not just athletes, but as students at the University of California.

“That's a really interesting and important aspect of being a student athlete, and that is to come to the number one public university in the world and play big time football. That, to me, is really what's exciting."

Rivera was asked if his job would function in a similar way to an NFL GM’s, with hiring and firing power or be more of a consultant-oriented position.

"I think that there's going to be some overlap," Rivera noted. "But again, you have to be nimble at this position, because the landscape is constantly changing. We don't know what's going to happen week by week, month by month. I mean, it just it happens. So we've got to be able to be very, very flexible. I think working with Chancellor Lyons and knowing that that's where it all starts. It's like dealing with an NFL owner. I mean, you have somebody that you are accountable to somebody that you can come to work with and look for advice. I'll be able to collaborate with Jim Knowlton, a guy that's been an athletic director for quite some time, so that's a cool situation where somebody that has some ideas, some foresight. It'll be a working relationship.

“But the thing that I'm really excited about is the opportunity to work with Justin. I do like who he is. I think he's done some really good things. You know, this is one of the things that we talked about, me coming in and being involved with, and that is to create more resources. And again, work with our alumni, work with our donors. I hope people understand too, that what the Chancellor's done is is made an investment, not an expense, but an investment, to bring somebody in, to reach out to alumni, reach out to the donor group, and build that relationship, a relationship that's going to transcend athletics. It's going to transcend that portion of why we're doing this, to affect the university itself, especially in today's times. What's going on with the with the cuts from from the government, whether it be state or federal, these are things that we're going to need to be able to reach out to our folks and say, 'Hey, look, we need your support. We need your help. Make this investment in the university. Don't look at it as an expense. Look at as an investment for great things to come.' And that's really one of the things that I'm excited about, too, is being able to reach out and touch these folks and talk about how they can help impact positively the University of California."

The program has been close to success in recent years, with a thin margin between and 8 or 9 win season and where they actually ended up, with 6 wins in the last two seasons. Rivera was asked what he sees in the program and what it would take to turn the corner.

"You know, you're exactly right about the edge of success," Rivera said. "They were nine points away in four games total, three games by one, a couple of missed field goals. They made a field goal. We didn't. The difference is so close that you can sit there and measure it. But at the end of the day, it is about productivity. You do have to be productive. You do have to win. But I do like what I've seen. You know, early on in this off season and when the first portal opened up, the personnel department went out, brought in six offensive lineman - one of the things that was a little bit of a soft spot last year, something that they needed to address. They went and addressed it. So far, based on the things that we've seen from practice, from workouts, from spring practice, there's some excitement, because these guys shown that they do have some abilities.

“So now that's the first step. The second step is to finish up what's going on throughout I want to say mini camp, excuse me, from spring football, that we have to go ahead and make judgments once we get past it and talk about the direction we're headed in. So are we close? I do think we are. I think we've done some really good things with our personnel. I like the quarterback situation. I like the running back situation. I think we've got a solid tight end. We've got to have somebody step up and establish the number one wide receiver position, as I talked about the offensive line. We're almost at two full offensive lines. We got six that we brought in three from last year gives you nine. I know that one of the things that we talked about potentially, is finding that 10th guy. So now you've got some depth, something that we haven't had in the past.

“Jim and I think that's the thing we've got to continue to try and strive and grow on, is that we've got to get ourselves into a position by developing some sort of war chest and understanding that, 'Hey, these are these are where our resources are going to come from, but that's why we've got to go out and we've got to reach out to our alumni. We've got to reach out to our donors and get them to understand that this is an investment in the University of California, and it's real important that we can get these folks behind us, because we have been close. I mean, everything that this athletic department has had to struggle with and fight with, really is trying to create more and more resources. Hopefully I can help and we can get to that point."

Lyons and Knowlton was asked if they’d like to add additional responses to the question.

"Well, I'll jump in first," Lyons said. "There were some funders, some donors, some close partners to Cal who were on the sidelines, who when hearing that this was likely. It couldn't be a sure thing until the regents blessed it today, but they were on the sidelines. I can't pre-announce things, and I won't tell you which sports, but we've had some lovely, really lovely gifts come in over the last few weeks, gifts, for example, that will get across the fully endowed finish line with four different sports. And that's real progress. We started this year with zero fully endowed sports, by which I mean the direct expenses are fully endowed. And we got a lovely golf gift, as most of you know, that that that funded men's and women's golf. And so that's two. And now, now we're at at five, six, and you'll hear more about that soon. So anyways, I think this tide is rising, and we're already feeling it. If somebody says, 'Where's the data' it's like they're actually our data."

Rivera was asked what it means to him and his wife Stepanie to be involved in a more concrete way with their alma mater.

"I think the really neat thing for Stephanie and we had this conversation before I left today,” Rivera said. “I flew out this morning and headed back west, and as we we're talking, and I said what's been really cool, Stephanie, has been the response we've seen from so many people. I get it, we understand, and we want to make sure our fan base understand how much we really do appreciate them being by our side. If you look at what happened with with the Miami ESPN game day, and how our fan base came out, the student body, the faculty, the alumni, the supporters and the donors. I mean, that was a tremendous show of force of what we're capable of. And that's something people have got to understand, that it's out there. They want it, and that's what's important.

“They want it, because they showed us by that. And then you go and you look at what happened at the Big Game. Okay, we started a little rough, but thank goodness it got rolling. Justin got the guys playing, and next, we ended up with a big time victory. And you saw the way the crowd reacted. This campus is ready again. Remember, this is the number one public institution in the world. We exude excellence academically. Why can't we do it athletically and do it the right way, though? That's the thing that's important. That's the thing that we have to do. We gotta do it the right way. Okay? We’ve gotta understand how. We've gotta make sure that our young men understand and all of our student athletes, for that matter, how important it is to carry on that academic tradition as student athletes.

“That's a very, very important thing. But I really, truly am grateful for how much support we have got, though our student body, our alumni, our faculty, our donors. Those folks have been by us so for so many years, and I know they've been tough, lean years. But you know what? It's time to change that. We have an opportunity to change that, but we have to do it together. Just because I'm here doesn't mean anything. Thing that it means is we've got work to do, and we got to do it together."

"Well, there's one word that leaps off the page for me with Ron, and that's collaborative," Lyons said. "He's a connector. He's going to work with the team, I think, with all the other elements that you mentioned in your question which are true, he's really he is a consummate team player. And so that part of it is lovely. Some of you may already know that I happen to be the first chancellor of UC Berkeley that was an undergrad alum. So I graduated in December of 1982 so the play was two weeks before I graduated. And yes, I was in the stadium. I know everybody says that, but so the place is really deep in me. And I had the sense from the beginning as I got closer to him, that boy, is it deep in him, and it's deep in Stephanie too. They're really kind of a two for one. And so I think I people sense that.

“And of course, we need to remain committed to excellence, right? The excellence of our student athletes, right? We have to push our excellence in terms of revenue, generation and fundraising, and we need excellence on the field, right? So, and that's part of what Ron's saying. So we will be measured by how much excellence we deliver, and I feel like we have all the initial conditions in the right place now."

Cal Athletics and in particular, football has not always or even often had the support of the administration over the decades. Rivera was asked how important it was for him to work for a passionate supporter of the football program like Lyons.

"Well, I think it's very important, because, again, we're all in," Rivera said. "Everything that we need to do is going to need support, whether the supports coming directly from, from the chancellor's office, from from the student body, from from the alumni, from the faculty. I mean, it has to be there. And that's the thing that we all have to understand. What's so important about this is that we are in this together. It's not this one single side. We have to be together, and that's what gives you the chance. And again, to me, the greatest example of what the potential can be for this university as of recently was what we saw with the ESPN GameDay. That right there, to me, was an indicator of what we're capable of, as far as a fan base, of drawing interest and bringing the crowd together. I mean, that whole day rocked, with the exception of the last 30 minutes, if we could have gotten past that last 30 minutes, just think of what potential it could have been.

“Those are things that we have to build on. Those are things that we've got to make sure that since the Chancellor says this, let's celebrate our victories. Let's celebrate when something positive happens here at the university. Let's don't shy away from it. Let's go ahead and face it head on. Being the number one public institution is a huge deal, and we have to take that, and we've got to run with it. That's got to be part of our selling point. Again, if you want to be a true student athlete, you want to be challenged, 'Hey, let's accept the challenge.' That's one thing that I've told other student athletes that have been here at Cal do you think you're special? You better darn well believe you are special because you're accepting the true challenge of being a student athlete. You're not going somewhere that, hey, it's a little bit easier. You're gonna you're gonna be counted on to do certain things. You're gonna be asked to be something a little bit more, but that's part of who you're gonna become, and that is somebody that's willing to do the little extra."

Rivera was asked his thoughts on extending the excitement of GameDay to a consistently high level of fan excitement and engagement.

"I think what you have to do first and foremost is, obviously, it is about winning, but you've got to put yourself in position where people are excited enough to say, 'You know what, I got to come check them out, because they've done some pretty interesting things lately,'" RIvera said. "You know, going into the portal, pulling six offensive linemen out, and then getting to see them work the last few few practices, that's been pretty exciting. So I think these are the things that we've got to continue to build on, but we've got to be able to go out and we've got to make sure people are making the type of investment that we need. We're not just talking when I say invest in all money. No, we're talking about interest. We're talking about your time being on campus, being at the games, coming to special events, that's the kind of investment we need, faces in the crowd. That's important.  I'm saying that that truly is important.

“And part of it is where Jim Knowlton is going to come in. It's his expertise on how do we bring these fans together? We've got to make sure our marketing plan is out there. We got to find out. Sit down, talk to coaches. 'Hey, what is your theme for this year?' This theme has got to be shared with everybody. We've got to talk about this and build this up to get the type of excitement we need. But then we can't let down. We as as a football team, the program, we've got to be successful. And that's the bottom line. When you win football games, you do put seats in the butts, but you've got to give them a reason to come, first and foremost."

"We're leveling up the importance of football at Cal," Lyons added. That's what's happening here. GameDay wasn't just great. We were named the best GameDay of the all of the GameDays, right? It wasn't just, 'Wow, Cal really stepped up'. It was like, it was extraordinary by any standard, right? And people are just so ready. So for me, this is like, wow this is a big investment and so forth, right? And it's sort of like alumni engagement is so important to how we drive our mission. It just is. So they send us students, they hire our students, they teach it in our classes. They give guest lectures. Oh, yeah. And we just finished a $7.3 billion capital campaign, and it's sort of like the idea that this isn't going to be mission relevant. So it's a leveling up of football, and at the same time it's an investment of Berkeley getting even stronger at delivering on its mission. That's the bet here."

Lyons was asked how long Rivera’s hiring and the addition of the GM position at Cal has been in the works.

"I don't remember, Jim the first time you and I started talking about GMs and the model and the idea that the business elements of intercollegiate athletics have been transformed," Lyons said. "No one would take issue with that, right? So the world has changed. There's just no question about that. And so Jim and I were talking about that many months ago, kicking around some early ideas. I was talking to a lot of advisors, not just about the GM role, but it's sort of like, how much should we invest if house is, in fact, fully validated and 20 and a half million is the cap? I mean, what's competitive anyway? So these things were and have been happening a long time. I mean, Ron and I started talking, I think, in December, and some of that was just, could I get some advice from you, Ron? So we've been talking for a few months now, right? And I'm just absolutely delighted it landed where it did. But Jim and I were talking months before that."

In the age of high portal movement through the portal, the new GM was asked about the importance of player retention, particularly proven players the program wants to hold onto and what it would take to keep them.

It's going to be very important,"Rivera said. "Because the one thing you don't want to have to do is develop somebody for somebody else. You've got to give them a reason to stay. And I think we have a lot of resources already in place that have been put in place by Jim Knowlton and some of our sponsors. I mean, we have the Cameron Institute, which is something that really we're just starting to use. We've got to learn how to tap into it. Even more, when I was in Washington, I was involved with it because I helped set up some summer internship programs for some of our student athletes. And that's one of the things that it's there for, is to help these young student athletes find direction beyond their sport. And so that one is very important.

“We have LAB - Life After Ball is something that we have directly in the football program that one of our former players, one of my former teammates, Ron Coccimiglio heads up for us, again, helping these guys connect with people beyond football, whether it's going in going to school to get their masters, or it's it's finding work in the in the real world, we have these types of resources. We have an academic student learning center that we have for them to help them through school. So we've got these types of things covered. But the other thing, obviously, is when I talk about resources, we do need more resources to be able to retain players that want to get into the portal. You know, we've got to make it so that they understand that we have a positive, positive culture, a culture that's designed around the opportunity to be successful and that's one of the things that will get players to want to come and stay, is that we have the right kind of culture.

“Again, I like what I've seen with Coach Wilcox. He's done a tremendous job, he's really had to fight because it's a really tough battle. Because, again, we've been limited with resources. It's been hard. It's been very trying. And with the way the fan base has stayed behind us, the way that they've been there for us. Hey, now it's our turn to give back to them. So I really do think that there are opportunities and reasons why to stay here and be part of Cal football, be part of the university. And again, I'm gonna hammer it, too. This is the number one university."

To wrap things up, the Chancellor was asked if the university plans to continue to field 30 NCAA teams considering the unstable financial landscape the university is dealing with currently.

"Just to make sure everybody's clear on the front end of your question, we haven't added four or five new sports, right?" Lyons said. "These are existing sports that are now fully endowed. I just want to be clear on that. I know you're clear on that, but to be clear, we have no current plan to shut down any of our sports. I'll just put that out there. We've done a lot of analysis on what that looks like, and there is no current plan to shut down any of our sports. The world could pivot radically in two or three or four years, right? I mean, conference realignment, if there's a Super League, are you part of it? Are you not part of it? That's pretty big. Are you on the right side of the fork or the or the wrong side of the fork? So we can't make any commitments for the long run.

“I think of it as investing in optionality. Sorry to use kind of the jargon, but, but we need to be in the game, and if there's future disruption, no one knows for sure, then we need to be in the game. And this is the right time to make sure we are. We are very likely to be in the game. Another thing that somebody mentioned to me not long ago, somebody who's very close to the industry. This person said, 'Look, collegiate football. Intercollegiate football is the second most popular sport in America, and it's paid like it's the fifth most popular sport. In other words, if you just kind of leave all who's going to get what and incentives and all the rest of it aside, this person was saying there's still a lot of economic headroom in the way college football is going to play out over the next decade. That's a lot better than if it were flipped the other way around. So we're not doing this just for for the revenue potential, but we do need to be in the game."

Rivera wrapped up by reinforcing how excited his is to be coming back to Cal in his new capacity.

"I want to make sure everybody understands just how grateful I am for this opportunity for Stephanie and I to come back and be a bigger part of the university," Rivera said. "This has been something that the two of us are really looking forward to. We most certainly are going to be all in and we're going to do everything we can to be successful and help this university take the next big steps."

"I just think for everybody who's taking the time today, hopefully you sense the excitement from the Chancellor, to the athletic director to Ron," Knowlton added. "I think we all believe in this. I think we really, truly think that with Ron, we can take another step, and we have got to take another step. As Ron articulated, we're so close, and this little piece can help us over the edge, and it'll be a big piece, right? And so we're excited about Ron, both in football and with development engagement. And I think there's not going to be one alum that's not celebrating this."

"I'll come back to where I think we started," Lyons said. "This is an investment in excellence. Cal, UC, Berkeley, doesn't just talk about but does everything it can to deliver on what we call comprehensive excellence. And part of what excellence means, part of what success looks like here is even more excellence in terms of how we develop our student athletes, number one. Number two, even more excellence in how we develop resources. Resources, by the way, not just for intercollegiate athletics, but we stir up alumni engagement and that that benefits the whole campus. So excellence in how we develop our student athletes, excellence in how we generate resources. And third, but not least, excellence on the field, right? We have to deliver the performance and and we absolutely believe we can but we will all be watching."