Bear Insider Video: Cal GM Ron Rivera

Cal GM Ron Rivera met with bay area media today to give an update with what's going on with the team and discus some strategies going forward for the team's success as well as growing the fan base.

The new GM was impressed with the number of fans and the excitement they provided in the crowd in last weekend’s 28-24 victory at Boston College.

 “It was a very good following,” Rivera said. :It was good to see as many of the alums and supporters that came out. It was really neat to see. I thought the tailgate we had at Lyons Hall rich lions Hall was. It was good to see the folks that came and sat in the stadium. They got a great show because that's the corner of the end zone that we scored the last touchdown, so they got it firsthand. So that was really an excellent thing for us in terms of giving our donors and our supporters, our alumni fans, a good look at who we can be.”

Rivera was asked if he has a sense for how Cal is building its brand so far this season.

“I think we're heading the right direction,” the Cal GM said. “I really do. I feel like we're kind of building the kind of momentum that you need. You know, if you go back, and I've said this before, but if you look at it, some of the people that we want to try and emulate are schools like Virginia and Indiana, schools that have built their situation circumstances up. You go back couple years ago, and you look at what they've done and how they did it, and then what happened last year, and now what's happening to them this year. You sit there and say, ‘That's kind of the model we’ve got to copy. 

“With Indiana, they started to get an influx of money. And then after last year, the success they had, they're able to get naming rights for their stadium. You have $100 million over 20 years, is a hell of a deal. So we're trying to emulate that. We're trying to build on creating success this year, next year and then going into next year, working on the retention (of key players) obviously. And just so everybody knows, we're working on marketing plans for retaining our players. We're trying to work with some brands and some companies and try and see if we can get these things off the ground, a lot like a lot of these other people have been doing already.”

Probably the biggest retention priority will be frosh QB Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele‍. What’s the plan with him?

“Well, like I said, we have a marketing plan, and we've met with some brands, some companies, and we're talking about things and we're putting this whole package together,” Rivera said. “And at the appropriate moment, we'll get it ready to go.” 

Is the head man confident in retainting the talented QB?

“I am. I really am,” Rivera said?

Based on what?

“Based on we’re the University of California,” Rivera countered.

a football question, what has distinguished Mason Minnie,

“I think right now, I think he's got a great understanding and sense of running routes, understanding where the holes are in the and where the windows are,” Rivera noted. “So you see him get to those spots, you get them where he needs to be. He does run good routes, and he's got great hands. I mean, this is a guy that our scouting department brought in based off of his skill sets, what he does well. There really wasn't a lot of tape on him. He only had, I think, like 10 catches or something like that (actually 5) last season. But coming into this year, our guys had a real good sense of what he was capable of. So really, what you're seeing is a guy that's developing right in front of everybody's eyes based off of what he had done in the past.”

With the program set to honor the 50^th anniversary of the 1975 Pac-8 Co-Championship team this Saturday, Rivera was asked if he has any fond memories of that team.

“Probably the thing that that I remember more about that team more than anything else for me personally, is there was a wide receiver named Steve Rivera. My oldest brother's name is Steve, and we just thought it was kind of ironic. And so I kind of followed it and watched it. And I think a big part of for me is had been that initial association of who Steve Rivera was for them. And really, I really started getting into it as they started recruiting me. Mike White was the first coach to reach out with a letter, a recruiting letter to me. They followed my career. And really, just the interest that they showed from the very beginning was was probably the biggest thing that got me excited about Cal.”

Rivera was asked if having many of the former conference champions come talk to and meet with the team would likely have an impact on the current players.

“I hope it does,” Rivera said. “I hope our guys understand that if there is one thing you can do is you can win here. And that's one thing that I really appreciate about who Justin is, and I think that's the thing that is admirable, because Justin stayed because of one thing, and that is he was part of Jeff Tedford, his legacy, and he knows that you can win here at Cal and that's the thing that's important, is that you have a coach that believes that you can win. And I think if the players understand that, and they see examples of it, I think they can get behind it.”

With Cal playing so many 7:30 games, including two of the last three weeks as well as at least the next two games, Rivera was asked how they hope to keep fans engaged and either coming out to Memorial Stadium or watching the game on TV.

“Well, keep it exciting,” Rivera said. “I mean, win games, put a good product on the football field. And what you'd love to do is if you can only come to see the first half, go home, watch it on television. We can't control it right now. ESPN controls our game times. We had asked for this game to be at least as late as four o'clock or three o'clock in the afternoon. But you know, ESPN feels that this is game has some significance, us vs Duke, two programs that are winning right now, and they want us to compete on TV, so we have to go by what we're being told.

“So I wish we could change it. I would love to have it where it fit our fan base a little bit more. But again, like I said, if they can't, they're gonna be able to stay. Please come early, watch in the first half, go home and watch the rest of it on television.”

Does that mean Rivera prefers day games?

“Oh, I believe I'm a creature of habit,Rivera said. “When I was in the NFL, every time I looked at schedule, I hated seeing the Monday night, the Sunday night and Thursday nights. I love those one o'clock kickoffs and I think those are awesome. As far as attendance, I love it. I love it where we can have all the fans here and have them be part of what we're doing.”

On the flip side, Cal won’t be competing with a lot of other games in earlier time slots on television so with the game being on ESPN with less viewing competition, there’s room for a lot of eyes to be on the program, even if it gets a bit late on the east coast.

“And that's what this is,” Rivera said. “It's a benefit for us, and that's why, watching us on television such a big deal, because the prime time ratings are an important metric that we're being measured by.

The Cal GM was asked what should be some of the biggest reasons to come out Saturday to see 4-1 (1-0) Cal battle 3-2 (2-0) Duke this Saturday night.

”I think the big thing, obviously, first of all, it is homecoming," Rivera noted. “And then secondly, we are honoring the 1975 Pac-8 champions and I think that's a really cool deal. So it'd be real neat to have a good turnout of fans to help honor them at the same time watch Cal football. I think we're at a point where we're starting to grow. I think we learned something, especially from last week. If you go back and look at last year, we lost four games on the last drive by our opponent. So to see us turn it around and make the stop. I think that was huge. I think shows that we are learning, we are maturing. I'd like to believe that it's a harbinger of the good that can be coming from all that stuff.”

As the press conference was in progress, a stadium worker was seen painting the Black Bear Zone black in the South end zone. Rivera was asked if they’ve gained much traction with Raider fans so far to cross over to Cal now that the team left for Las Vegas.

“We're working on it,” Rivera noted. “I think we've got a little something, a little bit of a surprise for these folks coming on Saturday night. So we're pretty excited about it, and hopefully they'll feel welcomed and they'll want to come back.”

The students have shown up in force. Rivera was asked if they’d be more likely to attend future games in the evening.

“They are, especially on the weekend, because most of them don't wake up till afternoon,” Rivera said. “I think it'll work right into our wheelhouse (with students). It'd be great to see them all back. I love the fact that when we had the gold out, they showed up for the Gophers, and I'd love to see them show up for this game, for homecoming.

“We're going to do something for the Greeks this coming Friday. So I think that's one of the things that we've tried to do. We've reached out to them in the past. This year, we have and we plan to do it again. I actually did this, too (pointing to his Berkeley Fire Dept hat). I went by one of the fire houses and had a chance of going to say hello to those folks as well. So we want to engage with our community, most certainly.”

Rivera was asked if he was pleased with the attendance they've had in the two home games to start the season.

“So far. I mean, the thing I'm pleased about is we've seen it trend up, and we want to continue to see it trend up to the point where we get to a point where you're going to get 55-65,000,” Rivera said. “That would be awesome. That would be the start of something that could be very special for us to grow off of, to grow the fan base, engage the fan base, keep the interest of the fan base.

“That's all part of what we're trying to create by playing good quality football and finding the players and then retaining the players so that our fans know that they're going to be entertained.

“We're also honoring Alex Mack. Let's talk about how important and significant that that is to honor him for the College Football Hall of Fame. It is very important. Alex Mack, one of our all time great players here. An All-American, an Academic All-American, an NFL player who had a tremendous career here is being honored as a as a collegiate Hall of Famer. So it's a real neat honor, and it's something that we're also going to recognize him and his accomplishments as well.”

Saturday’s game against Duke will kick off at 7:30 and will be televised nationally on ESPN.