The whole movement of creating the General Manager position is stupid, that's what an AD is. It's incredible how lazy and accountability avoidance Athletic Directors have become. AD's pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to search firms just so if a hire doesn't pan out, they can blame it on the search firm and not themselves.
AD's say they use search firms for background checks and because of their contacts, well guess what you're an AD it's your job to have those contacts and if you don't you shouldn't be an AD!
I also believe Cal and Stanford are going to come to regret joining the ACC because the effects the cross-county travel is going to have on performance. Unless the ACC creates a west coast division with more teams out there it's going to be very hard on those schools.
I get that Cal and Stanford were in a difficult position but if the Pac-12 had extended invitations to Rice, SMU, Air Force, Wyoming & Colorado State perhaps they could have held onto more conference members and gotten a decent media right deal.
I think we're heading to a situation where revenue sports would be under a GM and non-revenue under the AD. The general irrelevance of NCAA compliance and huge relevance of money has somewhat obviated the need of a unified athletic dept.
That is a distinct possibility as many, if not most, colleges and universities see their athletic teams as integral parts of their brand identity.
The idea that the NCAA runs some sort of compliance operation is becoming more absurd as time marches on and the landscape becomes more like the Wild West. Interested parties will attempt to remake the landscape to fit their needs and all without the influence of an overarching organization looking over their shoulders.
In such conditions, it's also possible that some institutions will opt out of the intercollegiate athletics landscape altogether, but I wouldn't imagine that there will be a rush to the door.
That's where I see things heading. Academy of Art SF (D2) just eliminated athletics. Despite the name, this was a pretty successful and ambitious program that launched in 2012. It's becoming go/no-go decision time.
I’m a young alumni, class of 2019, yes that still classifies as “young” - according to the Alumni Association page.
If football had any meaningful sense of direction or leadership I would be donating $5,000 a year to NIL/Athletic Fund. A lack of success and more politics in Cal Football only lessen one’s eagerness toward donating. Recently I’ve decided to only donate to university clubs/funds I know will not squander the donation. I’ve spoken to many other alumni who all hold the same sentiment. Until changes in Cal Football/Athletics occur I will not donate a penny.
Were we to fire & then hire a new AD, it'd have to be a superstar, akin to the hiring of Montgomery. Anything less would be a continuation of the current malaise. Anyone have candidate ideas? I'll start by throwing Condi out there - maybe she's ready for a new challenge.
I appreciate the thoughtful breakdown. I'm on BI as well, and hear the severity of concern there. Clearly, a change is needed. There is a saying: Hire slow and fire fast. Management 101 at Haas.
Why are we still having discussions about the awful performance of Knowlton? This guy should have been let go many years ago, I have been preaching that ever since the Fox hire. I use to attend football, basketball and baseball games for years, even though All 3 of these sports continue to be major disappointments. I stopped going to games recently because I was sick of watching them fail every year. I use to except the loosing just for the fact that I enjoy being on campus but even that got difficult when you see the team you root for continue to be non competitive. The program is now just a minor league stepping stone to other ptograms, the top Qb leaves and now the top basketball player. I guess being a bottom tier program is fine with Knowlton, I guess he doesn’t care that the top players every year seems to run for the exits. That says all you need to know about the entire state of the 3 major sports. I’m so glad that finally some of the people with pull are finally speaking up. Wake up administration and take action!
Said it shortly after he was hired that Knowlton is nothing more than a bean counter who was tasked by Christ to keep us out of the red and not embarrass us. Nothing more. Unfortunately, he even botched the no bad PR part with the McKeever mishandling. And nary a word from him ever about winning or setting performance goals. Hopefully this standoff is nearing its conclusion.
It remains difficult to take the athletic department at all seriously so long as Knowlton remains employed. It’s a sign that the University has no intention of committing to revenue sports.
Cal is going to be back with Oregon State and Wazzu by, what, 2030? We are basically a mid-major.
I agree, except I think the University (at least Lyons) does have some intention in better supporting the revenue sports. But the JK situation has stymied that project. JK must be holding a pair of pocket aces, cause there's not another AD in America that would have managed to remain unscathed this far.
Cal has always been confused on this. If they really wanted to just scale down and be a mid-major, the opportunity clearly presented itself after the Pac-12 fell apart. Instead they chose to sign with the ACC for pennies on the dollar. You don't do that if you have no desire to remain a major program.
Time to s*** or get off the pot here, Cal. If you really want to remain in the major leagues there's no reason to keep pissing off your biggest donors by supporting a bad AD.
Unfortunately, this article only reinforces my ongoing hypothesis about the relationship between Cal's administration and athletics: athletics are tolerated, they are not truly supported.
Exactly. The outrage that Clark Kerr visited on the football program and effectively putting Waldorf and boosters on a leash hobbled recruiting. The reverberations are felt to this day.
I will be very clear up front: I was wary of Knowlton from the start, but I have never felt comfortable with this tenure at Cal. I have felt for too long that he is incapable of running a successful FBS Athletic Department. The proof was in the Mark Fox hire and the extension of Justin Wilcox.
Cal could potentially rectify this situation by "reassigning" Knowlton. Put him in Athletic Department Siberia by having him focus solely on fundraising for a small subset of non-revenue sports. thereby encouraging him to take a negotiated buyout.
Also change the reporting structure of the Athletic Department so that Knowlton is no longer at the top of the org chart. He can continue to report to Lyons directly, but the Deputy ADs should be co-ADs in this structure until a new AD is named.
Shouldn't we be happy that Ron Rivera was brought in, at all. Some people on here were happy about the fact that Rivera reports directly to Lyons (makes sense in terms of broader outreach). What do they want (besides Knowlton fired?)? They want Rivera reporting to Knowlton and Wilcox reporting to Rivera (as at StanfUrd)? Doesn't that put the onus on Rivera? Is that fair?
Is cutting the donations off really the right thing to do? If you want Knowlton fired, then say that, or propose what exactly you want (not this gray area sh*t)....
The best thing about the Rivera hire is that it finally brought the situation to a head and demonstrated to the top donors that they needed to revolt or else the Cal administration would just keep shuffling along with the status quo again. Cal miscalculated and thought this PR move would placate them. Nope. They want Ron to have real power.
I'm pretty sure they *are* saying they want Knowlton fired. There's not future where the GM reports to Lyons indefinitely, what AD would want to join a program where they have to keep their hands off of football?
We want Wilcox reporting directly to Rivera, who would report to Lyons, completely excising JK from Cal Football. More broadly, we also just want JK gone. He should have been gone years ago.
Also, to clarify: Luck does not report to Stanford's AD. He reports to the University President.
But...would it not be completely strange to have your football coach operate outside the purview of the Athletic Department? Seems like a strange remedy given that football would still rely on AD logistics.
It would be strange -- but strange times are ahead for college sports in general. it doesn't seem to odd to have an individual that is directly under the chancellor at the same level as AD to handle football and basketball, the revenue-generating sports, and having an AD that manages everything else.
Not to mention JK has shown incompetence at the task at hand, so just from a pragmatic point of view I'd take it even if "strange".
Desperate times call for desperate measures. If Cal is not willing to eat Knowlton's buyout, then restructuring him out of responsibility is the next best thing.
You made no mention of the handling of Cal Marketing, and the mishandling of Cal Spirit. Cal Spirit groups are fleeing the athletic department because of the treatment they have received from Marketing.
That's definitely something BearInsider has raised in the past. Those great billboards they put up in ACC cities? Entirely done by the donor collective, over the objections of Cal Marketing.
Honestly, all of this plus the way the fan community rallied last season with the Calgorithm and turning out for GameDay, shows me that there actually is a potentially passionate fan base behind Cal sports that has just been beaten down by the poor execution of the Cal administration.
People are trying to revive that passion, but for it to really have a chance to flourish we need everyone rowing in the same direction. Knowlton just doesn't do that, and no one trusts him at this point anyway. I'm not delusional enough to think that we can be as big as the Notre Dames or Ohio States of the world, but can we be on par with a mid-level Big 10 team in terms of fan support? I think that's reachable . . . but you need an AD who will try.
Absolutely not. Cal Gameday really required an embrace of Cal spirit that is entirely antithetical to what Knowlton believes. His particular disrespect for the band means that even though my career is taking off, I will not donate a single dime until he is replaced, outside of Cal legends
And a Marketing Department that stops trying to make us into something we're not. There is no one in management who is of Cal, or understands our culture and history.
Honestly, if they just outsourced Marketing/Spirit decisions to the NIL collective and some of the main Calgorithm folks it would probably be a major improvement.
I think you made a mistake in this sentence. I think Mark Fox should be changed to Jim Knowlton. In the most high profile sports, Mark Fox has not made an obviously successful hire in his tenure. But perhaps more generally, Cal’s across-the-board struggles in the more high-profile sports I think demonstrates the failure
The whole movement of creating the General Manager position is stupid, that's what an AD is. It's incredible how lazy and accountability avoidance Athletic Directors have become. AD's pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to search firms just so if a hire doesn't pan out, they can blame it on the search firm and not themselves.
AD's say they use search firms for background checks and because of their contacts, well guess what you're an AD it's your job to have those contacts and if you don't you shouldn't be an AD!
I also believe Cal and Stanford are going to come to regret joining the ACC because the effects the cross-county travel is going to have on performance. Unless the ACC creates a west coast division with more teams out there it's going to be very hard on those schools.
I get that Cal and Stanford were in a difficult position but if the Pac-12 had extended invitations to Rice, SMU, Air Force, Wyoming & Colorado State perhaps they could have held onto more conference members and gotten a decent media right deal.
Perhaps, at least there would be people who were and are associated with Cal, and would be willing to listen to students.
I think we're heading to a situation where revenue sports would be under a GM and non-revenue under the AD. The general irrelevance of NCAA compliance and huge relevance of money has somewhat obviated the need of a unified athletic dept.
That is a distinct possibility as many, if not most, colleges and universities see their athletic teams as integral parts of their brand identity.
The idea that the NCAA runs some sort of compliance operation is becoming more absurd as time marches on and the landscape becomes more like the Wild West. Interested parties will attempt to remake the landscape to fit their needs and all without the influence of an overarching organization looking over their shoulders.
In such conditions, it's also possible that some institutions will opt out of the intercollegiate athletics landscape altogether, but I wouldn't imagine that there will be a rush to the door.
Sonoma State
That's where I see things heading. Academy of Art SF (D2) just eliminated athletics. Despite the name, this was a pretty successful and ambitious program that launched in 2012. It's becoming go/no-go decision time.
Will the Spring Showcase be televised?
afaik I don’t believe it is
I’m a young alumni, class of 2019, yes that still classifies as “young” - according to the Alumni Association page.
If football had any meaningful sense of direction or leadership I would be donating $5,000 a year to NIL/Athletic Fund. A lack of success and more politics in Cal Football only lessen one’s eagerness toward donating. Recently I’ve decided to only donate to university clubs/funds I know will not squander the donation. I’ve spoken to many other alumni who all hold the same sentiment. Until changes in Cal Football/Athletics occur I will not donate a penny.
FIRE WILCOX. FIRE KNOWLTON.
Didn’t read the rest but you are young! And you are welcome!
Were we to fire & then hire a new AD, it'd have to be a superstar, akin to the hiring of Montgomery. Anything less would be a continuation of the current malaise. Anyone have candidate ideas? I'll start by throwing Condi out there - maybe she's ready for a new challenge.
Doubt anybody is going from Secretary of State to AD at Cal, but interesting idea.
Can't disagree with that. But then Knowlton would not really be the AD in that setup. So let's rip the band aid off now please Chancellor!
Like in sports, your judged based on your record. Why this difficult?
I appreciate the thoughtful breakdown. I'm on BI as well, and hear the severity of concern there. Clearly, a change is needed. There is a saying: Hire slow and fire fast. Management 101 at Haas.
Cal fails this adage time and time again.
Why are we still having discussions about the awful performance of Knowlton? This guy should have been let go many years ago, I have been preaching that ever since the Fox hire. I use to attend football, basketball and baseball games for years, even though All 3 of these sports continue to be major disappointments. I stopped going to games recently because I was sick of watching them fail every year. I use to except the loosing just for the fact that I enjoy being on campus but even that got difficult when you see the team you root for continue to be non competitive. The program is now just a minor league stepping stone to other ptograms, the top Qb leaves and now the top basketball player. I guess being a bottom tier program is fine with Knowlton, I guess he doesn’t care that the top players every year seems to run for the exits. That says all you need to know about the entire state of the 3 major sports. I’m so glad that finally some of the people with pull are finally speaking up. Wake up administration and take action!
I would like to agree but not sure if the problem of top players going elsewhere is endemic or isolated.
Presumably because he has significant enough legal leverage that the admin needs to coerce him to make the decision rather than make it for him.
Said it shortly after he was hired that Knowlton is nothing more than a bean counter who was tasked by Christ to keep us out of the red and not embarrass us. Nothing more. Unfortunately, he even botched the no bad PR part with the McKeever mishandling. And nary a word from him ever about winning or setting performance goals. Hopefully this standoff is nearing its conclusion.
It remains difficult to take the athletic department at all seriously so long as Knowlton remains employed. It’s a sign that the University has no intention of committing to revenue sports.
Cal is going to be back with Oregon State and Wazzu by, what, 2030? We are basically a mid-major.
I agree, except I think the University (at least Lyons) does have some intention in better supporting the revenue sports. But the JK situation has stymied that project. JK must be holding a pair of pocket aces, cause there's not another AD in America that would have managed to remain unscathed this far.
Cal has always been confused on this. If they really wanted to just scale down and be a mid-major, the opportunity clearly presented itself after the Pac-12 fell apart. Instead they chose to sign with the ACC for pennies on the dollar. You don't do that if you have no desire to remain a major program.
Time to s*** or get off the pot here, Cal. If you really want to remain in the major leagues there's no reason to keep pissing off your biggest donors by supporting a bad AD.
Unfortunately, this article only reinforces my ongoing hypothesis about the relationship between Cal's administration and athletics: athletics are tolerated, they are not truly supported.
That has been the case since the early 1970s or so.
Since 1952 by my estimation. See the aftermath of the Ronnie Knox Affair.
Thank you for that information. Will check it out.
Cal's mediocrity in football started in 1953. This is not a coincidence.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1954/09/06/why-ronnie-knox-quit-california
Exactly. The outrage that Clark Kerr visited on the football program and effectively putting Waldorf and boosters on a leash hobbled recruiting. The reverberations are felt to this day.
😢
I will be very clear up front: I was wary of Knowlton from the start, but I have never felt comfortable with this tenure at Cal. I have felt for too long that he is incapable of running a successful FBS Athletic Department. The proof was in the Mark Fox hire and the extension of Justin Wilcox.
Cal could potentially rectify this situation by "reassigning" Knowlton. Put him in Athletic Department Siberia by having him focus solely on fundraising for a small subset of non-revenue sports. thereby encouraging him to take a negotiated buyout.
Also change the reporting structure of the Athletic Department so that Knowlton is no longer at the top of the org chart. He can continue to report to Lyons directly, but the Deputy ADs should be co-ADs in this structure until a new AD is named.
Shouldn't we be happy that Ron Rivera was brought in, at all. Some people on here were happy about the fact that Rivera reports directly to Lyons (makes sense in terms of broader outreach). What do they want (besides Knowlton fired?)? They want Rivera reporting to Knowlton and Wilcox reporting to Rivera (as at StanfUrd)? Doesn't that put the onus on Rivera? Is that fair?
Is cutting the donations off really the right thing to do? If you want Knowlton fired, then say that, or propose what exactly you want (not this gray area sh*t)....
The best thing about the Rivera hire is that it finally brought the situation to a head and demonstrated to the top donors that they needed to revolt or else the Cal administration would just keep shuffling along with the status quo again. Cal miscalculated and thought this PR move would placate them. Nope. They want Ron to have real power.
I'm pretty sure they *are* saying they want Knowlton fired. There's not future where the GM reports to Lyons indefinitely, what AD would want to join a program where they have to keep their hands off of football?
We want Wilcox reporting directly to Rivera, who would report to Lyons, completely excising JK from Cal Football. More broadly, we also just want JK gone. He should have been gone years ago.
Also, to clarify: Luck does not report to Stanford's AD. He reports to the University President.
100%.
Knowlton should be nowhere near Cal revenue sports.
OK. Thanks for clarifying the StanfUrd hierarchy.
But...would it not be completely strange to have your football coach operate outside the purview of the Athletic Department? Seems like a strange remedy given that football would still rely on AD logistics.
It would be strange -- but strange times are ahead for college sports in general. it doesn't seem to odd to have an individual that is directly under the chancellor at the same level as AD to handle football and basketball, the revenue-generating sports, and having an AD that manages everything else.
Not to mention JK has shown incompetence at the task at hand, so just from a pragmatic point of view I'd take it even if "strange".
The worst case would be RR reporting to JK.
I know who RR is. Who is AK? Did you mean JK?
Oops, yeah. No idea why I typed AK lol my bad
It's the AD and JK mixed into one
that's... that's probably exactly what my brain did. lol
Not sure why, but for some reason for a brief second I thought Rich Rod...
I think I'm just tired, lol
Desperate times call for desperate measures. If Cal is not willing to eat Knowlton's buyout, then restructuring him out of responsibility is the next best thing.
Typical for the bureaucratic mess that is Cal athletics ;-)
You made no mention of the handling of Cal Marketing, and the mishandling of Cal Spirit. Cal Spirit groups are fleeing the athletic department because of the treatment they have received from Marketing.
That's definitely something BearInsider has raised in the past. Those great billboards they put up in ACC cities? Entirely done by the donor collective, over the objections of Cal Marketing.
Currently the Cal Band has left Athletics, and Rally Com and Oski are trying as well.
Honestly, all of this plus the way the fan community rallied last season with the Calgorithm and turning out for GameDay, shows me that there actually is a potentially passionate fan base behind Cal sports that has just been beaten down by the poor execution of the Cal administration.
People are trying to revive that passion, but for it to really have a chance to flourish we need everyone rowing in the same direction. Knowlton just doesn't do that, and no one trusts him at this point anyway. I'm not delusional enough to think that we can be as big as the Notre Dames or Ohio States of the world, but can we be on par with a mid-level Big 10 team in terms of fan support? I think that's reachable . . . but you need an AD who will try.
Should JK get credit for bringing the Game Day to Berkeley?
Absolutely not. Cal Gameday really required an embrace of Cal spirit that is entirely antithetical to what Knowlton believes. His particular disrespect for the band means that even though my career is taking off, I will not donate a single dime until he is replaced, outside of Cal legends
I'm not behind closed doors in the meetings or whatever, but from what I can tell we can mostly just credit him for not getting in the way.
And a Marketing Department that stops trying to make us into something we're not. There is no one in management who is of Cal, or understands our culture and history.
Honestly, if they just outsourced Marketing/Spirit decisions to the NIL collective and some of the main Calgorithm folks it would probably be a major improvement.
I think you made a mistake in this sentence. I think Mark Fox should be changed to Jim Knowlton. In the most high profile sports, Mark Fox has not made an obviously successful hire in his tenure. But perhaps more generally, Cal’s across-the-board struggles in the more high-profile sports I think demonstrates the failure
It’s not just the high profile sports. We have largely declined across the board with a couple exceptions.