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Terence's avatar

I feel like the rankings are a mostly accurate representation of the state of affairs at Cal - and I hope the AD looks at how to change this in the future. There's no way we will ever be in the upper half for a lot of these - the circumstances and realities of our campus infrastructure and the donor profile of our alumni/community is already difficult to move the needle on things like academic donations - and that's what the core mission of the university is. But things like quality of life, donor support and leadership alignment aren't bound by our unchangable issues.

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Erik Johannessen's avatar

"When Cal athletics was perhaps at its lowest ebb in decades, they were still able to hire a conventionally successful, experienced candidate for athletic director in Jim Knowlton. They were still able to find the funding to hire a new MBB coach. They have been able to retain Justin Wilcox, though we don’t really know to what extent he’s had other opportunities."

I suspect (but obviously can't prove) that even while Cal Athletics may have tanked its reputation, it can continue to ride the reputation of the University in general. People want to be associated with strong brands, and perhaps Cal continues to punch somewhat above its weight in recruiting (if not retention) due to a strong University brand. Of course, this may also have the corollary effect of preventing the Athletic Department from recognizing how weak its own brand has become.

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