"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.
I'd like to think that Cal has a little bit of 'sleeping giant' perception, that if we ever got our house in order we could do impressive things with our location and hypothetical resources. It's just that, at some point, you have to actually deliver on that promise.
@Nick it will take some time. It will require paying off debt, making smart hires, building excitement among the northern california community. Cal can always leverage its national profile but only if it can get the baby steps right.
Yep. It's an amazing institution with great facilities, football heritage, location, and global recognition. How does this get so screwed up with so much going for it? That said, they are. These rankings make sense to me when you think about it.
Back in the day, a fairly large segment of the general student population had some connection with high school football programs. Now, I imagine few ever have seen a football game. Times do change.
I think this is an underappreciated point. My local high school sends 20-25 kids to Cal every year, and of the 5 or 10 that I know, the best case feeling toward athletics - particularly football - is disinterest. Worst, but not uncommon, is outright contempt for the dumb jocks.
Generally, Cal has gotten so selective over the last several years that only the most academically-minded kids get accepted. These kids are very competitive and focused on building their college resume - volunteering, joining and running clubs and charities, and working on side projects. There's no time or interest in athletics in high school, and no reason to expect it to change in college.
I actually emailed Knowlton about some of the activities that go on at football games in between plays that might at best be considered distractions. He responded within 3 days with a very well thought out, personalized response. I was very impressed and continue to be with him. With regard to the statement that some of the campus academics either ignore or are a bit hostile to sports, that has not changed apparently since I was a student, when the same sentiments were expressed.
Yes, the cheers are interrupted and curiously, the energy in the stadium from the fans appears to drop. It rises, then there is a commercial event, then the momentum has to be built again. Takes away from old-fashioned home field advantage.
Knowlton is a great choice for our AD. If anyone can effect positive change it will be him. Sadly, he is in a highly politicized environment with different groups pressing for financial resources. If Wilcox keeps up his progress and we pay him and his staff to keep them, we could see a lot of positive change, the way Alabama's football success has positively impacted the University. When I look through the list the first thing that pops up is facilities. Because we have very limited land area, it makes it real difficult to have world class facilities for all sports. When you couple this with lack of donor giving you and up with what we have. (Its sad that with a alumni group as large as CAL's that we can't find more donors...even small donors). The one I don't get is quality of life. Berkeley is an awesome place to go to school. Maybe the cost of living there is what they are considering?
CoL and a general feeling that Cal has already taken a lot of money from people. I'm not one of those, but even I was pissed at a call I got last year. Basically they asked for a reunion gift and said something like, "well people usually donate $10k or $15k". When I was shocked they said something to the extend of "we have payment plans". Fuck no I ain't donating $15k.
It also didn't help the unfortunate timing with Big Give this year. Right as the market is tanking.
That doesn't sound like a very well-thought out response by them, and doesn't seem typical with my interactions with fundraisers. I imagine they should take into account both your class year and your donation history before coming in with an ask like that. I think someone may have just done a bad job there.
I don't want to put the person on blast because they did a really good job otherwise. I'm not hesitant to donating generally but I think they misjudged me grossly because of that.
Yup. I think I posted once about my experience of writing a good sized check at the outset of the stadium renovation project. Sandy Barbour was in charge then. Never got any kind of thank you, letter or response. A few years later when they were selling bricks with peoples names on them I called and inquired if perhaps because of my sizable donation if I could have one brick. I had to follow up with an email. It took them several weeks to respond and the answer was no delivered in a highly impersonal way. Since then I have given to the football and rugby programs because they are near and dear to my heart. But as far as the rest of the programs and school, they can whistle till the cows come home as far as I'm concerned. In retrospect, I think CAL has had two problems in the past that I hope Knowlton can fix: 1. Incredibly poor management starting at the top level, 2. lack of professionals running the fundraising effort. For a supposed world class university this is a pretty sad statement.
I had a similar experience. Raised money for them and they treated me like shit. Current CAA ED and prior AD had the subtedly of a brick swung overhead in a dirty gym sock.
Arrogant and act like they have no idea how human relationships work. They made it seem that I should thank them to even have the opportunity to donate and serve the University. Also, they ended up spending more money than we raised in order to search around for bigger whales - so I feel like I did all that work for nothing. The marched through our state and burned every bridge on the way through.
I bleed blue and gold, but they make me angry. I will not meet with them again.
Could not agree more. I have had similar experiences with them on a number of different fronts. One year, the marketing team was ATROCIOUS! But overall, Cal cannot get out of their own way. Even Oski needs a major overhaul as he was recently written up as downright "scary" looking (and not in a good way).
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.
I think the concept is that the people polled are asking for their perception of Cal's status NOW. So, Cal's current football potential, current state of facilities, etc. etc.
It's not just about being pretty. Cal doesn't pay in the top percentile, but is in the top percentile in terms of cost of living. Which drives down quality of life.
I’m shocked, shocked! to find that the top 3 football schools are in the bottom half in compliance.
"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.
I'd like to think that Cal has a little bit of 'sleeping giant' perception, that if we ever got our house in order we could do impressive things with our location and hypothetical resources. It's just that, at some point, you have to actually deliver on that promise.
@Nick it will take some time. It will require paying off debt, making smart hires, building excitement among the northern california community. Cal can always leverage its national profile but only if it can get the baby steps right.
Yep. It's an amazing institution with great facilities, football heritage, location, and global recognition. How does this get so screwed up with so much going for it? That said, they are. These rankings make sense to me when you think about it.
Global recognition is for UC Berkeley, not Cal unfortunately.
Back in the day, a fairly large segment of the general student population had some connection with high school football programs. Now, I imagine few ever have seen a football game. Times do change.
I think this is an underappreciated point. My local high school sends 20-25 kids to Cal every year, and of the 5 or 10 that I know, the best case feeling toward athletics - particularly football - is disinterest. Worst, but not uncommon, is outright contempt for the dumb jocks.
Generally, Cal has gotten so selective over the last several years that only the most academically-minded kids get accepted. These kids are very competitive and focused on building their college resume - volunteering, joining and running clubs and charities, and working on side projects. There's no time or interest in athletics in high school, and no reason to expect it to change in college.
I actually emailed Knowlton about some of the activities that go on at football games in between plays that might at best be considered distractions. He responded within 3 days with a very well thought out, personalized response. I was very impressed and continue to be with him. With regard to the statement that some of the campus academics either ignore or are a bit hostile to sports, that has not changed apparently since I was a student, when the same sentiments were expressed.
What was his take? Any hope that this may change?
Yes, the cheers are interrupted and curiously, the energy in the stadium from the fans appears to drop. It rises, then there is a commercial event, then the momentum has to be built again. Takes away from old-fashioned home field advantage.
I'm not asking for top tier... just get us somewhere respectable like in the middle... PLEASEEEEEEE
Knowlton is a great choice for our AD. If anyone can effect positive change it will be him. Sadly, he is in a highly politicized environment with different groups pressing for financial resources. If Wilcox keeps up his progress and we pay him and his staff to keep them, we could see a lot of positive change, the way Alabama's football success has positively impacted the University. When I look through the list the first thing that pops up is facilities. Because we have very limited land area, it makes it real difficult to have world class facilities for all sports. When you couple this with lack of donor giving you and up with what we have. (Its sad that with a alumni group as large as CAL's that we can't find more donors...even small donors). The one I don't get is quality of life. Berkeley is an awesome place to go to school. Maybe the cost of living there is what they are considering?
CoL and a general feeling that Cal has already taken a lot of money from people. I'm not one of those, but even I was pissed at a call I got last year. Basically they asked for a reunion gift and said something like, "well people usually donate $10k or $15k". When I was shocked they said something to the extend of "we have payment plans". Fuck no I ain't donating $15k.
It also didn't help the unfortunate timing with Big Give this year. Right as the market is tanking.
That doesn't sound like a very well-thought out response by them, and doesn't seem typical with my interactions with fundraisers. I imagine they should take into account both your class year and your donation history before coming in with an ask like that. I think someone may have just done a bad job there.
I don't want to put the person on blast because they did a really good job otherwise. I'm not hesitant to donating generally but I think they misjudged me grossly because of that.
Yup. I think I posted once about my experience of writing a good sized check at the outset of the stadium renovation project. Sandy Barbour was in charge then. Never got any kind of thank you, letter or response. A few years later when they were selling bricks with peoples names on them I called and inquired if perhaps because of my sizable donation if I could have one brick. I had to follow up with an email. It took them several weeks to respond and the answer was no delivered in a highly impersonal way. Since then I have given to the football and rugby programs because they are near and dear to my heart. But as far as the rest of the programs and school, they can whistle till the cows come home as far as I'm concerned. In retrospect, I think CAL has had two problems in the past that I hope Knowlton can fix: 1. Incredibly poor management starting at the top level, 2. lack of professionals running the fundraising effort. For a supposed world class university this is a pretty sad statement.
I had a similar experience. Raised money for them and they treated me like shit. Current CAA ED and prior AD had the subtedly of a brick swung overhead in a dirty gym sock.
Arrogant and act like they have no idea how human relationships work. They made it seem that I should thank them to even have the opportunity to donate and serve the University. Also, they ended up spending more money than we raised in order to search around for bigger whales - so I feel like I did all that work for nothing. The marched through our state and burned every bridge on the way through.
I bleed blue and gold, but they make me angry. I will not meet with them again.
Could not agree more. I have had similar experiences with them on a number of different fronts. One year, the marketing team was ATROCIOUS! But overall, Cal cannot get out of their own way. Even Oski needs a major overhaul as he was recently written up as downright "scary" looking (and not in a good way).
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.
I think the concept is that the people polled are asking for their perception of Cal's status NOW. So, Cal's current football potential, current state of facilities, etc. etc.
It's not just about being pretty. Cal doesn't pay in the top percentile, but is in the top percentile in terms of cost of living. Which drives down quality of life.