Ron Rivera and Andrew Luck Dissect the Current College Athletics Environment

A Women's Coaching Alliance panel with ESPN's Mina Kimes shed some light into the battle the Bay Area schools face in this climate

SAN MATEO, Calif. – On a warm evening along the Peninsula, Cal Football General Manager Ron Rivera, Stanford Football General Manager Andrew Luck, and ESPN NFL Analyst Mina Kimes took to the stage to offer their thoughts, perspectives, and desires for college athletics in 2025 and beyond.

Ron Rivera, Andrew Luck, and Mina Kimes. Credit: Tony Corso

In the crowd at the Women’s Coaching Alliance event was NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, 49ers owner Jed York, General Manager John Lynch, and former QB Steve Young, with Young declaring to start that the CIF will be having girls flag football hosting a state championship game for the first time ever.

Kimes would go on to moderate the panel for the next hour, inquiring into how Rivera and Luck have embraced their opportunities while facing some unforeseen challenges. Rivera and Kimes met each other at this years Super Bowl and when the opportunity was presented to be apart of the panel, none of the three could turn it down.

Why “General Manager”?

Not so long ago, the concept of a general manager in college athletics was foreign but fast forward to today, its manifested itself not only into college football but beyond the sideline. Andrew Luck was blunt in terms of the journey of the general manager position:

“[The General Manager role starting] was absolutely a response to the change of college sports”. - Andrew Luck

Ron Rivera has been adamant that the GM position doesn’t take the optics and leadership of the NFL counterpart, but more so becomes an administrative help so coaches can simply coach. Both Luck and Rivera were consistent in their messaging that the role is to take the load off of head coaches, knowing that their plates have grown over the last few seasons.

Furthermore, both alumni expanded on the situation regarding a post-house settlement world. The maximum of 20 and a half million dollars isn’t guaranteed for those unfamiliar with the effects, it has to be raised year over year. Cal expects to be close to this numbers per Rivera and after seeing the efforts of certain donors across the board, I believe him.

Cal and Stanford Need each other

Rivalry aside, Cal needs Stanford. Stanford needs Cal. Andrew Luck and Ron Rivera both admitted and stressed as such.

“Cal and Stanford are married at the hip, lets be honest about that. Understand, we need your support. We have an opportunity to own this part of the Bay and 5th largest TV market. That’s why its important to be relevant and we believe in our university. That’s why its important, when there is another realignment, there’s major college football in the Bay Area, that’s what we are all about. We do believe in each other because we need one another to exist and without it, there’s no yin or yang.” - Ron Rivera

Luck would follow up in jest that he begrudgingly agrees with that assessment, and that there is a big opportunity to stake a claim in the Bay Area with the Super Bowl also coming into the region this upcoming year. Additionally, he passionately noted that the best possible outcome for both programs are the teams being undefeated entering this years Big Game.

Its no secret that Stanford played an instrumental role in Cal coming along to the ACC and that reality has set in among both programs. There’s a stark realization that this pairing must work if they not only want to thrive in their new conference but also nationally if both athletic departments want get to where they believe they belong.

The future and conclusions

When asked by Kimes what an ideal future looks like, there was a clamor for the old Pac 10 back from the panel, which was met with thunderous cheers from both sides of the aisle. Travel has been a big subject over the last few years, and both Luck and Rivera stated that its not really football that’s the main concern. Its basketball, tennis, softball, etc that don’t have the same resources but are still exposed to similar challenges if not greater.

On the other hand, Luck was adamant that human development needs to remain a central focus of the student-athlete experience. College scholarships are still worth a lot and that an education goes a long way in life after football. With money flying everywhere and people clamoring for deals that may or may not be present, the security of not only growing as a player but also a person to pay it forward is as paramount as ever.

Towards the end of the conversation, the central mission of the Women’s Coaching Alliance came back into focus. The opportunity for girls to play and women to coach was something that all panelists gravitated towards and exclaimed that it grows the game in ways that weren’t present before. Once briefed about the goals of the organization initially, Luck retorted, “that’s so f-ing cool.”

In the end, it was a welcome night of camaraderie for an area that still has untapped potential, one that needs to be recognized with purpose in order to sustain its once dominant force and continue to grow the game.

To learn more about the Women’s Coaching Alliance, you can visit their website here.