The Ron Rivera hire is a serious move for Cal football
Cal needs to get as serious as they can as things move faster than ever in the college football world.
The professionalization of college football is coming faster than we’d like to realize. By April, college football will be dispersing millions in revenue to athletes directly via revenue share. More from Dan Murphy and Pete Thamel of ESPN:
The NCAA will pay more than $2.7 billion in damages over 10 years to past and current athletes, sources told ESPN. Sources said the parties also have agreed to a revenue-sharing plan allowing each school to share up to roughly $20 million per year with its athletes.
For the majority of program, the lion’s share of that revenue will be distributed to their football teams, likely around 70 to 80%.
The expectation is Ron Rivera will be returning to the California Golden Bears at their greatest time of need to help in a GM-type of role, making him one of the senior decision makers in our athletic program. The hire is still being processed, but is likely to be finalized soon.
What does a general manager role look like in college football?
Essentially, the general manager is acting in a similar role as an NFL general manager—identifying talent, scouting the best fits, then working with the coaching staff and recruiting personnel team to figure out how to make the salary distribution work to build a better squad.
The exact job description varies from program to program. But the GM these days is basically put in charge of NIL budget, roster construction and prospect identification related to it. It is especially important with $20.5 million in revenue-sharing money about to flood budgets for schools that opt in beginning July 1, following formal approval of the House settlement in April.
This is certainly part of the calculus for when North Carolina hired Bill Belichick—Belichick essentially acted as the de facto general manager for the New England Patriots for two decades on his way to six championships. Even though North Carolina hired a GM in Michael Lombardi, it’s likely Belichick will be making the final call on how the revenues get distributed.
Andrew Luck at Stanford has a more clear delineation—he’ll be essentially running the show at the Farm, as beleaguered head coach Troy Taylor will be answering to him.
We could certainly see more NFL crossover in the coming years as more individuals with front office experience are required to balance the books and build competitive rosters. There are only a few personalities like that in college football with the requisite skills to do that.
How Ron Rivera will fit into the Cal Athletics structure?
Rivera hasn’t been in the college game in forever, but he has been present in numerous Cal events, so he will likely be relying heavily on existing Cal recruiting staff like Director of Player Personnel Marshall Cherrington and Director of Recruiting Benji Palu to figure out how to properly structure NIL deals for players, while also juggling relationships with the wider university.
The hire isn’t totally finalized, as one would expect with the glacial nature of the UC Regents. The salary of a college football general manager likely runs at just under half a million (a recent top-five hire went for around $400k a year), so these things need to get signed off on through the official offices of the University of California.
Cal did a fairly good job rebuilding their team in the transfer portal on offense and defense the last two years (read Nick’s pieces), but certain positions were not as well stocked up as they could’ve been, and the team suffered as a result. Rivera has a decade of experience building up NFL rosters, including a Super Bowl berth with the Carolina Panthers. Hopefully his management skills will be a huge piece of the puzzle the Bears are trying to solve to breakthrough in the ACC.
It remains to be seen what type of general manager Rivera will be at Cal. Will Justin Wilcox answer to him like Taylor will with Luck at the Farm, or is it a partnership sort of situation? How does athletic director Jim Knowlton fit into the equation, and will Chancellor Lyons be even more involved in the ins and outs of the football program? These are all open questions that we will probably not gain clarity on.
Exciting times to be a Bear. But make no mistake, it’s urgent times too. Getting Ron Rivera home is a positive sign.
(In a fun bit of media, Rivera was spotted at Super Bowl row by Pat McAfee, and they looked back fondly about the good times at College GameDay in Berkeley).
I don't see Rivera playing the role of authoritarian. I would expect a civil working relationship between him and Wilcox that complements their relative strengths and weaknesses. I think Wilcox values the teaching aspect of coaching and would welcome a "GM" that allows him to have his hands in that. No inside knowledge (so I could be FOS) but that's just my sense of things.
In addition to his football acumen, RR is a class act -- both important qualities to have in this still-developing era of college football. We're lucky to have him on board.