Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton to retire: What’s next for the Bears with a void at the top and competitive challenges mounting

The news so countless Cal football fans longed for absolutely broke early Monday as athletic director Jim Knowlton released his retirement effective July In multiple approaches Knowlton s tenure ended months ago The moment the Bears hired Ron Rivera on March and handed him oversight of the football effort with a direct reporting line to chancellor Rich Lyons Knowlton became the Zombie AD in Berkeley His role greatly diminished it became a matter of when not if Knowlton would step down Naturally there was a financial piece to resolve Knowlton was handed an eight-year contract extension in by former chancellor Carol Christ an astonishing decision on her part that paid Knowlton approximately million annually Exactly how the Bears covered the remaining amount million is not known at this point But according to the terms of his contract Knowlton would be owed his full salary for the remaining years if terminated without cause His departure tracks closely with the fate of Knowlton s former colleague across the bay Bernard Muir disclosed his pending resignation as Stanford s athletic director in February months after Andrew Luck was hired as general manager of the Cardinal s football undertaking and given a direct line to president Jonathan Levin In both cases the changes came from the top Lyons and Levin alums of their respective schools realized the football programs needed new leadership in these unprecedented times The Bears and Cardinal are navigating life in the ACC with immense competitive and financial challenges that require expert leadership not only for football specifically but athletics in general Knowlton s work over the syllabus of seven years has been spotty at best He whiffed on a basketball coaching hire Mark Fox and was roundly criticized for his lack of leadership in the shame that led to the ouster of swimming coach Teri McKeever The budget has been a mess with massive shortfalls on a regular basis And his perceived lack of promotion for the football undertaking both during and after COVID generated deep frustration with constituents Lyons an ardent supporter of football took charge of the university last summer and came to realize a change was needed atop the org chart The decision to hire Rivera a Cal legend was a clear indictment of Knowlton s leadership The Bears appointed two of Knowlton s deputies Jay Larson and Jenny Simon-O Neill to lead the department Notably they were described in a university news release as the new co-directors of Cal Athletics there was no reference to them serving in interim roles or to a search for Knowlton s permanent replacement In an odd arrangement Rivera had oversight of football but coach Justin Wilcox continued to document to Knowlton Moving forward Wilcox will document to Rivera according to a source close to the athletic department The change comes during a moment of sweeping industry change Approval of the House v NCAA antitrust lawsuit settlement earlier this month propelled college sports into the revenue-sharing era with schools allowed to share up to million with athletes in the upcoming fiscal year In the major conferences including the ACC roughly million is expected to be allocated to football with about million to men s basketball and the remainder to Olympic sports That massive line-item expense will place additional pressure on the Bears who shared a million shortfall in the - fiscal year despite receiving million in direct help from central campus To mitigate the budgetary squeeze the Bears must ramp up fundraising a process that could become easier with the change in athletic directors Among the flaws in Knowlton s championship As neither a Cal alumnus nor a football junkie he did not connect well with multiple donors As an example The Bears booked million in donations to athletics last year a markedly lower total than they collected million in the year before Knowlton was hired For multiple of Cal s inhabitants school peers that previously inhabited the Pac- fundraising dollars have increased markedly over that time based on financial facts published to the NCAA Add the competitive difficulties posed by life in the ACC and the presence of NIL in the roster-building process not to mention the continuing chaos caused by the transfer portal and the Bears are facing a treacherous road So too is Stanford More than ever before the process of acquiring and retaining talent stands in conflict with the mission of a large number of schools with strong academic reputations The search for a replacement if there is one could be tricky In theory the Bears need an athletic director who understands the shifting landscape of college athletics and recognizes the primacy of football But qualified candidates could be hesitant to accept the position without the oversight that at this time belongs to Rivera Related Articles CFB recruiting UCLA stays hot UW goes national and a Ryder Lyons update Mailbag How Pac- expansion media and CFP strategy are interconnected Golden age of Big Ten football House settlement offers huge advantage Pac- gets clarity with House settlement media rights expansion next College Sports Commission touts NIL Go but will it stop the cheating Will the Cal legend take a reduced role Nothing about his words or actions thus far suggests Rivera s involvement will be short-lived He isn t qualified to run the entire department and likely has no interest in that role Or does Lyons envision an unconventional approach In their news release the Bears announced Lyons will use this period of transition to put in place a new leadership structure Perhaps Larson and Simon-O Neill will run every aspect of Cal athletics except football on a permanent basis In multiple procedures Lyons is Cal s athletic director Clearly he s committed to winning and understands how success on the field can engage the broader Cal region As an alumnus who also served as the dean of the Haas School of Business Lyons has more than enough credibility with the faculty to justify a focus on football that his predecessors were unwilling or unable to apply A lot of people view it as a two-dimensional dilemma If you re spending on sports you aren t spending on other things ' he informed the Hotline earlier this year But this is certainly three-dimensional What is the principal device for driving alumni engagement When you invest in athletics you are investing in alumni engagement and when you invest in alumni engagement you advance your mission Clarity on the athletic department s leadership structure should emerge over time For now a great number of Cal fans are undoubtedly relieved that Knowlton is stepping down Rivera is running football and Lyons is walking the walk Send suggestions comments and tips confidentiality guaranteed to wilnerhotline bayareanewsgroup com or call - 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