Some of the biggest financial donors at the University of California, Berkeley are refusing to donate to its NIL collective until Ron Rivera is fully in charge of the college football program. It has created something of a standoff between the school and its most important money men.
To add another wrinkle, all of this drama stems from what took place at Stanford.
Andrew Luck recently became the first General Manager in college football history to fire a head coach. He ousted Troy Taylor after a series of mistreatment allegations and hired his former offensive coordinator, Frank Reich, as the interim replacement on a one-year deal.
The Golden Bears saw their biggest rival make an unprecedented move and reacted accordingly. They immediately called for change within their own program.
Rivera, a former linebacker at Cal, returned to his alma mater in an administrative position just last month. He was hired as the football program’s first-ever General Manager. His role, while not completely defined, puts him in charge of day-to-day operations that take place off of the field. That includes NIL, recruiting, player retention, roster management, budgeting, etc.
He apparently does not have as much power as the most prominent financial boosters would prefer. They are holding out from any further donations to the program until he is completely in charge of everything, just like Luck at Stanford.
According to SF Gate, two prominent board members of the California Legends Collective are refusing to personally donate to the university’s lone NIL arm until the school meets their demand— including president Kevin Kennedy. Ron Rivera must be at the helm if the school wants their money henceforth.
As things currently stand, Rivera reports to chancellor Rich Lyons. Head football coach Justin Wilcox reports to athletic director Jim Knowlton. The money men want to see a change of structure.
You don’t hire Mario Andretti and ask him to sit in the passenger seat, right? There’s a reason that you bring someone like that on staff: In order to give him control.
— Kevin Kennedy, via SF Gate
Kennedy will not give a single dollar to the Cal Legends Collective until the Golden Bears football program is under Rivera’s control, like Luck and the Cardinal. Not one. And not only that, he told other donors that he does not expect them to give to the collective for as long as he is refusing to do so.
Approximately 90% of the money contributed to the Cal Legends Collective comes from people who are either subscribed to and/or readers of Bears Insider. The publisher of Bears Insider is Greg Richardson. Richardson serves as a board member of the collective.
Bears Insider published a scathing article about the incompetency of Cal’s current administration and called for Ron Rivera to be in charge. ‘#GiveRonTheKeys’ has since become a rally cry in Berkeley. Fans are demanding change. Chancellor Rich Lyons has yet to budge.
I am confident we have the right people, in the right places, doing the right things in support of a Cal Athletics football program that can and will excel. The world of intercollegiate sports is changing rapidly, and Cal will continue to adapt rapidly to that.
— Chancellor Lyons
Money — or, in this case, a lack of money — talks. Will the financial boycott prove effective? We’ll see.