Cal mega-donors want Justin Wilcox answering to GM Ron Rivera, will withhold NIL money until change is made

Two of Cal’s largest athletics benefactors will no longer contribute to the California Legends Collective, the program’s large third-party NIL establishment, until new general manager Ron Rivera is given full control of the football program, according to SFGATE. As things stand, Cal coach Justin Wilcox still answers directly to athletic director Jim Knowlton, while Rivera’s role is focused more on helping Cal adjust to the modern landscape of college football. 

The belief among Cal’s donors is that Rivera, given his experience as a head coach at the NFL level, would be better suited in a quasi-executive role, similar to Stanford’s Andrew Luck. 

“You don’t hire Mario Andretti and ask him to sit in the passenger seat, right?” Kevin Kennedy, the president of California Legends Collective, told SFGATE. “There’s a reason that you bring someone like that on staff: In order to give him control.”

Kennedy is one of the major donors that has withdrawn his financial support, for the time being. On the surface, handing Rivera more power does make some sense. There’s no doubting his football acumen. A former linebacker at Cal, he led the Carolina Panthers from 2011-19, where he was a two-time NFL Coach of the Year, and the Washington Commanders from 2020-23. He had continued interest from NFL teams as a defensive assistant before he assumed his current role at Cal. 

With more than a decade of NFL head coaching experience under his belt, he understands the financial side of football, a boon for a college program as it navigates NIL reform and pending revenue-sharing legislation that simultaneously increase the bargaining power of a collegiate athlete. 

But handing Rivera complete dominion over the football program would be a largely radical move,…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/cal-mega-donors-want-justin-wilcox-answering-to-gm-ron-rivera-will-withhold-nil-money-until-change-is-made/

Author : Will Backus

Publish date : 2025-04-04 16:42:00

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