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3d ago

Jim Knowlton to Retire as Cal Athletic Director July 1

Chancellor Lyons plans a new leadership structure by naming deputies Jay Larson and Jenny Simon-O’Neill as co-directors during the summer transition

University of California-Berkeley Athletics Director Jim Knowlton poses with women's basketball head coach Charmin Smith during her introduction as a new hire at a news conference June 25, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif.
A detailed view of one of the helmets worn by the California Golden Bears against the Stanford Cardinal at California Memorial Stadium on Nov. 23, 2024, in Berkeley, Calif.
Jim Knowlton speaks after being introduced by Chancellor Carol Christ as the new Athletic Director at UC Berkeley at a press conference in the California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, April 9, 2018. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)
Jim Knowlton

Overview

  • Knowlton will step down on July 1 after seven years at Cal Athletics, a period that included navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and guiding the move to the ACC
  • Under his tenure, Cal captured 10 national championships, reached four football bowl games and improved its student-athlete graduation success rate to a program-record 93 percent
  • The department reported a $29.7 million shortfall in fiscal 2023-24 and faced criticism over the Teri McKeever swimming coach scandal and staffing decisions in men’s and women’s basketball
  • On March 20, Cal hired former NFL coach Ron Rivera as the football program’s first general manager, giving him direct oversight of coach Justin Wilcox and a reporting line to Lyons
  • Jay Larson and Jenny Simon-O’Neill will share athletic director duties as co-directors while Lyons evaluates a permanent leadership plan for Cal Athletics