Report: Prominent Cal donors issue ultimatum to empower GM Rivera

Two board members of the California Legends Collective announced they will no longer donate money toward the program's NIL group until the University of California puts Ron Rivera in charge of the football program, according to SFGate's Gabe Fernandez.

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

Kennedy is one of two donors who are withholding their donations until the athletics department addresses the organizational structure of the football program.

Rivera, who coached the NFL's Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders, was hired as the general manager of his alma mater in March. Two of Cal's biggest benefactors are not satisfied with head coach Justin Wilcox answering to athletic director Jim Knowlton instead of Rivera. The pair of donors believe Rivera's experience at the pro level would be better suited to oversee the football program, similar to the NFL's equivalent of the position.

"Until I know the answers to the questions I posed above, I won't personally invest more money in this enterprise," Kennedy wrote in a statement to the collective's donor group that questioned Cal football's organizational structure. "More importantly, I cannot in good conscience ask any of you to do the same. I simply do not believe that Cal football can possibly succeed without some significant changes to how we have operated to date."

Kennedy cited rival Stanford's hiring of 2012 first-overall pick Andrew Luck as GM as an example of an organization chart he believes the Golden Bears should copy. The former quarterback took control of Cardinal football in November and fired coach Troy Taylor last month after the school conducted an investigation into allegations that he bullied female staff members and threatened to have a compliance officer removed.

"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," school chancellor Rich Lyons said in statement.

Cal is preparing for the program's ninth year with Wilcox on the sideline in 2025. He's posted a 42-50 record over eight seasons, including back-to-back bowl appearances the past two years. The Golden Bears have also won the past four meetings against Stanford.