Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton retires after seven years at the helm

San Francisco Chronicle​

a day ago

Jim Knowlton, who presided over a tumultuous stretch at Cal amid historic upheaval in college sports, announced his retirement as the school's athletic director Monday morning.
Knowlton, 65, will remain as AD through July 1, according to the announcement posted on Cal's website.
Jay Larson and Jenny Simon-O'Neill, previously deputy athletic directors under Knowlton, will serve as the new co-athletic directors, Chancellor Rich Lyons announced.
'On behalf of the Cal community, I want to thank Jim for his leadership, his integrity, and his devotion to the academic and athletic success of our student athletes,' Lyons said in a statement. 'Jim's work and accomplishments have set the stage for the next era of excellence across Cal Athletics.'
Knowlton brought a military background to Berkeley, where he became athletic director in May 2018. He's an Army graduate whose previous experience included AD stints at his alma mater and also at Air Force.
His seven years at Cal featured resounding success on some fronts — 10 national championships and rising graduation rates among student-athletes — and lingering frustration in other respects. The Bears' football team reached four bowl games in Knowlton's tenure, but it also hasn't posted a winning season since 2019.
Knowlton stuck by head coach Justin Wilcox, despite the program stalling. Lyons ultimately brought in Ron Rivera, a former Cal star and NFL head coach, to become the program's general manager. The move sparked vigorous alumni pushback because Wilcox originally was expected to report to Knowlton, as he had previously. That ultimately changed, with Wilcox reporting to Rivera and then Rivera reporting directly to Lyons.
Cal's men's basketball program struggled mightily during Knowlton's time. He replaced head coach Wyking Jones with Mark Fox, who posted four consecutive losing seasons before Knowlton fired him after the worst season in school history, 3–29 in 2022-23.
Knowlton then hired Mark Madsen, who seemed to stabilize the program though the Bears went 13-19 and 14-19 in his first two seasons. They haven't had a winning record since 2016-17 under coach Cuonzo Martin.
Knowlton also made the decision to elevate Charmin Smith to women's basketball head coach after Lindsay Gottlieb departed for the Cleveland Cavaliers (and then USC). The Bears had four straight losing seasons under Smith, but they bounced back to win 19 games and 25 games the past two seasons, including the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.
The college sports landscape changed dramatically during Knowlton's tenure, starting with the advent of name, image and likeness (NIL) rights for student-athletes and frequent movement through the transfer portal.
Then, in the summer of 2023, the Pacific-12 Conference imploded. Cal was temporarily left without a home, before the Bears and Stanford agreed to join the Atlantic Coast Conference starting last year.
That kept the Bay Area schools in a Power Four conference, while also creating abundant travel and logistical challenges.
Bernard Muir, Stanford's longtime athletic director, similarly left his position earlier this year.
'It has been an incredible honor to serve at the University of California, Berkeley, the No. 1 public university in the country,' Knowlton said in Monday's news release. 'The expectation of holistic excellence helps to drive everyone associated with the university, and our department is no exception.
'The combination of a world-class education, athletic excellence, an inclusive community, an awe-inspiring location and, most importantly, truly special people, make Cal a magnificent place to serve.'