Former Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera is joining Cal’s football staff in a general manager-like role, according to a report from CBS Sports.
Rivera, a two-time NFL Coach of the Year who led the Panthers to an appearance in Super Bowl 50, interviewed for jobs with the New York Jets, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Chicago Bears in the last month. A former Cal linebacker who is in the program’s Hall of Fame, Rivera is expected to have a role similar to the one Andrew Luck assumed this winter as Stanford’s general manager, where he’ll assist the program both on and off the field, CBS reported.
Coach Belichick has made going back to school, cool. Stay tuned I am coming home. @CalAthletics @UCBerkeley @Cal #GoBears🐻
— Ron Rivera (@RiverboatRonHC) February 5, 2025
Rivera is the latest high-profile name in a string of them to join the college football general manager ranks this offseason. Luck’s hiring at Stanford made a splash because the scope of the former Cardinal quarterback’s power is beyond that of a typical college football GM. North Carolina coach Bill Belichick hired Michael Lombardi, a former Cleveland Browns GM who worked in NFL player personnel circles for four decades and was a Belichick assistant in New England, as the Tar Heels’ new GM.
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Rivera’s move to Cal adds to a growing trend of power conference schools expanding and investing resources into their player personnel staffs. The evolution of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness compensation, as well as the looming revenue sharing era in which schools will be permitted to pay players directly as early as this summer through the settlement terms of the House v. NCAA lawsuit, has made college football roster management a year-round affair.
Many power conference programs align their personnel departments similarly to how NFL teams do, with some staffers devoted to scouting the portal — college football’s version of free agency — and others devoted to high school recruiting. General managers typically head those staffs and work in tandem with the head coach in managing the roster.
Rivera was an All-America linebacker for Cal in 1983 and went on to be a second-round NFL Draft pick by the Chicago Bears, where he was part of their 1985 Super Bowl team.
(Photo: Tom Hauck / Getty Images)
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