Dear Friend of Cal Athletics:
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been at Cal for nearly two months – and what a first two months it has been! Everyone I meet and everywhere I go I can feel the passion, commitment, competitive spirit and love for Cal.
To date, I’ve met with nearly 40 different teams and department units through my Listening Days. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with alumni from coast to coast, including in New York, Washington, D.C., Southern California, Lake Tahoe and throughout the Bay Area, and tomorrow I’m meeting with another group at an event in Menlo Park. Much of my time has been spent visiting, seeing, listening and learning what it takes to make us exceptional in our support of student-athletes and their Cal experience – and I’m excited!
We had some good news earlier this week for our softball and beach volleyball programs, as both programs will soon have new facilities under a plan announced by Chancellor Christ. As I said in our news release, providing equitable facilities for all our student-athletes is essential for us as a university and as a department in order to maintain our commitment to gender equity and the requirements of Title IX that support and protect that essential value. I want to thank Chancellor Christ for her leadership and help identifying funding to help make these projects possible. We are in the early stages of a fundraising campaign to support these projects, and I am encouraged by the interest we have seen.
Within the fundraising realm, we have a lot to celebrate overall. Although we are still waiting on final data for the fiscal year that closed June 30, our numbers are pointing to the highest total in five years with nearly $30 million in contributions. Of course, a huge thank you goes out to you, our alumni and donors, as well as to the staff in our Athletic Development office and our entire Cal Athletics team. We would not be able to support our 30 sports programs and 850 student-athletes without your generous contributions.
The fall sports are nearly upon us with the first teams reporting for their training camps in early August. Cal football holds its first practice Aug. 3 with the season opener set for Sept. 1 vs. North Carolina at 1 p.m. in Memorial Stadium. Season tickets, mini-plans and group tickets are on sale now, with single-game tickets available starting Wednesday, July 25. To catch all the action from Justin Wilcox’s squad, secure your seats online at calbears.com or over the phone at (800) GO BEARS (462-3277). We’ll soon be announcing a number of new features we’ll be implementing at football games this fall that I’m certain will appeal to fans of all ages. Let’s make sure we show our support in the stands, at March to Victory and across the entire campus!
One of the Bears to watch is senior running back Patrick Laird, who has been working hard all summer to promote his Summer Reading Program that encourages elementary school kids to keep up on their reading skills. He has visited more than 20 schools and has nearly 3,500 children signed up, and you can find out more about his effort at walkonthenrun.com. Patrick recently sat down with Coach Wilcox to talk about books ( watch the video). Over the past week, he has been named to the preseason watch lists for the Doak Walker Award, the Maxwell Award and Allstate AFCA Good Works team. Patrick truly represents Cal student-athletes.
Also this summer, many of our student-athletes and alumni are excelling on the national and international stage with much more to come before the beginning of the school year. In golf, alum Michael Kim recently won his first PGA event with a runaway victory at the John Deere Classic, while rising senior Colin Morikawa helped the United States to victory at the Arnold Palmer Cup. Sophomore Camryn Rogers won the Under-20 World Championship in the hammer throw in Finland, and a quartet of rowers came home with medals from World Rowing Cup events in Europe. This weekend, rugby alum Danny Barrett, a 2016 Olympian, will be part of the U.S. team at the Rugby World Cup 7s tournament at AT&T Park. This is just a sample of Golden Bear achievements, and you can find more on the web at CalBears.com .
Our latest issue of the Cal Sports Quarterly is out with a distinct academic focus. The lead story is on a new program through the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, which shows a great campus partnership between academics and athletics. The course, to be offered again this fall, teams STEM majors from across campus with student-athletes to seek engineering solutions to solve athletic problems. Other features highlight student-athlete achievements in the classroom and in the community, and I hope you get a chance read about all of these remarkable student-athletes.
Back here in Berkeley, we celebrated women’s rowing coach Al Acosta earning National Coach of the Year honors for the second time and his staff being named the Staff of the Year after the Bears earned the NCAA Championship in late May.
We have a number of special events lined up to welcome our students back to campus next month. Move-in day for new student-athletes is Aug. 13 and we’ll follow up the next day with a new student-athlete orientation and for their parents, the inaugural Cal Athletics Parent Open House will serve as a welcome and introduction to the Cal athletics family. The campus-wide Golden Bear Orientation for all new students begins on Aug. 14, as well.
In addition to becoming familiar with the campus and getting to know their classmates, students will hear from various campus departments on academics, residential life, mental health, wellness, and a host of other services and support that are offered to the entire Cal community . For student-athletes, we’ll provide additional orientation on such subjects as health, bystander intervention, financial literacy and some of the other inner-workings of the department, all in an effort to allow them to be as prepared as possible when school officially starts.
At the conclusion of orientation, we’ll host the Big C Welcome Back Barbecue on Aug. 21 in Haas Pavilion. This is an event for all student-athletes, giving them a chance to reconnect with their teammates as well as with friends and colleagues on other teams. We’ll use this event as an opportunity to speak about what’s going on in the department and discuss expectations for them as ambassadors for their programs and our university.
In all, we have an incredible year ahead of us, and I remain grateful for the chance to lead our department. I am excited for what lies ahead. Thank you, as well, for all you do to provide our student-athletes with a truly exceptional experience.
Go Bears!
Jim Knowlton
Director of Athletics
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been at Cal for nearly two months – and what a first two months it has been! Everyone I meet and everywhere I go I can feel the passion, commitment, competitive spirit and love for Cal.
To date, I’ve met with nearly 40 different teams and department units through my Listening Days. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with alumni from coast to coast, including in New York, Washington, D.C., Southern California, Lake Tahoe and throughout the Bay Area, and tomorrow I’m meeting with another group at an event in Menlo Park. Much of my time has been spent visiting, seeing, listening and learning what it takes to make us exceptional in our support of student-athletes and their Cal experience – and I’m excited!
We had some good news earlier this week for our softball and beach volleyball programs, as both programs will soon have new facilities under a plan announced by Chancellor Christ. As I said in our news release, providing equitable facilities for all our student-athletes is essential for us as a university and as a department in order to maintain our commitment to gender equity and the requirements of Title IX that support and protect that essential value. I want to thank Chancellor Christ for her leadership and help identifying funding to help make these projects possible. We are in the early stages of a fundraising campaign to support these projects, and I am encouraged by the interest we have seen.
Within the fundraising realm, we have a lot to celebrate overall. Although we are still waiting on final data for the fiscal year that closed June 30, our numbers are pointing to the highest total in five years with nearly $30 million in contributions. Of course, a huge thank you goes out to you, our alumni and donors, as well as to the staff in our Athletic Development office and our entire Cal Athletics team. We would not be able to support our 30 sports programs and 850 student-athletes without your generous contributions.
The fall sports are nearly upon us with the first teams reporting for their training camps in early August. Cal football holds its first practice Aug. 3 with the season opener set for Sept. 1 vs. North Carolina at 1 p.m. in Memorial Stadium. Season tickets, mini-plans and group tickets are on sale now, with single-game tickets available starting Wednesday, July 25. To catch all the action from Justin Wilcox’s squad, secure your seats online at calbears.com or over the phone at (800) GO BEARS (462-3277). We’ll soon be announcing a number of new features we’ll be implementing at football games this fall that I’m certain will appeal to fans of all ages. Let’s make sure we show our support in the stands, at March to Victory and across the entire campus!
One of the Bears to watch is senior running back Patrick Laird, who has been working hard all summer to promote his Summer Reading Program that encourages elementary school kids to keep up on their reading skills. He has visited more than 20 schools and has nearly 3,500 children signed up, and you can find out more about his effort at walkonthenrun.com. Patrick recently sat down with Coach Wilcox to talk about books ( watch the video). Over the past week, he has been named to the preseason watch lists for the Doak Walker Award, the Maxwell Award and Allstate AFCA Good Works team. Patrick truly represents Cal student-athletes.
Also this summer, many of our student-athletes and alumni are excelling on the national and international stage with much more to come before the beginning of the school year. In golf, alum Michael Kim recently won his first PGA event with a runaway victory at the John Deere Classic, while rising senior Colin Morikawa helped the United States to victory at the Arnold Palmer Cup. Sophomore Camryn Rogers won the Under-20 World Championship in the hammer throw in Finland, and a quartet of rowers came home with medals from World Rowing Cup events in Europe. This weekend, rugby alum Danny Barrett, a 2016 Olympian, will be part of the U.S. team at the Rugby World Cup 7s tournament at AT&T Park. This is just a sample of Golden Bear achievements, and you can find more on the web at CalBears.com .
Our latest issue of the Cal Sports Quarterly is out with a distinct academic focus. The lead story is on a new program through the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, which shows a great campus partnership between academics and athletics. The course, to be offered again this fall, teams STEM majors from across campus with student-athletes to seek engineering solutions to solve athletic problems. Other features highlight student-athlete achievements in the classroom and in the community, and I hope you get a chance read about all of these remarkable student-athletes.
Back here in Berkeley, we celebrated women’s rowing coach Al Acosta earning National Coach of the Year honors for the second time and his staff being named the Staff of the Year after the Bears earned the NCAA Championship in late May.
We have a number of special events lined up to welcome our students back to campus next month. Move-in day for new student-athletes is Aug. 13 and we’ll follow up the next day with a new student-athlete orientation and for their parents, the inaugural Cal Athletics Parent Open House will serve as a welcome and introduction to the Cal athletics family. The campus-wide Golden Bear Orientation for all new students begins on Aug. 14, as well.
In addition to becoming familiar with the campus and getting to know their classmates, students will hear from various campus departments on academics, residential life, mental health, wellness, and a host of other services and support that are offered to the entire Cal community . For student-athletes, we’ll provide additional orientation on such subjects as health, bystander intervention, financial literacy and some of the other inner-workings of the department, all in an effort to allow them to be as prepared as possible when school officially starts.
At the conclusion of orientation, we’ll host the Big C Welcome Back Barbecue on Aug. 21 in Haas Pavilion. This is an event for all student-athletes, giving them a chance to reconnect with their teammates as well as with friends and colleagues on other teams. We’ll use this event as an opportunity to speak about what’s going on in the department and discuss expectations for them as ambassadors for their programs and our university.
In all, we have an incredible year ahead of us, and I remain grateful for the chance to lead our department. I am excited for what lies ahead. Thank you, as well, for all you do to provide our student-athletes with a truly exceptional experience.
Go Bears!
Jim Knowlton
Director of Athletics
