Cal Sports Report

Cal GM Ron Rivera Reportedly Interviews for Arizona Cardinals Coaching Job

Former Cal linebacker Ron Rivera was hired as Cal's first football general manager last March
Jake Curtis|
Cal GM Ron Rivera
Cal GM Ron Rivera | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

News that Cal football fans did not want to hear was reported on Tuesday.

Dianna Russini, an NFL insider for The Athletic, reported that Cal football general manager Ron Rivera interviewed in person for the vacant head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals.

It is unclear when Rivera interviewed for the job, or how serious Rivera is about the job or how serious the Cardinals are in Rivera.

However, the 64-year-old Rivera has an interesting coaching resume.  He was twice named NFL coach of the Years (2013 and 2015), and led the Carolina Panthers to their only Super Bowl berth in the 2015 season, losing to the Broncos in the 2016 Super Bowl.

Rivera was named Cal's first football general manager last March, and he was responsible, along with chancellor Rich Lyons, for raising expectations about Cal football.  He made the decision to fire Justin Wilcox following the loss to Stanford, and he made the decision to hire Tosh Lupoi as the Golden Bears new head coach.

Rivera and assistant general manager Marshall Cherrington have been instrumental in helping Lupoi acquire players through the transfer portal in recent weeks. The 247Sports site ranks Cal’s group of incoming transfers as the 13th-best collection of transfers in the country, and the best among ACC schools.

Rivera was a consensus All-America linebacker at Cal in 1983.

Obviously, Rivera would make a lot more money as an NFL head coach than as Cal’s general manager, a job that reportedly pays him $800,000 a year. His latest contract as head coach of the Washington NFL team paid him an average of about $7 million a year.

Jacksonville defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile was believed to be the leading candidate for the Cardinals’ coaching vacancy until it was learned that he is returning to Jacksonville in 2026.  Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur is now considered a leading contender for the Arizona job.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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