How Will Chancellor Carol Christ's Resignation Affect Cal Sports?
Cal chancellor Carol Christ’s resignation announcement comes at a pivotal time in Cal athletics, and her successor will have a lot on his plate in determining Cal’s athletic future.
Past chancellors have had a major influence on the status of Cal sports in terms of goals, direction, philosophy and support. The chancellor’s view on the place of sports at the University of California, Berkeley, has, over the years, had a direct effect on wins and losses, particularly in revenue-producing sports.
The most noticeable influences come in determining admission requirements for incoming Cal athletes, and the financial support the university is willing to provide to the athletic department. But there are a number of subtle ways chancellors affect university sports, including the priority he/she establishes for Cal success in given sports. Those priorities become apparent in the words and actions of the chancellor.
Christ made her announcement on Thursday, saying she will step down at the end of the 2023-24 school year after taking over in 2017. Her departure will come at the same time that USC and UCLA will leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, giving the Pac-12 (or Pac-10, or whatever form the conference takes) an uncertain future. Presumably by that time, the Pac-12 will have a media-rights agreement with networks (that is expected to come in a month or two) that will indicate the TV income the remaining schools can expect. Also by that time, the conference may have determined whether it will become a 10-team conference or add one of two schools (San Diego State and SMU?) to remain a 12-team conference.
In any case the very existence of the Pac-12 conference is at stake, and it’s possible -- though unlikely -- the Pac-12 may not exist within a few years. Or if it does exist it might be in a very different configuration in the rapidly changing world of super conferences. Cal might have to decide just what it wants to be in the college sports landscape: Will it want to invest the kind of money it may take in the future to remain relevant at the top level of college sports? Or will it decide that it is just not worth it, and fall back to an Ivy League-style model, acknowledging that it can no longer compete at the highest level if it wants to maintain its high academic standing and integrity.
The Pac-12's university presidents and chancellors make the final decision on any significant moves the conference makes. Their votes dictate change or lack of change.
Christ has generally been supportive of Cal athletics, diverting university funds to help minimize the large debt the sports department has incurred while supporting 28 sports. Her mere attendance of Cal sports events as well as her words provided the sense that she cared about sports at Cal.
“You can pretend like you care, but you can’t fake showing up,” former Cal women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2018. “As someone who watches other leaders and tries to learn, she’s someone I’ve taken interest in. If there’s some sort of report card on her first year and a half that asks about her commitment to excellence in athletics, she’s off the charts.
“She’s committed to the issues surrounding athletics, to being successful and to everything at Cal being at a high level. I’ve been wildly impressed.”
That has not been the case for every Cal chancellor, and it is usually reflected in success on the field or on the court.
How her successor will view the importance of sports success remains to be seen. In large part it will depend on what the selection committee is looking for and how much that panel values elite-level sports.
The other major factor the next chancellor will determine is the future of athletic director Jim Knowlton. He has come under fire from some alumni, especially the way he dealt with the complaints directed at former women’s swimming and diving coach Teri McKeever, who has since been fired. It reportedly resulted in an internal investigation of Knowlton’s handling of that situation.
The athletic director obviously has a major influence on the success of the school’s athletic programs, and the Bears have not performed well in recent years in the three potential revenue sports – football and men’s and women’s basketball. Knowlton's hiring of Mark Madsen as the new basketball coach has sparked optimism, though.
In general, a Cal chancellor will signify the school’s philosophy about its athletics programs with his/her words and actions. The background of the next chancellor may determine where Cal sports are headed.
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