Former NFL Head Coach Ron Rivera Lands Job as Cal Football’s General Manager

Rivera is the latest former NFLer to take a job as a college football GM, a position which is still largely undefined.

Head coach Ron Rivera of the Washington Commanders looks on before a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals at FedExField on Aug. 26, 2023, in Landover, Md. Rob Carr/Getty Images

Former NFL head coach Ron Rivera has been tapped to become Cal football’s general manager.

The University of California football team made the announcement Thursday. Rivera is one of several high-profile former NFL figures who have accepted jobs as general managers of college football programs in the NIL (name, image, and likeness) era. Rivera also returns to his roots: He played college football at Cal before being drafted to the NFL.

“I am fired up to be coming home,” Rivera said in a statement on the university’s athletics website. “My love and passion for Cal has never changed, and I couldn’t be more excited about the future of our football program. I look forward to working with Chancellor [Rich] Lyons as we look to [athletic director] Jim Knowlton, [head coach] Justin Wilcox and all of our staff and players to compete for championships as we move forward in this new and rapidly changing era of college football.”

“The football program is an indispensable part of our university and our community,” Lyons added. “And so we are taking the steps necessary so that the team can excel in the changed landscape of intercollegiate athletics. The combination of Ron’s incredible football acumen and his powerful dedication to his alma mater makes him a perfect fit for this new role.”

The role of general manager is emerging at college sports programs in the era of student-athlete compensation. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston that the NCAA’s restrictions on student-athlete compensation violated the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, upholding a lower court ruling. The decision opened the floodgates for student-athletes to be paid for their play, and also to sell the rights to their name, image and likeness (NIL).

The position is still somewhat undefined. An article in Sports Business Journal earlier this month called the role “a nebulous amalgamation of responsibilities and one that’s particularly school-dependent. It’s also a gig occupied by people with a vast array of résumés and life experiences within an ecosystem that has long seen the head coach wear nearly every hat in the building.”

The article says a college football GM’s job duties range from managing the salary cap for student-athletes, to coordinating recruiting efforts, to marketing and even selling the program to recruits. The article in particular described Stanford GM Andrew Luck’s responsibilities:

“Luck handles everything from helping retain talent during transfer portal windows, engaging boosters in fundraising, working hand in hand with Stanford’s NIL collective and serving as a forward-facing presence for the program.”

The press release mentioned NIL collectives, new rules around student-athlete compensation, the transfer portal, and Cal football’s realignment to the ACC from the Pac-12; indicating that Rivera will have a role similar to Luck’s. He will also focus on revenue generation and fundraising for the program. Rivera will report directly to Lyons, and his position will be funded by private philanthropy.

Rivera played linebacker for the Golden Bears from 1980-1983. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 1984 NFL Draft and played nine seasons in the league, all with the Bears. After his playing career, he joined the Bears’ coaching staff as a defensive quality control coach. He took his first position-coach job as linebackers coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2003.

He returned to the Bears as defensive coordinator from 2004-2006, leading the Bears’ defense to an appearance in Super Bowl XLI. He was hired as linebackers coach of the San Diego Chargers in 2007, and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2008. He was hired as head coach of the Carolina Panthers in 2011; he led the Panthers to another Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl 50 in 2016. He was fired in 2019, but became head coach of the then-Washington Redskins in 2020. He served as head coach of the Redskins/Football Team/Commanders until 2023.

Rivera is the latest in a long line of NFL figures to take GM jobs at colleges. Luck, who played his college football at Stanford, was a former No. 1 overall pick of the Indianapolis Colts, and played seven years for them.  Jim Nagy, longtime NFL scout and former director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, was hired by the University of Oklahoma. Longtime NFL executive Michael Lombardi, who served under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots from 2014-2016, joined Belichick at the University of North Carolina.