Dear Friend of Cal Athletics:

Greetings from Pullman!

As I sit here with our football team preparing to take on Washington State this afternoon, I find myself grateful on so many fronts. It has been an exciting fall season so far, with our football team off to a promising 3-1 start, our men's water polo team ranked No. 2 in the country, our women's soccer team recently having reeled off an eight-match unbeaten streak, and so much more. I am so proud of how our student-athletes continue to excel both athletically and academically.

Although we suffered a narrow loss, our first trip to Notre Dame in 55 years could not have been more memorable. We had an incredible turnout, with over 15,000 of our fans making their way to Notre Dame Stadium to support our Bears. Our Cal Family seemed to be everywhere – whether it was in South Bend or Chicago. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing a "Go Bears!" We had over 1,500 people at our tailgate, and it was so gratifying to see multiple sections of the stadium filled with our fans dressed in Blue and Gold. I was so proud of our team – not only in the way they competed, but how they carried themselves. Our coaches, student-athletes and staff were impressive representatives of our Cal athletic department and university.

Earlier this month, we held our annual National Championship Week. It is always so humbling to reflect on the accomplishments of our national champions from the previous year, and this year's group was impressive as always. We had three team championships during 2021-22 – men's water polo, men's swimming & diving and men's rowing – and the men's rowing team's title was the 100th in Cal history! Additionally, the amazing Camryn Rogers won her third consecutive NCAA championship in the women's hammer throw - only the second female student-athlete to accomplish that feat. In addition, men's swimmers Destin Lasco and Hugo Gonzalez each won individual NCAA titles, and our 400-yard medley relay team of Lasco, Bjorn Seeliger, Trenton Julian and Reece Whitley also took a national crown. We are grateful for Chancellor Christ for hosting a reception at the University House to celebrate our champions, who were also recognized on the field during our football game against UNLV.

Latinx Heritage Month began on Sept. 15, and we continue to be committed to honor our important months of emphasis. We are spending this month celebrating and appreciating our Latinx community, and I'm excited about a new DEIBJ engagement group known as LEAP – Latinx Empowerment, Advocacy and Progression. During the first week of October, our staff has been invited to take part in the next installment of our DEIBJ Playbook program, which will feature a panel discussion with professional wrestling champion and Cal alumna Melissa "Thunder Rosa" Cervantes. Vamos Osos!

We welcomed our newest head coach to the Cal Family last month when Jennifer Wong joined us as our head lacrosse coach. Jennifer arrived in Berkeley after a national search, and we are thrilled that she decided to accept our offer as the next leader of our lacrosse program. Jennifer was most recently the associate head coach at Temple, where she was on staff for 14 years. She was also the head coach at Immaculata University and an assistant coach at Rutgers University.

I am so appreciative of the energy you have all been bringing to FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium this season and I challenge everyone to help fill the stadium even more during the remainder of the season. As we continue to upgrade our services, I want to remind everyone we have several new group seating options this season – including two spacious suites on the seventh floor of our press box. We also have two new open air suites that each accommodate 20 fans and have private dining, bar and viewing areas – one above the south endzone and the other along the east rim of the stadium. There is also the Field Club Loge – eight open air, table top seating for four along the southwest corner of the field level. Join the excitement!

Each of our basketball teams started practice for the 2022-23 season earlier this week, and the beginning of the season is just over a month away. Both our men's and women's teams have improved both their depth and athleticism, and each has an influx of exciting new players. The season begins on Nov. 7 with a doubleheader at Haas Pavilion – our women play Cal State Northridge and the men take on UC Davis. Help us support our student-athletes in Haas Pavilion!

I'm looking forward to visiting the NCAA headquarters next week in Indianapolis as I begin my time on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee. As a committee, we are charged with making recommendations related to the regular season and the postseason and promoting student-athletes' personal growth and leadership development. The landscape of college football is an ever-changing entity these days, and I am looking forward to working with the committee to navigate all of the issues and challenges we may face in the months and years ahead.

I am also excited to welcome our latest McLendon Minority Leadership intern – Talya Franco. Tayla's arrival at Cal is possible because of the generous donations of Mark Fox and Justin Wilcox, who began supporting this program last year. The McLendon program provides opportunities for approximately 30 young minorities per year within college athletic departments across the country, and I am grateful of Justin and Mark's commitment to this program.

As I look ahead, I am excited for several key upcoming events, including our Cal Aquatics Gala next weekend, the Hall of Fame weekend Oct. 21-22 - a partnership between Cal Athletics and the Big C society - and the 125th Big Game Dinner & Heroes Celebration. To learn more about these events and register, please click on the links connected to the events above.

I would like to extend a special thanks to those who have supported the Athletic Director's Excellence Fund - we are excited to continue growing this effort which allows me the flexibility to meet the department's most pressing needs in the ever-changing collegiate athletics landscape. Be on the lookout for more information in the coming weeks!

Finally, I want to acknowledge the generosity of our donors who have helped us strive to meet our mission of increasing scholarships throughout our department. When I arrived at Cal, we were offering 40 scholarships less than the NCAA allowable limit.  Through the incredible generosity of our donors, we have closed that gap significantly but still have more to go to reach our goal of fully funding scholarships. Unique opportunities exist for the remainder of the Campaign for Cal Athletics Excellence to add a scholarship with a gift or pledge of $500K or $1M towards men's and women's gymnastics, field hockey, lacrosse and beach volleyball. We are making significant progress in this direction and remain grateful to the partnership and dedication of our Cal family to make this a reality.

Thank you to each of you for all your support.  I look forward to seeing you in Berkeley soon!

Go Bears!



Jim
Director of Athletics