Dear Friend of Cal Athletics,

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer – it is hard to believe we are already in the beginning of August!

As we welcome back our Fall athletic teams (women's soccer and football are already practicing, and the rest of the Fall teams follow in quick succession), there remains a lot of uncertainty with respect to conference realignment after USC and UCLA made the decision to join the Big Ten in 2024. Chancellor Christ and I have been actively engaged on many fronts since the announcement and are working hard to ensure we can keep the student-athlete experience at the center of the way ahead. The 10 remaining members of the Pac-12 continue to be committed to each other and are working hard to ensure the successful future of the league during these unprecedented times. I am excited about our way ahead and where it will take us in the coming days, months and years, and look forward to sharing more when it is possible.

We have accomplished a lot over the summer months to date. We had an exciting time in Sacramento, Tahoe and Southern California as we continued our Coaches Caravan! Our coaches and I enjoyed seeing many members of our Cal family at every stop; the caravan wraps up on Sept. 1 with a stop in Lafayette!

Both of our basketball teams will soon embark on foreign tours that will be filled with cultural education, memorable experiences and – of course – some quality competition. Our women's team leaves on Aug. 11 and will visit Spain and Croatia while the men's team departs Aug. 12 and is headed to France, Belgium and Germany. These trips are great opportunities for the teams to come together for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the NCAA allows teams to participate once every four years so every student-athlete may have this experience. I can't wait to hear about the impact these trips had on our student-athletes.

The Cameron Institute continues to do incredible work, and last month director Dr. Marissa Nichols was recognized by the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals with the Region V Professional Excellence Award for her groundbreaking work in the industry. Earlier this year, Dr. Nichols co-authored the Student-Athlete Development Task Force's first-ever "white paper" – a report meant to educate and inform readers about a particular issue as well as the author's stance on the issue. Her white paper examines the current state of student-athlete development across collegiate athletics and provides an in-depth explanation of each desired outcome for student-athletes. Dr. Nichols was officially presented with the award in June at the N4A convention in Las Vegas. 

It was exciting to see two of our student-athletes – Trey Paster from football and Jameson McKenna of women's rowing – join Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Justice Dr. Ty-Ron Douglas for an educational trip to Alabama last month. The trio – in conjunction with the Big Ten and ACC – was part of a group of student-athletes and staff that visited Selma and Montgomery to experience one of the centers of the civil rights movement. They took part in a variety of immersive and interactive experiences, and made memories to last a lifetime.

It was with mixed emotions that we said good-bye to Brooke Eubanks at the end of June. Brooke announced her retirement as our head lacrosse coach after eight seasons at Cal, and she led our program with an unwavering commitment to developing our student-athletes the right way. Brooke's teams consistently excelled in the classroom and community, and she will be greatly missed. That said, we are excited that she will get to spend more time with her husband, Eric, and two young girls.

We recently had wonderful alumni events with both our football and men's basketball programs. Football hosted 150 alumni at California Memorial Stadium, and our current team was so appreciative to connect with those who came through the program before them. Men's basketball also welcomed more than 25 alumni back to Haas Pavilion. The alumni were able to watch practice, meet the coaching staff and team, and spend quality time with fellow alumni from a wide range of eras. The World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore., became Bear Territory last month when we had two of our student-athletes win silver medals! Three-time NCAA champion Camryn Rogers took second place in the women's hammer throw while Mykolas Alekna did the same in the men's discus. In the process, Alekna became the youngest world discus medalist in history!

We had tremendous academic news last month when 155 of our student-athletes were named to the 2022 Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll, which was the second-highest number in the conference. Our women's rowing program led the way with 29 selections, while men's rowing was right behind with 28. To be eligible, student-athletes must have carried a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30 and served at least one year at their institution.

There was a lot of excitement around our baseball program last month as six of our student-athletes had their name called during the 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Dylan Beavers was taken 33^rd overall by the Baltimore Orioles, giving our baseball program three first-round selections since 2019. Five of our six draftees went during the first five rounds, which is a program record.

Our swimming programs made an impact at the Phillips 66 National Championships in Irvine, as two of our student-athletes captured national titles. On the men's side, Gabriel Jett won the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:54.37 while Isabelle Stadden took home the 200-meter backstroke in 2:07.29. Stadden also took the bronze medal in the 100 backstroke.

Staying in the water, it has been a busy summer for Adrian Weinberg of our men's water polo team. He was a member of the U.S. National Team for both the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary and the FINA World League Super Final in Strasbourg, France. Splitting time at goalie, Weinberg helped Team USA win the silver medal at the World League Super Final. On the women's side, Kitty Lynn Joustra and Rozanne Voorvelt helped The Netherlands take the bronze medal at the World Championships.

We also had an impressive showing at both the Under-19 and Under-23 Junior World Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy. Incoming freshman Lily Pember helped the United States win the gold medal in the women's eight at the U19 Championships while Angela Szabo helped Team USA take the bronze in the coxed four during the U23 event. On the men's side, Campbell Crouch helped New Zealand capture the silver medal in the coxless four at the U23 Championships while 2020 Olympian Angus Dawson and Jamie Arnold were part of Australia's bronze medal-winning men's eight boat.

We are thrilled to share that we have completed our Gender Equity campaign! I am  grateful to the Banatao family for their generous $1 million gift that allowed us to reach our $8 million goal.  As we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Title IX, it is truly exciting to see our community come together to support these new facilities for beach volleyball and softball.   
 
Lastly, I want to thank every one of you for the incredible support you have continued to provide our student-athletes and our department. For decades, Cal Athletics has relied on private philanthropy to fuel our department and ensure an exceptional student-athlete experience. Now more than ever as the landscape of collegiate athletics changes, the support of our Cal family has been critical, and I am grateful for your generosity as we raised over $39M for the second year in a row. This support helps us enhance the student-athlete experience and competitive success, and attract and retain the best talent.

I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at our fall events. Enjoy the rest of the summer and Go Bears!



Jim Knowlton
Director of Athletics