Bad PR

You know the old adage about there being no such thing as bad publicity? What you see above and below would seem to be a test of that saying. From SFGATE:

After seven years and a number of controversies and scandals, Jim Knowlton is stepping down as Cal’s athletic director... But the initial plan to replace him is to elevate two people who worked under Knowlton during all of those same scandals — and even before. Knowlton announced on Monday that he’ll be retiring effective July 1, according to a university news release. In his place, Cal has promoted deputy athletic directors Jay Larson and Jenny Simon-O’Neill to be co-athletic directors for the next academic year... 

Simon-O’Neill was in charge of the swimming programs when Orange County Register reporter Scott Reid first reported in 2022 that Cal swimmers alleged that their coach, Teri McKeever, bullied and verbally abused them for years, with Reid reporting that “at least six” Cal swimmers contemplated suicide because of McKeever’s treatment. McKeever was eventually fired after a $2 million independent investigation that took more than half a year. But Cal swimmers also pointed fingers at university leadership and specifically Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill. Cal swimmers said the top two athletics officials consistently ignored their allegations against McKeever, which Reid reported including “more than 30 complaints” between 2010 and 2022. Reid also reported that McKeever is a godmother to one of Simon-O’Neill’s children. Cal opened an investigation into Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill in March 2023 but never formally released the results of that investigation, and the two were still in charge by the end of the summer, when the next academic year was set to begin.

The McKeever scandal was by far the most prominent during Knowlton’s tenure but not the only one. In 2019, a woman who said she worked for the football team’s sports medicine department accused Cal football players and staffers of sexual harassment. UC Berkeley said it was investigating the claims, which included the woman saying she told several school administrators, Cal football coach Justin Wilcox and Knowlton about the alleged harassment but never received a response. The results of that investigation were never publicly released. And in 2020, KTVU-TV reported that Cal players accused school officials of mishandling bullying claims against women’s soccer coach Neil McGuire. McGuire has remained Cal’s coach despite the allegations and further reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle...

Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/collegesports/article/cal-replaces-scandal-ridden-ad-same-people-20382043.php.

Just a gentle reminder that UCLA is providing a subsidy to Berkeley athletics as per Regents' policy but presumably has no say in what is done with the money.