Fifteen months after Ron Rivera was hired as Cal’s football general manager the parties have, at long last, executed a long-form employment agreement.
The three-year contract, effective March 24, 2025, was signed by Rivera and UC chancellor Richard Lyons on June 16, according to a copy of the agreement obtained through a public records request. Up until this month, Rivera was working off a letter intent he signed with Cal on Feb. 21, 2025.
It remains unclear why it took so long to formalize a contract that is now more than a third of the way through its term. Rivera and a Cal athletics spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
After Rivera’s hiring was announced, the university responded to records requests for his contract by Sportico and other media outlets by claiming that such a document did not exist or was still in draft form. In October 2025, a UC spokesperson told USA Today the agreement was still awaiting finalization and signatures.
It would take another seven months for that to occur, perhaps reinforcing the University of California system’s reputation as a ponderous bureaucracy.
