HSFC_2017_01_11

WB SFChronicle.com |Wednesday,January 11, 2017|D5

BAY AREA

changewillreinvigorate
Calfootball,stimulate
laggingticketsalesand
renewalsandenergize
ouralumni,donorand
fanbase,”UC Berkeley
AthleticDirectorMike
Williamssaidinanemail
todonorsSundaynight.
Calfootballisthemain
fundingsourceforthe
school’s entiresports
program.Countingtick-
etsandTVrevenue, the
$43millionthatfootball
raisesevery yearac-
countsfornearly halfthe
$90millionintotalreve-
nuegeneratedby allof
Calsports.Football’s $9.1
millionprofitunder-
writesCal’s 29other
sportsprograms.
To befair,football’s
financialwoesgo back to
beforeDykeswashired
fouryearsago. Theseis-
micretrofitofMemorial
Stadium,forexample,has
saddledtheprogramwith
an$18millionannual
debt.
Buttherearealsobig-
gerpoliticsat playhere.
Overall,UC Berkeleyis
facinga$110milliondef-
icit, whichmeanscutsin
areasfarbeyondsports.
ChancellorNicholas
Dirkshasformedatask
forcetohelpprovide
coverfor decisionsthat
aresuretoprove un-
popular.Battlelinesare
already beingdrawn

betweenalumnifans

hopingtoavoiddeepcuts

insportsandfaculty

memberslookingtopro-

tectacademicprograms.

The12-memberCom-

mitteeonInterscholastic

Sports—whichisbeing

co-chairedby Academic

SenateleaderRobert

Powell,apoliticalsci-

enceprofessor,andUC

BerkeleyFoundation

TrusteeRobertO’Don-

nell—wasinitiallyex-

pectedtodeliveritsrec-

ommendedsportscutsto

thechancellorthis

month.Now,that’sbeen

putoffuntilspring.

In 2010,UC Berkeley

announcedplanstoelim-

inatethebaseball,men’s

andwomen’s gymnastics,

rugby andlacrosseteams,

butbackedoffaftersup-

portersraisedenough

moneytosave them.

Withanannualsports

deficitnowabout$21

million,someschool

officialsquestionwheth-

erthatwillbepossible

thistime.Calistryingto

operatewith30sports,

morethantwicethe

NCAAminimumof14,

whilemeetingTitleIX

regulationsrequiring

parityforwomen’sathlet-

ics.

UC Berkeleyofficials

cautionthatthepotential

hitlistisa“movingtar-

get.”Butonesourcefol-

lowingtheprocesssays

amongtheprograms

mostinjeopardyare

men’s soccer,rugby,gym-

nastics,baseballand

crew.

“Atthispoint,nota

singledecisionhasbeen

made,”Calspokesman

DanMoguloftoldus.

Withthecutslooming,

it’s abitironicthatCal

extendedDykes’contract

by two yearsafterthe2015

season—ensuringthat

hewillbepaid70 percent

ofhisnearly $3million-a-

yearsalarythrough2019.

That is,unlesshe’s hired

asacoach at another

school,inwhichcaseCal

willbeonthehookonly

forthedifferenceinpay.

Whenofficialsextend-

edDykes’deal,thefoot-

ballprogramappearedto

beonanupwardswing,

withimprovingacademic

scoresforplayersandthe

teamhavingjustlanded

inamoney-makingbowl

game.

ButtheGoldenBears’

5-7recordthispastsea-

son,coupledwithreports

that Dykeswasrecently

inthehunt fortheBaylor

coachingjob, sugg ested

hewasn’t reallythean-

swerforCalfootball.

As oneathleticdepart-

mentinsiderwhowasn’t

authorizedtospeakfor

therecordtoldus:“When

therearerumorsevery

yearthatyourfootball

coach islookingfora

differentjob, at some

pointyoudecidethat’s

notwhatyouwant.”

Nicetry:No onewould

castSanFranciscoMayor

EdLeeasLuke Skywalk-

er,buthedidputup one

heckofafight totrytoget

George Lucastobuild

hismuseumonTreasure

Island.

In themonthsfollow-

ingthePresidioTrust’s

rejectionofLucas’pro-

posalforCrissyFieldin

2014,Leestayedinreg-

ularcontactwiththe

“StarWars”creatorabout

findingaplaceforhis

museumofnarrative arts.

“Ifeltasbadashedid,”

LeerecalledMondayas

heposedwithboosterson

TreasureIslandtogive

onelastPRpushbefore

Tuesday’svoteby the

Lucasmuseumboardof

directors—which,inthe

end,optedforLosAnge-

les.

Earlier, Leewasonthe

phonewithLucas—

tellinghimhewaspush-

ingforferriesthatwould

take museumgoerstothe

islandtorunonbiofuel,

which wouldbegoodfor

theenvironmentand

speedup theapproval

processfortheservice.

Leealsobrought inthe

mayorsofOaklandand

Berkeleytohelpsellthe

TreasureIslandplanasa

boonforkidsthroughout

theBayArea.

Andasanadde dtouch,

Leealsoenlistedthehelp

ofSen.DianneFein-

stein, HouseMinority

LeaderNancyPelosiand

Gov.JerryBrown.

Lucaspromisedtocall

themayoroncethedeci-

sionwasma de,but by

Tuesdaymorning,the

mayorstartedfeelingthat

theforcewasnot goingto

bewithhim.

“Youcouldfeelit inthe

silence,”saidonestaffer

closetothemuseum

effort.

Andindeed,thecall

camearound1p.m.,with

LucastellingLeethat

althoughSanFrancisco

putforthasolidproposal,

hewasgoingtobuildhis

museuminLosAngeles’

ExpositionPark—where

it willjoinseveralother

museumsintheheartofa

low-incomecommunity

inneedofalift.What’s

more,theareaiseasyto

getto by car.

Soinsteadofaniconic

landmarkonthebay,

Lucashasoptedfora

parkinglotinL.A.

San Francisco Chronicle

columnistsPhil lip Matier

and AndrewRoss appear

Sundays,Mondays and

Wednesdays.Matier can be

seen onthe KPIX TV

morning and evening news.

He can also be heard on

KCBSradio Monday

throughFriday at7:50 a.m.

and 5:50p.m. Got a tip? Call

(415) 777-8815,or email

matierandross@

sfchronicle.com. Twitter:

@matierandross

Cash cow needed,

Dykes didn’t deliver

M&R from pageD1

Tim Hussin /Specialto The Chronicle 2014

A banner hangs at City Hall in 2014 asking George Lucas to build hismuseum

here. Ed Lee lo bbied the “StarWars” creator ane w, but Lucas chose L.A.

Fund total as ofJan.
5: $7 ,758,661
Jeffry Angermann,
$500; Reevyn Aronson;
Lu & Dagmar Bedard,
$100; Amy &Stev e Bess,
$300;Kathleen Brown,
$500; LisaBurkett, $500;
Thomas & Deborah
Burns, $100; Beverly Byl;
Canavese-NaffzigerFam-
ily, $500; A Center for
NaturalHealing, $405;
Cathy Cha & Dara
O'Rourke, $500; Chris
Chaffin;Varma Chan-
derraju;Vicky Choy,
$100; The ChuFamily;
Roehl M. Cinco,$100;
Claire Colvin,$100; Pat
& Pete Confer;Ned
Congdon, $450;The
Creager-EgerterFamily;
Jon & Mary Dale,$250;
DebashisDhar & Devya-
ni Biswas, $500; Jill
Ducey; Carol Ebert &
Jim Ferrell;Ingrid Falk,
$900, in memory of
Arne,Marion &Nina
Falk; LisaFreeman,
$750, in memory ofVivi-
an Stroup;Vicki Friedb-
erg &WilliamPollock;
Kyle Glenn & BoWiley,
$200, in memory of Eliz-
abeth Stromme;Michael
Graham &Mich elle
Patterson;Jeffrey Greve
& Janis Kahn; Yvonne
Guertin,$100; Linda

Harris; Holly Huston,

$300, in memory ofJean

A. Huston; CarlJacob-

sen, $100; John & Becky;

Bret Jonas, $200; Jerry

R. Joseph, in memory of

Lynn Wissler andJosh

Millard;John Keefe,

$100; Nicole Kidd, in

memory of Sam De-

Franco;The Kolish Ber-

gin Family, $500; Hilary

L. Lamar,$200; Andrew

& Nancy Leahy, $500;

Jeffrey A.Lovold, $300;

Marc Manason,$1,000;

Eric Mart, $500, in mem-

ory of Bob &Marilynn

Mart; Sheila McClear;

Avery McGinn, $250, in

honor ofHillary Clinton;

Stev en Meloan,$25; Julie

Mills & LarryMcSpad-

den, $200, in memory of

Fred & BerniceMills;

StephenMoehle,$100;

Lisa Ochs &Lea Salem;

Rebecca & DonPetersen,

$100, in memory ofJuan

Marquez;Platt & Associ-

ates, $1,000; Dave &

Tracy Reichmuth; Laurel

P. Rest & BillK. Kedem,

$100; Hope Rugo & Mar-

tin Scott, in memory of

Faith & Henry Rugo;

Stev e & Ana Smulian, in

memory ofRuth Boyd;

C. Songstad , $250, in

honor ofEvelina El-

wood; Bruce & Lisa

Steinback, $500; Romer

& John Stev enson,$700;

ThomasStudley,$100, in

memory ofJordanStu-

dley;Paula, Eli and Sar-

ita BrinkleySvoboda, in

memory of Doris Brin-

kley; Alice &Malcolm

Talcott;TamaraTeich-

graeber,$250, in memory

of Eunice Teichgraeber;

JeanetteTom; LJ &Tais-

sa Tsang, in honor of

Sears & NJ; Richard &

Mary BethWarman,

$1,000, in memory of

Dale &Mary AliceWar-

man; ElizabethWatkins,

$1,000; Eric,Marni and

ClaraWelch, $150; Kitty

Whit eside, $500; Dave,

Emilyand Taylor Wong,

$250; Rich,Matt, & Me-

lissa Wood and Eliza-

beth Cain,$500, in mem-

ory ofJohn B. Sias; Dan

Young, $200.

Anonymousdona-

tions in honor of:Al-

exandra Biggar.

Anonymousdona-

tions in memory of:

Michael E. Casey (1974-

2013),$1,000.

SEASON OF SHARING DONOR LIST