10/29/2026 12:15 PM | Football, Inside The Lair, Inside Cal Football
Ron Rivera Reflects On Seeking Advice From John Madden And How It Influenced His Career
Fifteen years ago, Ron Rivera was in his first season as an NFL head coach, leading the Carolina Panthers.
This week, the California football general manager/athletic director and the Golden Bears head to the Tar Heel State to take on NC State in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday.
Rivera would enjoy a five-season stretch (2013-17) with the Panthers in which they averaged 10.2 wins, won three NFC South titles and made four playoff appearances, highlighted by a trip to the Super Bowl at the end of the 2015 season.
But things did not begin all that swimmingly for Rivera in Carolina. The Panthers went 6-10 in 2011 and 7-9 in 2012. Of those 19 losses, 13 came by eight points or fewer.
"It took until my third season before everything turned around," Rivera said in an interview at Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. "My first two years, I made a couple of mistakes, made a couple of bad clock decisions."
Rivera believes that one of the best career decisions he made was seeking the advice of John Madden, the longtime Oakland Raiders head coach who became a football broadcasting icon. Madden told Rivera essentially to review how he had managed the games in some of those narrow losses.
"It made me realize I was doing what was safe," Rivera said. "I learned to take more calculated chances."
As Madden mentored Rivera, Rivera has mentored Travers Family Head Football Coach Tosh Lupoi, Cal's first-year head coach. "He's growing. He's learning," Rivera said of Lupoi. "He's still confident in himself by the way he does things, the way he handles things."
Rivera said that recently he has stressed to Lupoi the importance of delegating some responsibilities so that Lupoi can focus on issues that only a head coach can address.
In turn, Lupoi is grateful for the guidance he has received from Rivera.
"He's someone to lean on, someone's that's been an awesome, solid rock for me," Lupoi said in his weekly Tuesday news conference. "There's been a lot of good advice and that's what he's here for. So, I greatly appreciate that from him."
Cal has endured an inordinate number of injuries, particularly on offense. Quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele missed the bulk of 2 1/2 games because of a concussion suffered near the end of the first half of the Bears' game at UNLV on Oct. 3.
Top running back Adam Mohammed has been out since early in the second half of the Clemson game Sept. 25. Carter Vargas, projected to be the No. 2 running back, has not played since the first half of the opener against UCLA. Two starting offensive linemen (Bastian Swinney and Jimothy Lewis Jr.), three wide receivers (Mark Hamper, Jordan King and Cooper Perry) and tight end Dorian Thomas all were sidelined for last Saturday's game at SMU.
"I know (Lupoi) really doesn't want to talk about it, but I'm going to talk about it: the injuries," Rivera said.
Rivera explained how the lack of depth at the running back position can have ripple effects throughout the offense.
"It changes the dynamics," he said. "It puts a lot more pressure on your quarterback. Your quarterback tries to do more than he can do."
Though Rivera had losing records in his first two seasons with Carolina, the Panthers got better as the season progressed. They won four of their final six games in the 2011 season and won each of their final four games in 2012.
"We caught fire and that trajectory was up," Rivera said. "That gave the ownership, the fan base and the players (the idea that) man, we can carry this momentum into next year."
Saturday's game against the Wolfpack is the first of Cal's final four regular-season games, followed by a trip to Virginia on Nov. 14 and home matchups against Stanford (Nov. 21) and Pitt (Nov. 28).
The Bears are looking to finish strong, the way the Panthers did in 2011 and '12. Rivera likes the effort he sees from Cal's players and coaches.
"The work ethic is really tremendous. This is not a willy nilly thing. This is legitimate hard work, trying to put things together, trying to step forward," Rivera said. "What everybody has to understand is that this is something that is being built over time."
