BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — California athletic director Jim Knowlton is retiring after seven years on the job.
Knowlton announced on Monday that he will step down officially on July 1.
Knowlton was in charge during a tumultuous time, dealing with COVID, the emergence of NIL and conference expansion that forced the Golden Bears to join the ACC after their longtime home in the Pac-12 fell apart.
Knowlton was named Cal’s athletic director on May 21, 2018, and the Bears captured 10 national championships during his tenure and had more than 100 athletes compete at the two Summer Olympics during his tenure.
“It has been an incredible honor to serve at the University of California, Berkeley, the No. 1 public university in the country,” Knowlton said in a statement. “The expectation of holistic excellence helps to drive everyone associated with the university, and our department is no exception. The combination of a world-class education, athletic excellence, an inclusive community, an awe-inspiring location and, most importantly, truly special people, make Cal a magnificent place to serve.”
The Bears didn't have as much success in the high-profile sports. The football program qualified for four bowl games in his seven seasons but hasn't had a winning record since 2019.
Knowlton hired two men's basketball coaches and neither one has had a winning season. He hired Mark Fox in 2019 and fired him after four seasons with a 38-87 record.
The program has shown some signs of improvement under Mark Madsen but has only a 27-38 record to show for it.
He also hired Charmin Smith to coach the women's basketball program in 2019. She had a losing record in each of her first four seasons before making progress the past two. The Bears went 19-15 in 2023-24 and then made the NCAA Tournament this past season, going 25-9 after losing in the first round.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons named current deputy athletic directors Jay Larson and Jenny Simon-O’Neill as the new co-directors of the program.
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FILE - University of California, Berkeley Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton poses with new women's basketball head coach Charmin Smith during her introduction at a news conference June 25, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Janie McCauley, File)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.
“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.
It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.
Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.
While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.
NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.
The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
