@CalMBBall photo: New Cal Athletic Director Jim Knowlton who held an introductory press conference at UC Berkeley on Monday announcing taking the AD position

By Morris Phillips

Jim Knowlton likes a challenge. He has one now as the new athletic director at UC Berkeley.

Knowlton was introduced on Monday, succeeding Michael Williams, who announced last year that he would be stepping down from the post. He inherits an athletic department with significant debt, and given a mandate issued by Chancellor Carol Christ to balance the books by 2020.

Also, Cal faces significant hurdles if it decides to maintain all 30 intercollegiate sports it now administers, given a second Christ mandate to bring Cal into Prong 1 compliance with Title IX by 2021. Title IX requires universities to maintain athletic participation at proportions mirroring the school’s student population. Currently the Cal student body is 52 percent female.

“He loves problems, loves challenges,” Chancellor Carol Christ said of Knowlton.

The 57-year old leaves Air Force after three years at the helm of that institution’s athletic program. Prior to that Knowlton was AD at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has a military background starting at West Point where he captained the ice hockey team and later taught.

Knowlton is known as a fund raiser having boosted the Air Force program’s coffers by $22 million earmarked for facility renovations. Given his background, Knowlton bridges the gap between athletics and academics, an important distinction at Cal.