Ned and Carol Spieker have committed $26 million to endow Cal’s mens swimming and diving program as well as the men’s water polo program. The commitment marks the largest donation to athletics in school history.
“I saw the endowment which I had contributed to before was not enough to sustain the program,” Ned Spieker said in the announcement. “I felt that if the program wasn’t going to be sustained, it could be in jeopardy from a qualitative aspect. We were in good shape facility-wise, but we needed to meet the endowment challenge to keep the coaching and athlete benefits intact.”
The pool at Cal is already named after the Spieker family as it is Spieker Aquatics Complex. It is home to both men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs as well as the men’s and women’s water polo programs. Ned played water polo during his time with the Golden Bears and graduated in 1966. He played under coach Pete Cutino, who the national water polo player of the year award is now named after. Cutino coached men’s water polo at Cal from 1963 through 1988. Cutino also coached the men’s swimming program from 1963-1973.
The men’s swim head coach position will be named the Ned Spieker Men’s Swim Head Coach, while the men’s water polo head coach will carry the title of Ned Spieker Men’s Water Polo Head Coach for twenty years.
Ned Spieker took Spieker Properties public in 1993 and it grew to become one of the largest commercial property companies in the US. In 2001, Equity Office Properties Trust (EOP) bought Spieker Properties in a cash and stock deal that was valued at $4.65 billion. Ned then joined the board of EOP.
Spieker has given back to Cal on numerous occasions. In 2022, the Spieker’s gave $30 million to Cal’s business school. This allowed the school to have a four-year business program rather than a two-year program. The program is known as the Spieker Undergraduate Business Program.
With the addition of men’s swimming and diving and men’s water polo, Cal now has a total of five endowed programs. Men’s golf, women’s golf, and rugby already were endowed programs. The athletic department sponsors a total of 28 programs.
Cal Athletics saw a financial deficit of $29.74 million during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the final season the school was in the Pac-12. The school has since moved to the ACC for the 2024-2025 fiscal year that ended yesterday June 30, 2025. Its deficit of $29.74 was over three times an increase from FY 2023-2024 when the department was in a $8.78 million deficit.
Cal men’s swimming and diving has been at the top of the NCAA for the last decade, either winning the NCAA title or finishing as runner-up in the last 15 NCAA Championships. The team also secured NCAA titles in 2022 and 2023. The men finished 2nd at the 2025 NCAA Championships with 471 points, just 19 points behind Texas.
I’m confused about the members of the Spieker clan. I always remembered a “Tod” Spieker being involved in East Bay aquatics. Is ‘Ned” the same person as ‘Tod’, a brother, a cousin, ????
And what was Carol’s maiden name? Did she grow up involved in aquatics or marry into the arena?
We are overwhelmed with gratitude.
Thank you Spieker family!
Roll-on You Bears!
Cal Aquatics is as successful as it is in no small part, in fact in very large part, thanks to the Spiekers. Thanks you, and Go Bears!
This donation is a true game changer for swimming, and I expect it represents a widening gap between the haves and have-nots—mirroring what we’re seeing more broadly across the country.
For programs that can attract these substantial donations to their swimming-specific endowments, the future outlook becomes truly incredible.
I assume Cal Aquatics already maintains a solid endowment, particularly compared to other top aquatic programs.
However, an additional $26M contribution would generate approximately $1.3+ million annually based on a conservative 5% return estimate. This funding could essentially cover coaches’ salaries, scholarships, and NIL deals where the ROI justifies such investments.
Cal appears to be in excellent shape moving forward, thanks to the Spiekers and their generous support of non-revenue sports.
Misread the headline as “Cal Poly” instead of Cal…. Just imagine the chaos.
I did exactly the same thing since my daughter goes to Cal Poly.
Apparently I’m subconsciously hoping for a big middle finger to the Cal Poly administration and outgoing AD.
Cal is fortunate to have a committed alumni community! Cal Poly raised 9 million in pledges, which was impressive for a program with much less history and depth
Hopefully this can be a model to keep swimming strong.
new idea to save swimming: concentrate all efforts on producing billionaire swimmers so they can endow the program they swam for
If we did that then we’d be talking about creating a new pro swimming league like the ISL…which I wouldn’t be against
Did somebody say ISL
You can donate $25 mill and bring it back! They will take your money!
It’s honestly the only thing that will save college swimming
Matt Brownstead
huh?
Better yet have the school cut the program because the parents and alumni work endlessly to find money to fund it. Then only schools with rich parents and supporters can afford the sport.
Yo… this…
y not women’s programs?
He probably swam. And if someone donated $25!million to men’s basketball, would you ask why not women’s basketball? Women’s programs are much safer than men’s
He was on the water polo team, but same concept.
Endowing one program indirectly helps the other. Takes one “off the books” for the athletics department when the school starts looking for ways to save money, and makes it relatively-cheaper to continue sponsoring the women’s program.
I appreciate your points Braden and Mr. Struggle and I see my question is unpopular but I don’t see 1) why choose to support the women’s program indirectly when you have the ability to do so directly? Especially for Cal where the women’s program has been lagging.
I don’t agree that women’s swim programs are “much” safer in the current environment; I’d say they’re marginally safer but both at great risk generally. Probably less at Cal, and maybe there’s some specifics of how the endowments are structured that I’m missing.
Excited to see this gift come through. But frustrated to see an amazing swim program with so much success get what at face value looks like validation to… Read more »
It might be a title 9 thing to ensure Cal maintains all four programs (men’s and women’s swimming and water polo). Cal will have to fund a women’s team if a men’s team exists. And this donation is effectively guaranteeing both men’s swimming and water polo will exist in the future.
So he’s effectively “saving” 4 sports by donating to two men’s sports, vs. only saving 2 if he had donated to men’s and women’s water polo or men’s and women’s swimming.
Smart.
Extremely smart !!!!!!!!
Ty for that—this is what I’m wondering if there’s an explanation for why this structure is best for the overall aquatic programs
You can’t really blame someone for a donation toward their former team. If there’s any “validation” to treat the women’s program as less important, then it would only be the athletic department’s fault.
When push comes to shove, it would be the men’s program that is cut first. Title IX is laid out in a way where they would likely run into compliance issues if the women’s team was cut. Berkeley is about 55% female, and if I understand Title IX correctly that means 55% of the athletic department has to be female. There is little wiggle room when you have 60
+ male athletes on a football team…it protects let’s say swimming, volleyball, and beach volleyball.
My college… Read more »
Also, the women’s program is “lagging” largely because of Teri McKeever…
Dave Durden and staff have done a fantastic job of getting the Women’s swim program back among the best teams in the country. Incoming class will be very impactful. Go Bears!
Please count men’s programs cut vs. women’s programs cut. One side is “much safer” than the other.
Sarah – They await your donation to the women’s team.
Forget NIL for a moment: for all non-net revenue programs, a fully endowed program is the most sustainable advantage.
Unfortunately only a very few programs will get this type of funding from one exceptional large donor. But any program hoping to sustain at the top tier must do a capital campaign towards this desired outcome.
Good on Cal, roll on you Bears.
Totally agree. This will need to be the new norm to keep college swim programs alive going forward. Happy for Cal Men and yes women benefit from this too. Go Bears!