Comments

  • Reddit post of new MW baseball stadiums.
    They have a public prayer before each athletic contest also.

    I grew up in a small town in Indiana and the Catholic kids went to their own school through the 8th grade and then they attended the only high school in town with everyone. They had the biggest and most ornate church in the town and it all seemed shrouded in mystery to me as a kid.

    In basketball, they always crossed themselves whenever they shot FT's and, when we would play them in middle school basketball, I always thought they had an unfair advantage shooting FT's because they had the Lord on their side! :rofl:
  • Reddit post of new MW baseball stadiums.
    Grand Canyon spent over $1 billion to build 10 new athletics facilities not so long ago.yolohw

    It's amazing how the Good Lord can motivate His followers to dig deep into their pocketbooks and spend their money! :halo: :lol:
  • UC Davis Athletics Joining Mountain West - Football to Follow
    Oops...brain fart!. Gotta improve my proof reading! I corrected it.
  • UC Davis Athletics Joining Mountain West - Football to Follow
    Grand Canyon will start MW play this year instead of 2026.

  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    247 Sports is currently showing that Sac already has 7 hard commits for 2027 and they a have made an a whopping 295 additional offers.

    https://247sports.com/college/sacramento-state/season/2027-football/offers/
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    I think there are a lot a valid comments here regarding my post about the new football culture at Sac and the various racial statistics of D1 football players. It's an interesting conversation.

    My point of view comes from my own professional experience working with predominantly minority, junior college students at one point in my career. I'm a retired therapist and, for the last 11 years of my career, I split my time between my private practice and contracting with Sacramento City College to provide mental health counseling to students.

    I have always been deeply interested in the dynamic interplay between our external environment and our individual biology and psychology and the profound effects it has on shaping our inner self, our personality and our world view. Multicultural influences adds yet another significant layer to all of this too. Oh well, don't let me get going on the "shrink" stuff! :lol:

    Role models are particularly important to young people who didn't have successful role models who looked like them during their formative years. Sacramento City College offered College Success Courses that were available to all students but some were specifically aimed at various ethnic groups and they were taught by counselors who identified with those ethnicities. These classes were designed to help students learn the basic organizational, time management and disciplinary skills necessary to have a chance to succeed in college.

    For example, there was a male, African American counselor who taught a College Success class aimed primarily at black males who were one of the highest risk groups to drop out. Many of his students took his class because he was black and they felt that he could relate to their cultural identity better than a non-black counselor. Similarly, various Asian students, Chinese, Hmong, Philipino etc, were drawn to the College Success Classes taught by Asian counselors and the same was true for Hispanic students.

    So my point, regarding the current Sac football culture, is that many of the elite players they are getting may be strongly drawn to the culture that has been created by their largely African American football staff and an African American university president who are successful role models who look like them and share their cultural identity.
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    The majority of the top athletes that Marion has landed are black athletes and I think a big piece of why Marion is getting so many highly rated recruits is due to the inviting, inclusive, black culture that Marion and Wood have established. This culture speaks personally to many of the black athletes and it means a lot to them on a personal level.

    Many black athletes come from disadvantaged backgrounds and college football can provide an avenue for success for them and, for many, their families as well. Both Marion and Wood represent huge success stories to them especially having overcome difficult circumstances that they can relate to.

    Black athletes represent the largest racial group playing D1 football:

    Data from the NCAA Race and Gender Demographics Database shows that among Division I men’s college football student-athletes in 2020, 36.5% were white, 48.4% were black, 3% were Hispanic/Latino, 0.3% were Asian.

    However, black D1 football coaches are very much underrepresented:

    Race and Gender Demographics Database shows that among Division I college football head coaches in 2020, 81.7% were white, and 15.6% were black, with other minority groups also severely lacking representation. For Division I College Football Offensive Coordinators, 82.7% were white, and 14.8% were black. For Defensive Coordinators, 74% were white, and 20.6% were black. Additionally, for all other assistant coaches, 51.8% were white, 40% were black, 1.1% were Hispanic/Latino, and less than 1% were Asian.

    Culture means a lot to everyone. It's normal for people to feel more comfortable and connected with others who share similar experiences and values. It gives us a sense of identity and belonging and fitting in. Marion and Wood understand that and the Sac football culture is currently filling that need very well for many of the athletes they are landing.

    PS: I am not suggesting that white athletes and other racial group athletes would not be welcomed to play at Sac...not in the least. I'm only saying that the current football culture at Sac has been heavily influenced by Marion's personality, coaching style and previous success and, along with all the FBS hype from Wood, this is very attractive to many black athletes in a sport that is heavily underrepresented by black coaches and role models.

    https://insight.balancenow.co/diversity-of-college-coaches-and-athletes-college-football/
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    Not getting into the FBS doesn't seem to be affecting Marion's ability to continue to bring in some of the top talent in the nation. This kid had over 20 FBS offers including schools like Alabama, Auburn, Miami, Florida State, Penn State, Colorado and Tennessee among others. Marion's recruiting must have those programs dumbfounded by what they are seeing.

  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    They eat their own over on the Sac forum and they have a few members who do not like any "outsiders" to post anything on their forum. SochorField was actually able to make a few neutral posts about Sac before someone called him "a douchebag" and told him "to get the f... off their board."
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    as they have like 400 offers out....SochorField

    247 Sports showed them having 30 hard commits for 2026 already and another 516 offers out as of a couple of days ago.

    https://247sports.com/college/sacramento-state/season/2026-football/offers/
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    247 Sports is currently showing that Sac has already made 516 offers for 2026. Their strategy is to flood the zone in hopes of capitalizing on the publicity that gets generated by all of the retweets and social media posts from the players they make offers to even if they know they have practically zero chance of getting some of the most highly recruited players in the nation. The whole idea from Dr. Wood down to their huge football staff is to throw everything they can at the wall and see what sticks and occasionally it does but, when it doesn't, they feel like they will capitalize on all the increased media buzz.

    https://247sports.com/college/sacramento-state/season/2026-football/offers/
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    Xavier McDonald is a 6'3 WR and has a 93 rating and 4 stars on 247 Sports. He has offers from many of the top Power 4 schools and Sac is one of his final 4 choices
    .
  • UC Davis TY Johnson will suit up for the @Lakers this summer
    Wow...49.7 ppg...that's astonishing!

    1. Elijah Pepper (Warwick Senators)‍

    Pepper stands out not just as the league’s top scorer with an astronomical 49.75 points per game, but also as the most complete offensive threat. He shoots 54% from the field, makes nearly 9 threes per game, and gets to the line frequently — converting at an 89% clip. Beyond scoring, Pepper contributes across the board with 6.5 assists and 6.25 rebounds per game while keeping turnovers and fouls relatively low. His exceptional blend of volume, efficiency, and playmaking gives him the highest Impact Score by a significant margin.
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    As Sacramento State angles for its chance, Marion and Bibby are trying to take the Hornets to heights never seen in town.

    “I want to make the NCAA Tournament this year,” Bibby says. “I wouldn’t say it’s a failure if we don’t, but that’s our goal.”

    With the transfer portal, any team that gets all the right pieces in place from year to year can mold itself from an afterthought into a contender, Bibby says.

    Sacramento State signed former prep phenom Mikey Williams, who intended to start his career at Memphis but never played there after he was charged with nine felonies for allegedly firing a gun at an occupied car in April 2023. Williams had his charges reduced, pleaded guilty to one felony and served a year of probation that led to that plea being reduced to a misdemeanor. He spent last year at UCF, averaging 5 points a game.

    Meanwhile, one of the football staff’s most effective strategies is to flood the market with offers, whether or not they’re realistic targets.

    Offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell, the No. 1 recruit in the country, is headed to Miami and likely never considered Sacramento State. But when he got an offer from the Hornets, he posted it on social media.

    “It was big for branding: Why is this big-time five-star No. 1 recruit posting?” says C.J. Pollard, who runs Sac State recruiting. “I just wanted to make it cool, and the only way to make it cool was the top dudes setting the trend. ‘I need you to report our offer and tell ’em we’re coming after you.’”

    Pollard also noticed that the FCS, unlike the FBS, does not have a rule banning photo shoots on unofficial visits. Instagram is now plastered with photos of recruits in a full Sac State uniform, posed in front of a carefully curated set full of Hornets swag.

    “The funny thing is we’re now on the dream-school list,” Marion says.

    Brennan Marion comes to Sacramento State after being the offensive coordinator at UNLV. Marion was a record-setting receiver for Tulsa as a player. (Courtesy of Sacramento State)

    Stephanie Nguyen, a California assemblymember who graduated from the school in 1997 and is a member of the Sac12 Committee, says the enthusiasm around the school is visible. When she’s at public events, people throw their pinkies in the air to signify “Stingers Up.” The school’s ambitions have been brought up to her at the state’s Capitol.

    “I go to Costco now,” she says, “and Sac State stuff is there.”

    But for all the moves and momentum, Sacramento State is still waiting, without a future home for its football program. If the donor base, so excited at the prospect of being an FBS football program, doesn’t see significant movement, will those gargantuan financial promises dwindle?

    Will the millions of dollars in media rights Wood says are attainable come to fruition?

    And, above all else, is Sacramento State, for all its chest-pounding readiness, ever going to be offered a seat at the table?

    The Hornets, with all their newfound recruiting swagger, could start by winning some games.

    “All eyes are going to be on us,” says Lafayette transfer running back Jamar Curtis, the current FCS career rushing leader. “We’re popping, we’re buzzing across the internet, so there’s definitely going to be a lot of people against us.”
  • Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread
    • Attract big names, whether they sign on or not. In December, former NFL star quarterback Michael Vick was linked with the vacant Sacramento State football coaching position, generating more headlines. Orr confirmed preliminary talks with Vick took place, but nothing substantial materialized.

    Vick was hired as the head coach of HBCU Norfolk State, and Sacramento State hired Marion, whose offense helped UNLV make back-to-back Mountain West title games.

    In late March, Bibby was hired, making $560,000 annually, according to his contract. A month later, O’Neal agreed to become the university’s general manager for men’s basketball. Shaq’s son Shaqir has signed with the Hornets.

    Mike Bibby had assistant coaching stops with the Puerto Rican national team, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies summer league teams and the NBA G-League Ignite. He was also head coach at Shadow Mountain High School in Arizona. (Michael Chow / The Republic / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

    Bibby saw the role of general managers expanding nationwide and thought, “Let me ask Shaq.” The unpaid role is part talent identification, part donor stimulation, part just, well, being Shaq.

    “With a guy like Shaquille O’Neal, you don’t tell him what to do,” Bibby says. “Shaq does what the hell he wants to.”

    • Play to vacancies in the media market. Sacramento has been trying to balloon its sports presence in recent years beyond its beloved Kings.

    The city was granted expansion rights by Major League Soccer in 2019, and plans for a new downtown soccer-specific stadium were greenlit, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed plans, and its primary investor withdrew funding in 2021.

    Major League Baseball’s former Oakland Athletics are playing home games in Sacramento’s Triple-A stadium before they complete their permanent move to Las Vegas.

    • Attempt to write your own script. Sac State has yet to establish itself as a must-see sports draw. Former football head coach Troy Taylor led the Hornets to three Big Sky championships in 2019, 2021 and 2022, the first conference titles ever won since joining in 1996. The women’s basketball team, which made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2023, went 15-18 last season. The men’s basketball team went 7-25.

    But now that the Hornets believe they have organized for the big time and are prepped to splash cash on stadium and facility upgrades and finally build consistent winners in revenue-generating sports, Orr believes there’s no reason his school can’t join the crowded Northern California sports scene. The school reported $419,000 in ticket sales for all sports in fiscal year 2024.

    “We’re the only top-20 media market in the country that doesn’t have an FBS program,” Orr says. “This market is thirsty for something like this.”

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