GO-GO Sacramento

By Marquis Martin

Sacramento, CA – In less than a year, Sacramento State and its president, Dr. Luke Wood, have been very loud and aggressive in their rapid overhaul of their athletic department.  

Through the hiring of new coaches, new facilities, and increased funding, Sacramento State has created a lot of momentum heading into the 25-26 academic year.

In Sept. the talk around Sacramento State joining the Pac 12 and Mountain West conferences increased after the Pac 12 took 4 members from the Mountain West. To start a serious push to join one of the FBS conferences the school announced their plans to built a new 25 thousand seat football stadium and a 3 thousand seat basketball arena. This is when the organization known as the Sac 12 begin making news. The organizations goal is to get the university into the Pac 12 using their 5 step plan. 

As the organizations website states “The Pathway to the PAC 12” :

1- Secure $50M in NIL commitments for the cover the first 10 years in the PAC 12. 

2-Secure funding and approvals to build a Football Stadium that seats at least 25K attendees.

3-Secure funding and approvals to build a basketball arena that can seat at least 6K attendees. 

4- Turn out at least 15K attendees per home football game for the remainder of the season.  

5- Secure $5.25M in Conference Fees for NCAA re-alignment into the PAC 12.

In December Brannon Marion was named their next head football coach. As one of the hottest names in college football and one of the top offensive minds the hire turned heads. He then brought in the #1 transfer portal class in the FCS.

Just as the football program was making headlines the mens basketball program followed suit with the hire of Sacramento Kings legend Mike Bibby in march. After multiple high profile transfers including his son Shaq was named the mens basketball program GM the following month.

In April after failing to get an invitation from a FBS conference the school filed for a waiver to move up as an independent. As football is the only sport in the D1 level with FBS and FCS Sacramento State joined the Big West in all other sports starting July ‘26. The universities athletics will remain in the Big Sky for the upcoming academic year. The following week after the Big West announcement in June the NCAA denied the waiver to move up to the FBS as an independent.

“Sacramento State has met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership, and we believe our university, our students, and the entire Sacramento region deserve major college football. We’re full steam ahead and we still plan to be playing  FBS football in 2026” Dr. Luke Wood said in a post released on X after the NCAA’s decision.

Full official statement: Dr. Luke Wood

Though the waiver has been denied the future look extremely bright for the Hornets if they can live up to Dr. Luke Woods words and keep the focus plus support for the the athletic department.