Maybe they could hire Kevin Johnson to coach basketball, too.

Vick has no coaching experience. He is also apparently in similar talks with Norfolk State. He was born and raised in the Newport News and Hampton Roads area.

Here is the Bee article:

To make Pac-12, Sacramento State needs the right football coach. That’s just the start
Analysis By Joe Davidson
December 15, 2024 5:00 AM
Less than three months ago, the Sacramento State Hornets were rolling in football. All was grand with the guys in green.
The team was 2-2 and ranked 10th nationally in the FCS polls on Sept. 26. There was glee and roars of “Stingers Up!” during a spirited on-campus news conference to announce bigger and brighter things. Sacramento State that day unveiled plans for a new football venue with visions of jumping up to the higher-level FBS and into the revamped Pac-12 by the time of its 2028 completion.
And there was coach Andy Thompson, beaming at that presser like a proud mentor, excited about the next game and the next several seasons as the Hornets set aim to elevate its brand.
Fast forward to last week: Thompson’s joy turned to misery. His second season as head coach was defined by a crush of injuries and tough losses. No one burdens the load more than the head coach during lean seasons, and Thompson stunned his staff and team on Dec. 6 when he announced his resignation.
Thompson took the blame for the losses after setbacks, and he held that theme in his meeting with the team and coaching staff that. He thanked them for their effort and wished them well.
This is no quitter. Thompson stepped away to save himself. He was imploding. He apologized to players and coaches that he didn’t do a better job to prepare them. The season was on everyone, players and coaches told him.
Thompson, in a text exchange, expressed gratitude to Sacramento State for the opportunity and to Stanford and Taylor for a lifeline. Thompson did not want to elaborate.
Thompson has rejoined Troy Taylor at Stanford. Taylor brought Thompson aboard at Sac State as defensive coordinator before the 2019 season. Thompson replaced Tayor when Taylor headed to the Bay Area after guiding a 12-1 Hornets team in 2022.
Momentum is an interesting thing in sports. It can avalanche in a good way, such as Sacramento State winning three Big Sky crowns and reaching the playoffs four consecutive seasons. It can sour just as fast. The Hornets football fortunes never picked up steam after the stadium announcement. The team limped home at 3-9 overall and 1-7 in the Big Sky Conference as coaches and trainers handed out ice packs and crutches as if minding a triage unit.
Sacramento State doesn’t just have an image problem as a school that eagerly wants to be part of the big time in athletics. It has a sudden football problem. Ten Hornets players have entered the transfer portal, where players can enter their name into a national data base to be plucked. Of course, it works both ways. Sac State coaches will mine the portal, too, for quick fixes.
Who’s the next coach?
Who takes over as coach now? Hornets athletic director Mark Orr has met with existing staff this week, including assistant head coach Kris Richardson and offensive coordinator Bobby Fresques. Those two were considered for the head spot when Taylor left, and they assured Orr that they wanted to remain with the program regardless of who became head coach.
Orr has also received a flood of interest from coaches across the county. Some who would appreciate a chance to talk shop include former Hornets linemen leaders Angus McClure, an assistant coach at the University of Kansas, and longtime American River College of Sacramento coach Jon Osterhout.
Orr can’t afford to take on a coach who wants to use Sac State as a stepping stone, or does he take that chance to find another impact coach? He knew that Taylor was so gifted that it would be a challenge to hold onto him. Taylor has long called Thompson one of the sharpest football minds he’s known, and he jumped at the chance to bring him to The Farm.
“It is fantastic. I’m fired up,” Taylor told me last week. “I’m thrilled to have Andy Thompson join our staff. Andy is truly one of the brightest defensive minds that I have ever been around. His players love playing for him ad he will be a great resource to me in guiding our program.”
Sacramento State has the potential to bounce back and compete for an FCS playoff spot next season, but Orr has to get a coach in place before Christmas. Orr will have to answer questions that some of the current coaches still wonder about. These include: Where is the money coming from for NIL — name, image and likeness — that has proven to be a game changer in college sports? Players are jumping into the portal for a change of pace and a chance to get paid for that change of pace.
The SAC-12 committee of local government officials and Hornets alums aren’t ready to answer those questions.
“We hear things like $54 million has been secured but from who?” one Hornets coach, who asked not to be named, said recently. “We haven’t seen any of it. Schools like Sac State need it to survive.”
The SAC-12 is an organization of “business, labor and civic leaders”, the firm says on its website, “dedicated to taking Sacramento State athletics to the next level by joining the Pac-12...”
The arguments are compelling, with the firm stressing that Sacramento would be the largest media market in the new Pac-12.
The aim is to raise more than $50 million for the first 10 years in the Pac-12, to secure the funding and approval for a new football stadium, to get a new basketball arena and to secure $5.25 million in conference realignment fees.
Josh Wood is a member of the SAC-12, and he’s invested because it is his alma mater. That he is the twin brother of Sacramento State president Luke Wood reinforces his commitment of wanting the best.
“It stunned us that Andy Thompson stepped down,” said Josh Wood, who dabbles in real estate development. “We did not see that coming. He accepted an incredible offer from Stanford. He’s a fantastic human being” Wood said a big-name hire is paramount, even if it’s a coach climbing the ladder.
“If we get the right coach, it sends a message, and if we get the wrong coach, things could go in the wrong direction in a hurry.”
Wood added: “We need a magnetic new coach. NIL is a huge part of this. We have to go big and get the right coach. Donors and players will be drawn to a great hire”
As for NIL money now, Wood said more than $50 million will be secured with a commitment to join the Pac-12.
Orr has to nail this hire
Orr said this week that the coaching opening has drawn “a crazy amount of national interest.”
He added: “There’s been significant interest, more than ever before for football. There’s interest from people who have coached in the NFL, college, Power 4 programs in the FCS and from the FCS, head coaches, assistant coaches, coordinators. I wasn’t expecting Andy to step down. He’s such a good coach and person. I wish him the best, but we had to turn the page.”
Orr said there is urgency to hire the right coach and in quick order.
“Our student-athletes need to know, our community needs to know,” Orr said. “The transfer portal is open. Our signed recruits need to know. Our program is seen as a good one, and it’s in a good light.”
Orr said the momentum is still there for Sacramento State since 2019, the first Big Sky championship season.
“Our program is in good shape,” Orr said. “We won eight games last year and had a tough season this year with injuries and things. I think that’s why this position is so attractive. People know the success we’ve had.”
No facilities, no chance?
The grim truth for Sac State and its quest of moving up in athletic classification is this: No facilities makes for a steep climb.
The school does not have a viable basketball arena. It has a cramped old gym called “The Nest,” quite possibly the poorest Division I venue in the country. The goal is to switch from 70-year-old gym to “The Well” this season, an on-campus facility.
Since 1991, when Sac State moved from Division II to Division I, the Hornets have talked about getting a new arena.
Hornet Stadium is an erector set thrown up decades ago as a temporary venue. It badly needs an upgrade. If you walk the bleachers, you’ll find a bolt here and a bolt there. Should those not be bolted in somewhere? It gives the impression of a work in progress. Orr said a new stadium will solve all sorts of issues and concerns.
The Pac-12 has approved the entry of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State starting in the fall of 2026. How could those colleges in smaller cities muscle past Sacramento State, nestled in the state capitol and boasting of a much larger media market?
Those schools have basketball arenas and football stadiums that are Pac-12 ready. They’re good to go.
What’s more, the new Pac-12 entries have for years tapped into deep-pocketed donors to upgrade athletic facilities. At Boise State, for example, the Broncos are the No. 3 seed in the college football playoff. Can Sac State become Boise State in athletics? Not without facilities and donors.
The Hornets have not found any of those kinds of donors.
UC Davis has donors. News broke Tuesday that UCD will join the Mountain West for all sports except football. But the Aggies would be closer to an FBS conference for the biggest sport on campus. The Mountain West will be losing Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State, and the Aggies have facilities to wheel and deal.
Sacramento State’s ambition of bigger and better is to be applauded, but until shovels are thrust into the ground and bulldozers are at work and everyone is under a hard hat, the Pac-12 or the Mountain West or whatever other conference is a long shot.
https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article296879584.html

I'll work on it. Cutting and pasting articles from the Bee is a time intensive task.

With tonight’s 69-62 victory over Sac State in men’s basketball the current Causeway score is UCD 42.5, CSUS 2.5.

At the conclusion of the fall quarter, and of this calendar year, Sac has only a single victory, a better finish in a men's golf meet. Davis is a mere 2.5+ points from winning this year's Causeway Cup.

The schools are scheduled to meet in two gymnastic meets in January, however both are multiple team events and by the "rules" of the cup the gymnastic points are to be determined only by home and away dual meets. The next scoring event is men's tennis on February 14 in Sacramento.

As I understand it, and I am not guaranteeing that I do....if they announce now, they cannot partipate on the 2025 FCS playoffs, even if they would otherwise be selected, AND cannot participate in the 2026 and 2027 FBS post-seasons. Three seasons.

If they wait a year before announcing a move to FBS they could partcipate in the 2025 FCS playoffs but not the 2026 and 2027 FBS post season. Two seasons.

I THINK, there are two separate rules at play. Once you actually transfer divisions there is a two (?) year waiting period before you are eligible for FBS post season play. Not sure that rules apply to conference changes within the division. Obviously not much if you are remaining in the same division but only changing conferences. Look at Oregon and SMU. Also applies to FBS non-palyooff bowl games....see Cal, USC...

There is another rule, cited several times in threads on this board, which says that a team moving from FCS to FBS is ineligible for FCS post season playoffs at the moment the NCAA is notified of the intent to move.

In other words, if UCD football announces now that they are going to move to FBS, they are ineligible to compete in the FCS post season in 2025....AND then are ineligible to compete in the FBS post season in 2026 and 2027.

If they wait until after the 2025 season to announce a move they at least can compete in the 2025 FCS post-season, assuming they are selected.

Gotta break playing in the Dome....going to be wet, chilly and windy in the Sacramento area today.

Northern Illinois to Mountain West as football only member?

https://www.si.com/college-football/northern-illinois-weighing-offer-join-mountain-west

Looks like the goal has already been reached??

Traveling and hate to do $ over the cyberverse via the phone. Back late tomorrow and will kick in Friday.

Promise.

Go Ags!

Assumption in some article I read was that men’s soccer, beach volleyball and both water polo teams will stay in the Big West. Men’s soccer already has one associate member in Slack. Men’s water polo needs Ags (or a new team) to stay at six.

Having nothing to do with the Mountain West move field hockey is now without a league. Hard to see how they can survive, which creates Title IX problems.

I have updated the schedule above for the 2024-25 academic year. Some of these may be posted by one school or the other but not both.

Softball and beach volleyball schedules have not been posted.

Go Ags!

Being snobbish is a tradition.

There is a D-III or NAIA conference, the New England Small College Athletic conference that also chooses not to participate in post-season football.

Ivy League teams do not participate in post-season play in football.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the Middle Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), both composed of HBCU schools, have their own post season. Traditionally HBCU schools have played late into the season and not participated in the NCAA post season because of calendar issues. Now the SWAC holds a conference championship which will be played next weekend between Jackson State and Southern University. The winner of that game will play against the regular season winner of the MEAC in the Celebration Bowl to be played in Atlanta on December 14th. South Carolina State will represent the MEAC in that game this year.

(There are a couple of other late season traditions in SWAC schools. Alabama State and Tuskegee play on Thanksgiving in the Turkey Day Classic while Southern and Grambling meet in the Superdome on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the Bayou Classic. Many people go for the game, everybody goes for the bands.)

All good, and plenty to be thankful for.

"Coming from the Bay, when you take I-80, you can see the training ship just to the left of the bridge."

...on the north bank of the Carquinez Straits where the Sacramento River empties into San Pablo Bay.

"They've also had a lot of bad press in the last few years with sexual assault and hazing problems." I had forgotten about the allegations. The maritime industry has never been known for gender equity. Cal Maritime used to call their women's teams the "Sea Hags."

One of my children's good friends went to Cal Poly and was able to take semesters at sea on the Cal Maritime training ship.

It's surprising to me that Cal Maritime has financial difficulties. It is the only maritime academy on the west coast. As I recall it has a very high job placement rate.