University of Kentucky is the first to spin off their actual athletics department as a limited liability corporation (as opposed to the current model of booster corporations distinct from the department). The operationalization of this is yet to be seen, but it sounds a lot like a “public-private partnership” and may open the flood gates of private equity getting involved. While private equity can create a cash boom, it is not without consequences. Sometimes it’s hard to know whose money it actually is. And frequently the business model of private equity is that parts of the business are worth more than the sum, so they have no issue squeezing the valuable parts dry and leaving someone else to cleanup the bankrupt mess. See Sears, Red Lobster, and current efforts to burn down Southwest Airlines.

Unless players like Fresno can also find operational efficiency, I don’t know jacking the price of hotdogs and getting a 20 yard line sponsor will close the gap. By operational efficiency maybe there’s some overhead to cut, but ultimately I think the House settlement athletic model is in financial trouble at the mid-majors unless congress finds a way to rethink football’s relationship to T-IX (and for sure T-IX does need reform because it has been “interpreted” over the years probably in a more extreme way than the writers intended).

Student fees commensurate to value provided are reasonable, for example to contribute to operating costs of recreation activities, student union, student seating at games. But there is a moral issue with pushing 1000s of students into more debt in order to pay six figure “salaries” to athletes already getting a free ride.

“hard commits” - these days it’s often more committing to a coach than a school. If Marion pulls up stakes and leaves town, I bet the wagon train follows. There doesn’t seem to be too much hard or committed about a hard commit anymore if money talks louder elsewhere.

I meant interesting for us that with common opponents we can possibly have some observations as to how the last game will go. As interesting as all the Sac drama is, really what I care about is the impact on us. Hard to say if we will be up or down this year. The causeway could end up meaningless for both teams if we’re 0.5 at that point. Or it could be a very important game for us. I wonder if Mark Orr has to give up his seat as the playoff committee member from Big Sky, since he’s no longer concerned with Big Sky playoffs.

We have several common opponents - Weber, Poly, Northern Colorado, Idaho. Will be interesting to see how we stack up. To some degree, I wonder if the Causeway will be different. With basically a whole new team and staff, I’m not sure how much institutional memory remains. For many of them it may just be another game rather than any particular rivalry.

if this was an episode of Storage Wars, it would be like Sac just bought every unit at auction based on what they could see peering in the door. Statistically some or even most are going to be junk but there’s also going to be some pay dirt. And we should not discount that raw talent in a go-go offense scheme has the potential to find itself in the end zone a lot - if they can play together. From what I understand, go-go doesn’t always favor a star player but does require everyone to protect whoever does end up with the ball.

In a 4-year recruiting cycle, people know there is competition and not everybody will start as a freshman. People transfer or find joy in ways other than starting. In this scenario of a whole team of 1-season guys, all of them must think they can be the guy this season, though this is numerically impossible. Can teamwork and discipline be maintained once people start realizing they transferred to keep another bench warm? Or will there be midseason desertions?

Wood didn’t deliver the PAC12, he hasn’t delivered on the promised stadium. They have to deliver a season that is both winning and entertaining to keep momentum alive.

I don’t think the players or the coach particularly care about playoffs or championships. They are assembling 100 guys looking for a last best stop to build or rehab their personal brand and highlight reel to hopefully get noticed by a pro league or P4 school that may be a better ticket to a pro career. In essence they are playing for themselves, not Sac State. The upside for Marion is to demonstrate ability to engineer an immediate turnaround because he is already auditioning for his next gig. Assuming he doesn’t flame out, he’s one or two year max at Sac. When a P4 school next fires a coach, immediate turnaround at any cost is the service they will be looking to buy. What Wood is betting the farm on, is can all of these mercenaries with their own motivations be leveraged as a coherent team long enough to make Sac look like a viable FBS contender. My guess is that everyone involved has a max 1-2 year horizon. And perhaps Marion is just an early adopter of the new world order. It’s kind of a Silicon Valley approach - move fast, break things, ignore messes and consider humans as commodity resources instead of individuals.

Troy Taylor’s sudden infusion of success and legitimacy into the program was like a bump of cocaine for the Hornet faithful after basically being mediocre for a generation. They are chasing that high now. Fans for sure want the return of Taylor-style winning, but Marion and Wood have bet their personal reputations on it, so the opportunity cost has gone up. Potential for high reward (I guess?), to the extent that blowing out Northern Colorado makes a case. But also potential for disastrous embarrassment. But here’s another dimension- it’s still mostly a Big Sky schedule. They have kind of insulted the conference and “Montucky”. It’s not supposed to matter, but I would tend to think the officiating squad is not going to be inclined to cut them any favors this year.

well I think their president will try to spin any outcome positive because on a fundamental level “success” is making donors and sponsors for the FBS push more willing to open their wallets on Nov 22 than Aug 30. My guess is that they seek to prove they belong with the big boys and I think their make or break test comes early - at South Dakota State, last year one of the best teams in FCS. And at Nevada, last year a not-that-good FBS team that boat-raced the Eastern Washington team that beat Sac State. If they make their statement in those games I think they have to win out against the peasants. If they poop the bed week 1 and 2, idk the case gets harder to make, I think, that they are ready to play with the big dogs. I think they are going to want attendance 15k or better and demonstrate they can take a strong showing on the road to Reno.

What Marion has put together is the team equivalent of a North Korean rocket - nobody knows if it will work because it’s made of parts not meant to go together that came from all over the place. There will be a big parade and then a test. Which might explode on the pad and set off an internal crisis. Or it might work and get people talking until they realize they only had the parts to do it once.

Perhaps as part of the Hornet Stadium and Well renovations, Sacramento County Sheriff should consider a substation. Could use the film room for video arraignments.

@Aggie Cisco

Sac state is now 2nd chance U with rental players(not students) will stay only 1 year.

I mean the coach isn’t exactly noted for long stays at any job so working the long game on recruitment may not be a strategy he has time for.

ha yeah i saw that after, good one!

this probably nets $50-70k per year. The gift is invested and the proceeds are split 3 ways - the annual payout, reinvesting to grow the principal relative to inflation, and a cut off the top to pay the people in the fundraising department. Endowed professorships start at $1.5 to $3M so this seems in the ballpark.

ah got it, yeah this was no accidental contact, it was a stairwell beat down. There are situations in life that deserve second chances, this is not one of them. Totally irresponsible to bring someone like this into a program.

from what I read, 4th degree assault in Washington is unwanted contact that does not result in injury. So was it street brawl? Or merely incidental contact during a verbal dispute? I mean, a lot of spandex-clad cyclists are big time Karens about sharing the road so maybe we don’t know what happened. While I want to respect innocent until proven otherwise - and realize the wheels of justice often turn slower than the next athletic season arrives - this is an unhealthy pattern of bringing in guys with baggage. It’s not like these are nonsense charges like noise violations or public urination.

I never rule anything out but this is a different tribe. The Hard Rock Sac is affiliated with the Enterprise Rancheria, a Maidu tribe near Oroville, while it is the Wilton Rancheria, a Miwok tribe near Elk Grove, that owns Sac Republic and is publicly affiliated with Sac12 committee. I don’t know if these tribes coordinate, but in general more tribes are now using their casino money to invest in diversified businesses like sports, restaurants, and financial services that compliment gambling but have a geographic footprint beyond the reservation property.

So basically a variation of trolley question on morality. In this case the bus is going to crazy town. Which is worse? Getting in or getting hit?

I was a grad student at Florida State and had a few football players in class. They were total dummies who couldn’t write their name but each was provided a paid tutor to accompany them to class and “help” them with assignments. The tutors hired by athletics were exclusively attractive females who weren’t so good at homework themselves, it was like a tutor escort service. It was not something any self respecting school should aspire to and to boot they were still bad that year.

well, that’s probably not the standard at your tailgate specifically but salty behavior in the parking lots around Hornet Stadium is abundant. Actually, I recall as a kid some woman (in green and gold) barged into the men’s room and cut me in line, proceeded to drop trow, squat like she was getting her crack waxed and sprayed backwards into the urinal like a cat. My dad had to explain to me how cheap beer worked. As an adult I recognize this was an advanced female move, not all women could pull this off without dribbling on themselves, only the finest at Sac State.

Food trucks and families? So like not a regular Hornet football crowd of dudes in the parking lot pounding skunked Natty Ice and yelling insults at 8 year olds and grandmas passing by?