FCS Daily Dose: Sac State’s Path To FBS Independent Approval

It’s no secret that FBS leaders, especially those in the Power 4, do not want to see the FBS grow by adding more FCS teams. Some within the Mountain West Conference wanted to add North Dakota State, but MWC presidents instead voted to invite Northern Illinois as a football-only member, and a big reason for that was wanting to add an already-established FBS program.

Sac State has a strong pitch to join the FBS as an independent due to its location, facility upgrades, and reported community financial support.

However, its fate is essentially up to other FBS schools and conference representatives. Will these FBS leaders deny Sac State’s request to join their subdivision as an independent? Will a “no” answer result in a lawsuit from Sac State, so they’ll say “yes” to avoid that headache? Is there a concern of opening the floodgates and a precedent if they say yes and we see other FCS programs try to take this same FBS independent route? How does the future pathway from FCS to FBS look as NCAA governance sees some changes?

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how it unfolds. Liberty was able to make a similar jump in the 2010s. Sac State hopes to follow that same path.

Whole article here: https://herosports.com/fcs-sac-state-path-to-fbs-independent-approval-bzbz/

FCS Daily Dose: Thoughts On Sac State’s Plan To Go FBS Independent

-I have heard and confirmed that Big Sky school officials recently voted to increase the exit fee from $250K to $1 million. I also heard there was only one dissenting vote. It’s a pretty safe guess who voted no.

-There is also a $5 million transition fee for an FCS team to move to the FBS.

-Sac State would have to find another conference to park its Olympic sports in.

-What happens if this waiver isn’t approved? That could happen. But Sac State president Luke Wood and NCAA president Charlie Baker have met. I assume Sac State feels confident that this move will get approved, or else it’d be odd for the university president to be publically promising they will be FBS.

-Going from FCS to FBS independent is unorthodox, unstable, and expensive. Liberty, with piles of money, pulled it off in the 2010s and eventually landed in CUSA. But it’s a gamble that may make sense for Sac State. More on this below, but in short: Get better positioned for an FBS conference invite and potential for massive community engagement and financial support.

Whole article here: https://herosports.com/fcs-thoughts-sac-state-plan-fbs-independent-bzbz/

I haven't found anything new on possible recruits and transfers for us. UCSB just landed a good one though.

Eric Olen's contract at New Mexico is pretty sweet. I wonder if we'll be paying Les any more once we begin play in the MWC in 2026? He'd probably be the lowest paid head coach in the league with the contract that he currently has.

Olen’s contract is worth $6.5 million over five years, starting at $1.2 million for 2025-26, or nearly three times what he made at UCSD.

There’s also a $30,000 moving allowance, a country club membership and a courtesy car, plus numerous performance bonuses that would add another $100,000 for a season similar to what UCSD just had.

New Mexico received a reported $375,000 buyout from Pitino’s departure to Xavier but protected itself much more in case Olen becomes the object of someone else’s eye. It would cost $2.65 million if he left in year one, just over $2 million in year two.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/04/04/red-dawn-coach-eric-olen-settles-in-at-new-mexico-after-21-years-at-ucsd/

Chatty wins 85-84 in OT. God, what a heartbreaking way to lose. Jurian Dixon had a wide open, point blank shot at the buzzer but he didn't use the backboard and missed it. I feel sorry for the young man.

Horrible foul called on Myles Che when the Chatty player kicked his leg out to the side while shooting a 3 and hit Che who was running by him and Che got called for a 3 point foul.
The Chatty player made all 3 FT's to take 2 point lead with 16 seconds to go in the game. Luckily, Che got fouled shooting a 3 with 13 seconds to go and tied up the game.

Chattanooga 38 Irvine 37 at the half. Good basketball by both teams. Myles Che played his freshman year at Chatty before transferring to Irvine.

I like to see him here for another year as a grad student. He improved tremendously this year and was a solid contributor. I think he'd be a good team leader given his experience and growth here.

I think Dr Wood is so consumed with the "FBS or Bust" campaign that charting a well researched, prudent path to the FBS is lost in all the hype and hyperbole. He sees Sac as a budding, FBS, power football program that can follow a path similar to what Deion Sanders has done at Colorado. So they bring in a coach with name recognition who is on the college football fast track and build a team by recruiting highly rated players, some of which have a history of problems at previous schools, while showing the door to many of the current players on the roster. Winning at any cost is the name of the game.

He is willing to take the chance to go independent in order to gain national recognition by scheduling a few games against power schools and, hopefully, pulling some upsets while winning their other games by blowouts. The whole idea is betting that the power conferences will come calling if you win and talk loud enough while building a program with a lot of splash and talk of cash. He believes that if they win big and talk loud and they will come...it will be interesting to see how this plays out.