I like to read Joe’s material but if you don’t subscribe to the Bee, the entire article is not available.

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

I think it’s crazy that a coach would quit on the brink of joining the pac12. Gut says something isn’t right like maybe it’s not as likely as the Sac12 is making it seem?

You’d think their coach would welcome the move and would want to stay.

Building a new arena, football stadium, related facilities needs, NIL and 50+ new scholarships is a HUGE undertaking. Plus $5M buy in.

He can go to Stanford, likely make more money, and help TT try to salvage his turnaround. What does he have, 2 more years to make it work?

don't forget just the increase in the budgets of all sports to be able to compete at the next level. The Hornet basketball team i saw last night is not ready for the Pac12.

Tough times. Stanford had a weak O line, several are now in the portal along w two QBs. One service ranked their recruiting class #48? And Cal lost Mendoza.

Sac is banking on the fact that the Sacramento media market is so big. It is larger than many of the teams that have signed recently with the PAC12 and Sacramento doesn't have an FBS program yet. They have poor facilities and that's a big problem for them though.

However, they believe that the PAC12 will want to be in the Sacramento media market and are taking the approach that "if we build it, they will come." The problem is that they don't have any big donors who are going to put up that kind of money out front if Sac doesn't have an absolute guarantee of an official invite to the PAC12.

The only way that I see them possibly getting an invite to the PAC12 is if the SAC12 Committee can convince the PAC12 that they have the big donors in line who will fund the cost of new facilities and the expenses of moving to the FBS. Even then, the new facilities would need to be built before the PAC12 is going to give them an invite.

So, I took some time to look at who Sac12 committed really is. Several state lawmakers (from both parties). Mostly freshmen who don’t appear to be they influential statewide. But any PR is good PR, right? A couple of construction related unions who are previously affiliated with above politicians. Seems plausible they have been promised something regarding new facility construction. A couple big property companies. (Fulcrum Properties is deep in with UC Davis Foundation also). Patterson Properties is a general contractor (what have they been promised?). Wilton Rancheria is a tribe seeking a bigger casino footprint. They also own the controlling interest in Sac Republic soccer team who also wants a new 25,000 seat stadium (proposed for the Railyards complex). Chairman Josh Wood, name sound familiar? It’s president Luke Wood’s brother. Josh owns multiple companies including a “consulting” business where he claims he put together the whole Golden 1 Center deal and a sports venue management company. To what extent he is responsible for Golden 1, I can’t say, but the more you read about him the more you realize he specializes in two things - spending other people’s money and relentless self-promotion.

It ain’t hard to start connecting dots that this is probably about getting Sac State to help pay for the new MLS stadium, and to sweet talk some politicians into more Indian casinos and maybe a sports betting deal - for which the PAC12 brand is important. Pack the pork barrel with some preselected contractors and then hire a company owned by the president’s brother to run the venue, or maybe even to own the venue and lease it back to CSUS at a markup. In fact this could be why there are no details on the stadium if the project is really meant to be a “public-private” deal where the campus is like an investor/tenant leasing the land to a developer and then leasing back use of the venue. This is speculation perhaps but I don’t think this whole thing is really about the Hornets so much as private business interests trying to obscure behind a benevolent looking front. In fact, even if it goes nowhere I bet the effort still helps the tribe get its casino and Josh probably still gets consultant fees.

For all the hate to Sac, I am rooting for them especially if the Ags actually go FBS. I don't want them to get ahead of us though. Having Sac at the same level encourages the athletic department to actually try. Sac does have a higher ceiling than UC Davis with it's everyman image. But Davis has more money and better facilities.

Sacs problem previously included a lack of large private businesses in the area - my impression was that it was government, and agriculture. So the ability to tap large companies in the 60s, 70s, 80s was tougher.

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 don’t think this whole thing is really about the Hornets so much as private business interests trying to obscure behind a benevolent looking front — fugawe09

:clap: :fire:

McClure seems like a good choice at this point. It might be time to try someone with deep emotional ties to the program that might want to stick for a few years. This has worked for UCD.

Thanks for posting that.

What happened to the new stadium plan? When announced in October, they said construction would start after this season. Is that happening?

Or was that construction timeline contingent on some heretofore unknown megadonor walking in with $150 million of free money

unfortunately this isn’t Stanford where a rich donor can make some like that happen. Redoing a stadium on a CSU campus has gotta take a lot of red tape breaking!

I’m hoping that an expansion of our stadium can come under a capital improvement from Mrak Hall, instead hitting the same small big money donor base.

I just think it is just highly unlikely that we go from barely concept art to shovels in the ground without any information. Typically you would see environmental impact report work and requests for proposal and bidding information posted online for a university project. Their project management site lays out an 18 month lifecycle and when you are dabbling with public money it should be transparent IMHO. My thought is that construction is either not imminent, or the project will be built by a private developer who can keep more under the lid. My hypothesis based on the players and concept art is there may be an effort to combine CSUS and Sac Republic into one stadium project. It might actually be silly to build two same size stadiums at the same time a few blocks apart. So if I am at all correct, the political bombshell could be either Sac playing off campus or Republic backing out of the Railyard. Last news I’ve seen is the city council is good with the Railyard site but terms haven’t been reached with the landowner. Maybe CSUS is the backup leverage site. Or maybe I’m completely wrong.

So, it was pure fantasy (/fake it til you make it?) when announced in October. A new 25k seat stadium built in Sacramento will be incredibly expensive and Sac doesn't have random pots of nine figures worth of money sitting around waiting to be spent on a new stadium. They can't just decide to build a new stadium in an offseason like Stanford - there will have to be years of fundraising and planning before any shovels are in the ground. They don't appear to be serious about doing any of that work.

Our deep pocket guys are getting up there in the years. If it were me, I’d at least want to be around long enough to see the fruits of my labor.

Don't tell their fans that....they have been led to believe by the SAC12 group that they are ready to go tomorrow. I think the lesson here is "pledge" money is very different than "cash-in-hand."

Sac is talking about announcing something "big" in the next week or so....I guess we'll see if its football HC or conference/stadium related.

It would make sense to combine the two, if the schedules mesh.

Then that opens up land on the Sac State campus for a new track, arena, parking garage (if needed), etc.

Soccer is March to October so some overlap. Soccer doesn’t have a set field size but prefers wider than football. At elite levels they want different turf profiles but that hasn’t stopped the FCS championship from being in a soccer stadium. On a lot of levels it would be an efficiency to share a $200m facility, though if that is on the table why all the secrecy? I would not be surprised to see the Railyards stadium complete its land deal in the next 2 weeks if it’s going to happen. If the sides are close, the seller may be motivated to close the deal before the end of the year for tax reasons.

If Sac State climbs into bed too deep with an Indian casino, especially if it leads to some sports betting compact with the state, PAC12 might be their only option. I could see interests in Reno and Vegas not wanting that in the MW.

Well this is interesting.

Would be like a Deion hire, no?

better have Aggie Hosts keep an eye on our kickoff dog. Other articles from today saying he is in talks with Norfolk State. A convicted felon would be so appropriate for Sac State though.

Uhhhh....is he actually a football coach?
Wikipedia says he was hired a OC for an Alliance of American Football team in 2018. But it doesn't say how long he actually coached.
According to a Google search "Vick has no formal college football coaching experience"


Sounds crazy to pay this guy a boatload (presumably) and not give McClure (who has great experience and program ties) a shot for less?

These are SAC12 publicity stunt activities. Sac is really going about this thing all wrong, man.

Would 100% be a Deion-type hire. Deion had no college coaching experience in any role when he got hired.

I know quite a few people who would never accept Vick. Seems like a big risk.

Sac AD and this "SAC12" thing has come off as really reckless throughout this FBS stuff...and now with the coaching change.

The whole thing just looks really desperate.