Still early, but at this point Marion has shown himself to be a good assistant, but has yet to prove himself as a head coach. We've been there.

This what I've been saying as well. He might not be HC material, but he might be. Still early.

Putting together 50+ new players from all over can't be easy, culture, bonds, communication. Switching QBs a big change.

Absolutely. And after all that, a lot is determined on gameday. Gameplan, game management, and personnel management during those 4 quarters.
It all amounts to a really difficult job. Some guys are great at it, most are adequate, and quite a few aren't a great fit for it.

*edit* Yes, HC brings in assistants to help and that's a talent in itself- finding/knowing and recruiting those guys.

We had a great guy, who failed at most of it.

A head coach is like a head chef and the current CFB environment is akin to trying to make a meal with 20 or so ingredients. If you double or triple the ingredient list it becomes much more difficult and unless you have great assistants (sous chefs) it becomes much more difficult and hard to complete an edible meal.

The head chef or coach hires the assistants. Building a quality staff is important, as you point out. So the buck still stops with the head guy. There is a learning curve in all of this for sure.

But Sac State leadership - Woods & Marion - have talked the talk since the beginning - i.e. "JV programs", etc. If you back it up, it ain't boast. So far they haven't.

• They didn't "hang 50 points" on South Dakota State. They lost. Soundly.

• They lost to Nevada (1-2; currently 10th in the MW)

• They beat Mercyhurst (1-4; currently 4th in Northeast Conference). Mercyhurst is in Y2 of a 3-year transition from D@ to D1. Mercyhurst hung around into the 4th quarter.

• They beat Central Arkansas (1-4; 7th in UAC)

• They lost to an apparently upwardly mobile Cal Poly program (3-2, 1-0 Big Sky).

Neither of their victories are "quality wins". There's still time to have a good year, but already NOT the season they boasted of. If they win out, thy might be able to chalk their losses up to the learning curve. But 1 more loss, and there's no chance they make the playoffs (IMHO). Especially since they have 4 very winnable games left on their schedule...if they lose one of those?

I totally agree. The head coach is only as good as the assistants he surrounds himself with much like the head chef. If the group cannot get the ingredients (players) on the same page it will lead to failure.

Griz Fan Radio – Week 5, our chat with Sacramento State President Luke Wood

This week Dr. Luke Wood joined the GFP to talk to us about Sacramento State’s future and plans as they attempt to move from the FCS to the FBS.

https://www.montana-mint.com/2025/10/02/griz-fan-radio-week-5-our-chat-with-sacramento-state-president-luke-wood/

Click on the link to expand:

What is being “an FCS program that plays mostly FBS opponents”? If that is the case no need for a new stadium as they will always be on the road.

Things are NOT going as [un]planned.

Interesting that Sac State offered to buy out your Stetson game and play @UCD in '26 and you guys said, nahhhhh.

Cope.

Davis athletics department / office of the president honors contracts and acts with integrity. Maybe Sac should give that a shot....(...having your president talking trash / lying / over-promising on Twitter isn't a good look)

You guys got a couple games going next year....keep it up!
https://fbschedules.com/2026-sacramento-state-football-schedule/

For the record, I'd love to have Sac pay us to play at home, but I understand why its not happening...and its not Davis' fault. Sac has caused themselves so many problems, all self- inflicted. Trying to blame us for anything is pretty lame.

You don't have much to stand on kicking the bear on this board at the moment.

Is that a fact? Do you have any valid info that confirms this or is this just an unfounded rumor?

The longer that schedule stays open, when do players start bailing. Before Spring?

I guess if you don’t know which way you are going, then any road will get you there.

I can’t imagine we’re anxious to give up a home game.

But Sac State potentially losing football isn't good, either.

“ Interesting that Sac State offered to buy out your Stetson game and play @UCD in '26 and you guys said, nahhhhh.”

And Tim Plough just accepted a 5 year contract to coach sac state , lol.

Now I'm really curious about this rumor. Sounds like one of those, "My cousin heard someone say that their uncle who mows lawns overheard the water boy say that he heard a chearleeder who is dating the backup punter say that..."

certainly unto each their own in their personal life, but probably unwise to mix religion into the locker room at a public university.

Well they added a (very expensive) game for 2026 but seemingly lost another in the process https://fbschedules.com/sacramento-state-adds-youngstown-state-to-2026-football-schedule/#google_vignette

Lamar game will be moved, but stay on the schedule as I heard it. So SAC opponents for '26 so far are:

@Fresno
vs. Youngstown
vs. Lamar
vs. Unannounced FCS ($260k payout per Herder)

Youngstown State has been a middle of the pack FCS team in recent years so paying $350,000 to have another "JV" team come to Sac does not seem to be a very good deal from a financial and SOS perspective. They chose to put themselves in this predicament by going all in with their "FBS or bust" campaign and all their premature, fantasy FBS promises.

More Sac State concerts, hype.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP3wYdPDk6l/?igsh=MW0wZm83NjR3cDAxOQ==

I had to research a little bit about the 6 artists Sac State booked. None of them are family appropriate and all are basically variations of hip hop, Latin rap, or trap. These acts belong at a spring break nightclub in Ft Lauderdale. Mercer does a game day concert series to drive attendance and it’s mostly country music (fits the broad market in Georgia). These artists won’t draw people to care about Sac State football and don’t seem like “broad appeal” artists to get families out.

These shows are great to get Sac St. and local HS students into the stadium....I guess the hope is they start to like football too, and remain interested. This looks like the target demographic from the marketing I've seen (heavy on the hot air / sh*t talk).
Also, its recruiting gimmicks. Much like offering Toosii a scholarship.
Interesting that none of the recruiting stuff is centered around a "40 year decision," like many schools use. They are literally selling a "1 year" plan.

For the NoCo game it appeared that around 6k showed up over the 3rd / 4th quarters. To my eye, attendance looked like 14k in the first half (there were like 150 people on the East side).
The crowd looked really young on TV.