The coaching staff strikes me as the types to under promise and over deliver and not lie, so I believe this leak from a recruit more than other sources, for whatever that's worth.

The thing about this leak is that it makes sense. If the program's thinking about moving up, it would be rational to push it out a few years (not announcing until 100% ready to avoid a Sac situation, getting stadium upgrades underway, and competing for FCS championships in the meantime) but drop hints to recruits who might stick around for the transition.

Yeah thats my summarized thought basically. I don't think this leak (or the recruit in general) would be giving wrong/false info, I think its more of a matter of the school wanting to try and maximize success while in the FCS to build momentum for that timely move.

And also having things in place to be competitive when they move up.

I agree with this, I think winning a FCs title in short term was especially important to them due to the previous fcs to fbs 2 year probationary period which was just eliminated. So hopefully they speed things up a bit.

No one has ever slightly exaggerated/stretched the truth as part of the recruiting process... The kid is pretty fired-up about it though.

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https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2026/7/13/a-statement-from-rocko-deluca-director-of-athletics.aspx

Those equestrian people are nuts. Move on!

"But some actions went far beyond disagreement. Personal threats, intimidation, repeated visits to my home, and efforts to involve family members in a university decision crossed a line that should matter to everyone in our community.

In addition, images from my personal social media — showing my daughter with UC Davis cheerleaders at home games — were used to suggest that I elevated our STUNT program for her benefit or for her potential future involvement at UC Davis.

That allegation is entirely false.

My daughter has been a patient at Shriners Children's for much of her life, and her condition has never allowed her to participate in sports — let alone something as physically demanding as cheerleading. There is never a reason to bring families into professional matters, and those who weaponized a false assumption to repeatedly use online, on campus, and in public meetings should be ashamed."


These people lost their minds.

As Rocko stated, some of them went way over the line and their behavior is shameful. Flooding social media with uniformed and inflammatory comments in order to rile up the equestrian community throughout California and even the throughout the whole country goes beyond the pale. It is similar behavior you might expect from a of a bunch of privileged, spoiled brats. Unfortunately, it appears to have served the purpose of making the larger equestrian community feel extremely upset and now they are piling on as well with angry comments and false assertions.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2029044841210156
https://www.facebook.com/reel/868962296035923

Now talking about general athletic stuff, do we know if the MW ever plans to add water polo?

Wow...that's some rough stuff. What a nightmare for Rocko and the Athletics Department.

People are crazy. Parents, even at the collegiate (and professional level) have lost their minds. Keep Rocko and his family in your prayers.

An inevitability at this point :chin: :starstruck:

Chancellor May with MW presidents.

I mean at this point we all should know by now that Davis is going to move football up to D1. Of course they aren’t going to announce they plan on doing it until they do it.

My conclusion is this is more of a financial thing. As AD DeLuca has already stated, the university wants to be able to capitalize on the revenue from moving up to the D1 level. Hence why they are building premium seating an a club. I wouldn’t be surprised if they also built premium seating on the opposite sideline as well.

I personally don't like the idea of foregoing media rights income just to slap on the MW or FBS label. Seems rash. It's a big source of revenue for these programs (millions of $$ per yr) which puts new FCS to FBS programs at an immediate disadvantage. I think the UCD brand is worth more than that. Keep fielding suitors and negotiating and building the brand. A better opp might come along more mutually beneficial between program-conference. Even the NDSU deal seems one-sided in benefit of the conference. Not to mentions SAC

I haven’t heard anyone say Davis would forgo media rights. Where did you see that?

Davis is already a member of mountain west and getting media rights, just not for football at the moment as they are not a member.

yeah we already get media rights (which was part of the genius IMO of moving Olympic sports first).

Interesting. How does revenue from the current partial membership of the MWC stack up vs. the Big West? TBD?

i'm not sure about the media payouts, but the MWC has traditionally sent more than 1 team to the NCAA basketball tournament. all schools share equally. last year, they sent 6 so a payout of roughly $12M compared to the BWC's $2M. of course, with the schools that have left, they won't get 6 next season!

I would also like to note with the new MW app, schools get revenue based on subscriptions. So if you subscribe for UC Davis sports, Davis gets paid off that.