Not sure what “talent pool” we are talking about… Folsom HS or Folsom State Prison? Since it they are already building the reputation of shopping for “second chance” dudes.

I agree it makes good sense for CSU campuses to have satellite locations co-located with JCs to be more accessible. My point is it seems like immature leadership to consume all the oxygen in the room on Combat U, Sac12, and the plan to attract out of state students to pay for it while hardly promoting the real work that educators are doing.

setting aside the weird stuff, they are working a sizable satellite campus in Placer County with Sierra College and are leading a research group looking at AI uses in education. Not sure why he doesn’t talk about those things more.

Katehi may have survived the pepper spray incident had she immediately emptied out UCDPD. It was the coverup. Remember the multimillion dollar consultant to scrub her personal image on Google? Aside from that, she also hired family members with reporting relationships that reeked of nepotism, moonlit on unapproved corporate boards and took kickbacks from a textbook publisher. An accomplished electrical engineer, promoted beyond her competence, who should have never been an administrator or manager.

I mean, in certain fields, if you want to be an elementary teacher, marriage therapist, or accountant, Sac State is a good school, perhaps more relevant than Davis. Social scientists can be scholars and I have every expectation that the leader of a CSU campus would be one. Not all scholars are good leaders (see Katehi) but this guy’s qualifications to lead a major university are squishy and I read his 23-point strategic plan and almost all of them are either DEI or athletics/fundraising related, with a few nonsense items like Combat U. His top priority academic plan is creating a “general studies” certificate.

his BA/MA from Sac State, PhD from Arizona State and was a professor at San Diego State. His major was Ethnic Studies and his thesis involved interviewing 28 college students where he identified themes such as focus, family, motivation, employment, attendance, and completing homework as important factors to success of minority students. I’m not saying social sciences are unimportant but come on the premise of this thesis is kind of like asking 28 people if the world is still round. How would that defense go any way other than golf clapping in an echo chamber? The Wood brothers seem like narcissistic self-promoters who thrive on suspense and drama. They have found a successful business model to peddle this, so good for them I suppose. Though it is probably more appropriate for Six Flags to tease next season’s new ride than a university president. His thin-on-specifics braggadocio reminds me of someone else. I bet I could draw him into a twitter debate on hand size.

Around 2008 a game publisher hired the Aggie Band to provide crowd noise tracks. We had a whole recording session in the Pavilion. I don’t recall the game but pretty sure it was affiliated with EA. Wonder if those tracks are still incorporated in games.

the NFL is an entertainment venture. Winning is the best and most profitable entertainment. But all other things equal, unique stories like steer wrestling make for good television.

I’m going for MSU. Time to see someone new win.

Montana State takes it over Yotes 31-17. So Cats and Bison going to the final.

While no such thing as a moral victory, we were the Cats’ only one-score win.

Oh I got it… they could hire Ron Gould! You know got them PAC12 connections.

Macon would be closer to my house but oh well. In addition to New Orleans you can also check flights into Northwest Florida Beaches airport, a smaller airport but does have Southwest. Biloxi casinos are nothing special. Depends on what you want to see in the gulf… New Orleans or the Redneck Riviera. Or just Waffle House after dark.

I don’t think age always has to be a disqualifier. Kevin Blue is about the same age and was very qualified at AD. From what I understand on the Sac forums, Wood, like Blue is more accessible than most university executives with personal replies and remembering interactions. But my take on his interviews is similar to others— car salesman. And I think he shows insecurity when he tries to argue with people on twitter who question his agenda. I think the Wood brothers are more invested in boosting themselves (which they are very good at) than the university and I think Sac State is just enjoying a ride in fast car. But like all joyrides, you eventually crash or get kicked out when the adults get home.

if the Wood brothers are 41, that places them as student body president around the time of the PAM incident, so make sure that ends up in the 60 Minutes episode.

This is like if Sac State was a contestant on a reality tv show and the producers are like we can get this guy to do anything for the camera.

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.

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.

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.

Nashville is pretty close to the mean population point of the US. It’s nice to see a new location and seems fair to rotate between different regions, if nothing else so that choose-your-Dakota fans get to see different parts of the country. Throwing Vegas and Orlando into rotation might drive some attendance.

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.