Sac State's bid for the Pac 12 Thread I have to think this is not a surprise to Woods or the Sac administration. If they were truly blind sided by this, they either bought into their own hype, were too naive to run a D1 athletics program, just plain stupid, or all of the above. If they were serious about FBS, from the start this was a hastily contrived and poorly executed plan. Just track the narrative:
PAC 12 membership gave way to FBS independent which gave way to FCS independent in a Olympic sport conference their rivals just upgraded from.
New stadium gave way to renovated stadium which gave way to renovated bathrooms.
These “facilities renovations” are small capital projects for a mid-sized college and calling them “phases” is just showmanship. I do not think Dr. Woods is stupid, but I do think this was never a serious plan.
All this may very well get them an FCS championship with players and a coach who were brought in on promises of an FBS transition and new facilities. That is if they can keep their “student athletes” out of trouble. I could sit here and say I wish Sac the best and hope they find their footing, but it would be a lie. In order to gain attention, they sold their plan on smoke & mirrors and outright lies. This allowed them to attract a group of highly athletic players as hired guns, disregarding and standards of academics and integrity.