I think there are a lot a valid comments here regarding my post about the new football culture at Sac and the various racial statistics of D1 football players. It's an interesting conversation.

My point of view comes from my own professional experience working with predominantly minority, junior college students at one point in my career. I'm a retired therapist and, for the last 11 years of my career, I split my time between my private practice and contracting with Sacramento City College to provide mental health counseling to students.

I have always been deeply interested in the dynamic interplay between our external environment and our individual biology and psychology and the profound effects it has on shaping our inner self, our personality and our world view. Multicultural influences adds yet another significant layer to all of this too. Oh well, don't let me get going on the "shrink" stuff! :lol:

Role models are particularly important to young people who didn't have successful role models who looked like them during their formative years. Sacramento City College offered College Success Courses that were available to all students but some were specifically aimed at various ethnic groups and they were taught by counselors who identified with those ethnicities. These classes were designed to help students learn the basic organizational, time management and disciplinary skills necessary to have a chance to succeed in college.

For example, there was a male, African American counselor who taught a College Success class aimed primarily at black males who were one of the highest risk groups to drop out. Many of his students took his class because he was black and they felt that he could relate to their cultural identity better than a non-black counselor. Similarly, various Asian students, Chinese, Hmong, Philipino etc, were drawn to the College Success Classes taught by Asian counselors and the same was true for Hispanic students.

So my point, regarding the current Sac football culture, is that many of the elite players they are getting may be strongly drawn to the culture that has been created by their largely African American football staff and an African American university president who are successful role models who look like them and share their cultural identity.

The majority of the top athletes that Marion has landed are black athletes and I think a big piece of why Marion is getting so many highly rated recruits is due to the inviting, inclusive, black culture that Marion and Wood have established. This culture speaks personally to many of the black athletes and it means a lot to them on a personal level.

Many black athletes come from disadvantaged backgrounds and college football can provide an avenue for success for them and, for many, their families as well. Both Marion and Wood represent huge success stories to them especially having overcome difficult circumstances that they can relate to.

Black athletes represent the largest racial group playing D1 football:

Data from the NCAA Race and Gender Demographics Database shows that among Division I men’s college football student-athletes in 2020, 36.5% were white, 48.4% were black, 3% were Hispanic/Latino, 0.3% were Asian.

However, black D1 football coaches are very much underrepresented:

Race and Gender Demographics Database shows that among Division I college football head coaches in 2020, 81.7% were white, and 15.6% were black, with other minority groups also severely lacking representation. For Division I College Football Offensive Coordinators, 82.7% were white, and 14.8% were black. For Defensive Coordinators, 74% were white, and 20.6% were black. Additionally, for all other assistant coaches, 51.8% were white, 40% were black, 1.1% were Hispanic/Latino, and less than 1% were Asian.

Culture means a lot to everyone. It's normal for people to feel more comfortable and connected with others who share similar experiences and values. It gives us a sense of identity and belonging and fitting in. Marion and Wood understand that and the Sac football culture is currently filling that need very well for many of the athletes they are landing.

PS: I am not suggesting that white athletes and other racial group athletes would not be welcomed to play at Sac...not in the least. I'm only saying that the current football culture at Sac has been heavily influenced by Marion's personality, coaching style and previous success and, along with all the FBS hype from Wood, this is very attractive to many black athletes in a sport that is heavily underrepresented by black coaches and role models.

https://insight.balancenow.co/diversity-of-college-coaches-and-athletes-college-football/

Couple of podcasts by Colter Nuanez and regional sportswriter sidekick about the upcoming Big Sky season. Colter is pretty in the know about big sky - much better than the YouTube interlopers. He is a fan of coach Plough. You’ll have to scroll through some other stuff.

Also available on Apple Podcasts. Show is “Nuanez Now”.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3LTn4cMzXAVR2tuGrbs2ci?si=YyXLVRCARsSnhwdZSRaayA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A4wBXFpIW0vjyBPuB2hapgm

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4BrPu4vT2E6TnfNNGo2XYJ?si=mpqXU-wkRJ6i48tnl-2loA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A4wBXFpIW0vjyBPuB2hapgm

Before all these players sign, the schools are going to have to put in writing everything that is promised. Since the payouts will be directly from the schools for schools that opt into the House settlement, it follows that what these kids are being offered by public schools
will be public info. That will be interesting.

Aggie Pride subscribers; this one’s just for you. We’re teaming up with Zach McKinnell and Timothy Rosario from The Bluebloods for an in-depth episode on UC Davis football, Big Sky expectations, and what’s ahead this season. And as a thank you for your support, you’re invited to an exclusive livestream of the episode recording.

We go live Tuesday at 8:00 PM PT on Riverside.fm . Want to watch? Please DM me for the private link; this behind-the-scenes access is only available to our podcast subscribers.

Thanks for being part of the Aggie Pride community and see you Tuesday night!

They eat their own over on the Sac forum and they have a few members who do not like any "outsiders" to post anything on their forum. SochorField was actually able to make a few neutral posts about Sac before someone called him "a douchebag" and told him "to get the f... off their board."

@SochorField you seem to have struck a nerve over on the Sac forum :lol:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.si.com/college/fcs/big-sky/2025-uc-davis-aggies-football-preview-fcs&ved=2ahUKEwjb6LPHvKKOAxVpD0QIHfGSEDMQvOMEKAB6BAgUEAE&usg=AOvVaw3mBtl8LS6MnWMyUgs_SLJE

The pitch is simple, world class education, great coaching, proven track record of players bouncing to FBS programs, Mountain West on the horizon so if you choose to do so you can stay and play.

Gould era was painful - though it did have its moments. Never saw the run game more punishing than under Gould...just seemed to lack a complete, cohesive game plan week-to-week. If we didn't run for 250, we'd lose - that's how I saw the Gould era.

The gould's are failure-uppers and I'll die on that hill

FAS, FBS, FCS.

Its like.....take your time and do it right vs. ram it through with hyperbole and half-truths and spend tons of money while pissing everyone off.....
I bet Sac and Davis arrive in the FBS at roughly the same time (within a couple years) with completely different paths/expenses.

Davis doesn't do chaos...for better or worse, we shall see.

Sac State should just cancel all the football nonsense. This is stupid. There is little merit in spending what will turn into hundreds of millions of dollars in the hopes of the football team someday generating enough revenue to justify the expenses.

Morgan just joined Athinaikos AS Vurona. I'm curious with the news of the WNBA adding three expansion teams over the next few years if that will be her opportunity.

Ex UC Davis Aggie soccer player Max Arfsten scores his first international goal, also had an assist, and named player of the match during the US Gold Cup Quarter final win. Also the announcer stated that he was an ex UC Davis players on national TV.

https://x.com/usmntonly/status/1939478080659292499

This conversation going over QBs of the last 50 years, and just scratching the surface, would be impossible at most schools. My time at Davis the QBs were Biggs and Speck. I wish i could see a program from that era. If I recall correctly, on Biggs’ Boardwalk Bowl team, one offensive lineman weighed about 210 or 215 lbs and trained by swimming, rather than weights. When playing teams like Massachusetts and Boise that lack if size largely precluded running the ball but the QB put up big numbers.Speck threw for over 400 yards against Boise, and Davis lost a close one simply because they couldn’t get a pass rush against a line that was near 300lbs. I think the Boise QB went on to play in Canada. Davis vs Goliath games.

Moroski was injured before the Poly gsme in 78. It was regionally televised on ABC. Someone started in his place but was ineffective and they brought Johnny Lu in. He led a comeback win. I believe that was his only action that year. In 79, Matt Weinrich started with John as a backup (my frosh season). I’m pretty sure Lucido never started that season but I could be wrong - I only suited up for 4 varsity games (after playing a Friday night Frosh game ).

OB redshirted that year, and took over in 80.

3 star DB, Niles Davis, commits to UC Davis! GO AGS!