I don't think Sac State is a model UCD should be trying to emulate. Aside from the new bball gym, which they desperately need anyway, the new plan appears to consist of hiring two new coaches who won't be there long, and soaking excited potential contributors for a new football stadium. Not a great plan. Even the new bball gym in the form it will take is just settling for the minimum after they couldn't get something better done.

Sac State has a long history of fielding ok but not very good overall athletic programs, with a few above average "minor" teams per year like baseball, gymnastics, and softball. If there were a simple solution they would have figured it out already in the 30+ years of D-I competition. Luke Wood is not a magical visionary who has insight none of his predecesors ever had.

I think the new massive investments in football and basketball will eventually lead to the cancellations of some minor sports at Sac State they will no longer be able to afford, or at least improve. For example, there is no room for them to ever significantly improve the baseball field, and apparently no way to put in permanent restrooms or concessions- might as well be for a HS team. That the team is the only one (that I know of) in the WAC already make it odd. I doubt that the baseball program lasts much longer than Reggie Christiansen's current contract.

There is a press release on the ucdavisaggies site that Davis will have three games broadcast on “linear” networks, in other words non streaming. Mercer game on ESPN, Washington on the Big10 network and Montana State, undetermined. Last year I was pleasantly surprised that the Montana game, was available on both ESPN2 and ESPN+, something that wasn’t the case in prior instances of games on ESPN2.

I agree. The Dakota schools bring a ton for their suites also, but I just don’t see that many corps/donors willing to pay $10k or so for 5 home games in the Davis metroplex. We’d have definitely less suites, also, if the first phase is west side only. If you could generate $200-300k (big if) that would be a significant boast in ticket revenue. That would be, rough estimate, like selling 2000 more seats per game.

My limited experience with private boxes was in SF at the then AT&T Park in the AT&T suite which AT&T used to entertain corporate clients. The value of that type of suite depends on how much the average client of the suite purchaser values a ticket, so to get the level of rent they get in Montana means that a large portion of the community, who aren’t alums, want to see a Davis game,

Those guys have been asked for years and have passed. Many of them have kings box seats or suites. The only way this works is if it’s pushed hard by May and he really leans on Health and the university’s major partners. The economics on suites are not great most places (Montana is not most places).

I feel like I am driving by an auto accident on the other side of the freeway, I cannot look away from what Sac State Football is doing.

We are observing two dramatically different approaches to building a winning football program within the same market . . . I am not sure Sac has the right or wrong approach, but i think we can observe and replicate the good decisions they make while hopefully avoiding the bad.

Let’s totally copy Peloton’s pandemic playbook—aka the SACST strategy: build fancy stuff, hire big names, and act like you’re winning… before actually winning. Bet on endless demand, scaled like crazy, and end up with a trophy case full of debt, PR fumbles, and a leadership team calling audibles. Moral of the story: don’t build a dynasty on vibes alone.

listen, I think when rocko announces stadium and arena expansion or renovations this summer your mind might change a bit… with actual timelines unlike sac. They have names and media but base facilities, track record in literally every sport, and money is on much more solid on the Davis end.

Sac State is acting in reckless desperation.

We are not going to start behaving like Sac State. Go grab your Sac season tickets, there are plenty available! They'd love to bring you aboard.
Stop with the D2 talk, its getting annoying.

The fact is, Davis is on an upward trajectory and doing all the right things.

Well, when you can rack up close to $1M in suite sales and probably twice our game ticket revenue, it takes away the need for a FBS payoff game. If we have 3 OOC games, one will be FBS (away), and more than likely one home/one away - unless you can pay off a team to come here on a one-off game. No D2 games in our future

Nah. Very scammy and short-sighted approach. Once the kids realize all the NIL is riddled with contingencies, they'll be off to chase the next shiny object.

Taking it a bit further, yesterday's article highlighting the collaboration with the Master of Management clearly demonstrated how that has benefitted both Athletics and the GSM in the short-term. In the longterm, as student-athlete graduates of the MM program go out in the world and have success, they potentially become significant donors.

Connections to other campus programs, like the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, also have the potential to be mutually beneficial. These can only increase support for Athletics within the campus community. The alternate uniforms and the Tahoe-themed games will be very visible reminders of that connection, and good publicity for TERC. Maybe other campus programs or departments will start thinking about how similarly connecting with Athletics could be beneficial to them.

I definitely like them and the video is very cool also! Love seeing that we used the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center boat. I think we'll see the football team keep the classic blue and gold uniforms as well for some games.

Next they can call the blue-grey uniform Bodega blue.

I like the Tahoe link.

I like them

I see these alternate uniforms as a frill at best and at worst against one of our campus goals of sustainability. We touted ourselves as a global leader in sustainability. Alternative uniforms do NOT meet the concept of sustainability.
For the department spending resources including time takes away from being focused on the athlete’s sport (craft) For the athletic department in general I see resources being taken away from supporting the athletes. Please do Not tell me that these uniforms are going to create positive revenue by selling them to the public.

Looks like Aggie athletics is going to be rocking new alt uniforms this season with a Tahoe partnership. Turquoise/sky blue is coming to UC Davis.

I can't see why they wouldn't mention it. Even though it's unspoken, it's pretty obvious what the MWC and UCD are trying to do. It would almost be weirder if the coaches didn't say anything about it. Parents and players will want to know what the program will look like in the next 4-5 years.

The question is not whether the MWC and UCD see a football fit, it's when.

Mockery? Why UC Davis is less 90 minutes away from the smallest mountain range in the world.

It's huge. When I walked around in the neighborhood , I could still see it from 5-6 blocks away in any direction I went.

A tip for anyone going to the game-: you can save on parking by taking public transit; Seattle's is very good. The lightrail drops you off across the street. Hope you like escalators.

The Seattle Mariners are on the road the day before + after the football game but on 9/8 they host the St. Louis Cardinals. On 9/7 the Seahawks host the 49ers in a day game, so you can get your sports fix if you're one of those Aggie fans who has seemingly unlimited free time and funds to make these trips.

Lightrail goes to both the Mariners' and Seahawks' stadiums (same stop). There's a few blocks to walk, but just follow the long line of people and you should pass Ken Griffey Jr. on a warehouse wall along the way.

you know it’s kind of funny, I may well have learned more about life from working at Sodexo, taking Spiridakis’ ancient history classes, and playing in the Aggie Band than I did from my major classes. It’s part of what I fear may be lost in the world of online college. I ended up being at different times a project manager and operations manager in the hospitality/sports/entertainment space and I think those experiences helped guide how I (try to) approach people and situations.

One of my most amusing memories was that Chancellor Vanderhoef didn’t actually enjoy wine as much as politically he was supposed to. He used to have us hide a case of light beer and pour it in a white wine glass so nobody would be the wiser.

I've been in the process of moving so here's a big offer dump! GO AGS!

LB Zachary Kleppin

ATH Marcus Mcgeilberry

DL Mikhal Johnson

DB Cole Ibriani

DL Sam Haener

LB Donnie Vercher III

ATH Chaz Gilbreath

Most definitely reading into it too deeply but having multiple davis football coaches repost the Gloria Nevarez (mw commissioner) visiting davis post on their accounts commenting about how awesome davis is makes me wonder if they tell recruits the mw is in sight for fb.

back in the day one of my campus jobs was working in catering so I saw a lot of these events in a little different way. The food is forgettable. I looked up the current menu and they have certainly renamed everything with farm-to-table sounding names but it is the same basic items - choice of airline chicken breast, beef tri-tip, salmon, or vegan mushroom/tofu grey matter served with a variety of salads/cooked vegetables and rice/pasta. A plated meal starts at $40 per plate but easily much more than that with linen, china, dessert, coffee, wine, etc.

I will say though, it was a job where I learned a lot about people, processes, and the science of getting passable meals to hundreds of people in a compressed time. And I learned how to back a box truck down the serpentine loading dock ramp at the Pavilion with just mirrors!

They should invite Cal State San Bernadino so people can get CSUSB and UCSB confused.

We usually do a summer series of interviews on my ESPN MT radio show featuring head football coaches from around the Big Sky Conference. I'll repurpose many of those into videos touching on the off-season, recruiting in the modern era and more.

Here's our interview with Tim Plough

5'9" TJ Shorts II to sign w Memphis Grizzlies and reunite w his former coach. Substantially less money than Europe, but his NBA dream becomes reality.

https://hoopshype.com/rumor/3639441/

Recent highlight clip. He's so fast and crafty.

https://youtu.be/FZapT-3YDKk?si=vAUKTvSwI1MiVUQR

He's won numerous MVP and assist awards in his multi-year European career.

Mediocrity isn't being defended. Rash, knee-jerk responses to Sac State's actions are being rejected.

This is a HIGH SCHOOL coach. He is a vanity hire. Can he lead and build a D1 program? Getting a few NBA players sons and transfers to come to your school is one thing......coaching a D1 basketball team and building a program is another.

Don't hold your breath if you are waiting for Davis to enact short-sighted publicity stunts like this....Davis moves deliberately with a long-term view.

Its important to note: athletics programs that operate like Sac don't give a crap about academics. So, maybe think about the brand you want to slap on your alma mater.

I don’t think the players or the coach particularly care about playoffs or championships. They are assembling 100 guys looking for a last best stop to build or rehab their personal brand and highlight reel to hopefully get noticed by a pro league or P4 school that may be a better ticket to a pro career. In essence they are playing for themselves, not Sac State. The upside for Marion is to demonstrate ability to engineer an immediate turnaround because he is already auditioning for his next gig. Assuming he doesn’t flame out, he’s one or two year max at Sac. When a P4 school next fires a coach, immediate turnaround at any cost is the service they will be looking to buy. What Wood is betting the farm on, is can all of these mercenaries with their own motivations be leveraged as a coherent team long enough to make Sac look like a viable FBS contender. My guess is that everyone involved has a max 1-2 year horizon. And perhaps Marion is just an early adopter of the new world order. It’s kind of a Silicon Valley approach - move fast, break things, ignore messes and consider humans as commodity resources instead of individuals.

In the age of influencers, souls go cheap and clicks go high.

there has to be a better way, right? I mean, if we've reached a point where signing a convicted felon as your 'shooting guard' can be justified by having more fans in the stands, I think i'm ready to opt out.