For seven decades, Sacramento State University wandered through the academy’s lost forest, praying higher education gods would take the school seriously.
Now there’s a leader with a new approach. President J. Luke Wood is turning Sac State’s weaknesses into strength, jujutsu style.
Wood backflips his critics. If the academic world thinks the Hornets are a circus, Wood provides the clown show.
The president’s reverse psychology is seen in his disinterest in education and research. He’s all about sports.
Soon after arriving, Wood hired a wandering football coach named Brennan Marion, who moved jobs annually and wore a cowboy hat to obscure his Virginia upbringing.
Marion arrived with no head coaching experience. But he filled his Sac State Stetson with style. After one mediocre season, he quit, right on schedule.
Turning to men’s basketball, President Wood tapped Mike Bibby, a former Kings player. Bibby had zero college coaching experience.
No experience is no problem for Wood. Bibby enticed his friend Shaquille O’Neal away from commercial endeavors to act as the Hornets’ undefined general manager. Shaq’s son Shaquir played forward.
Guided by Bibby, Sac State finished 10-21 and lost all 17 road games. The Hornets were blown out in the Big Sky Conference tournament. Shaquir averaged 5 points all season.
Next season, the Hornets move into the Big West Conference, an alignment of mostly second-tier California programs. Sac State might win a road game.
Enough about basketball. President Wood is a football man. Figuring the Big Sky was unworthy of Sac State, Wood quit the Big Sky and searched for tougher competition. But nobody wanted Sac State’s football team.
Facing a nomadic future—a West Coast Notre Dame—Wood decided money would work where mediocrity and begging failed. He spent $23 million to buy his way into the Mid-American Conference.
It’s unclear where the $23 million comes from. But don’t worry. Wood vows the Hornets will spew cash. Football games against Ball State and Toledo will be irresistible to Sac State fans.
Major college football teams need major stadiums. In another jujutsu move, Wood lulled Cal Expo into letting him design a football field where the State Fair racetrack has stood since 1968. Old racetrack grandstands don’t easily translate into football stadiums, but Wood is confident.
If Wood’s maneuvers look like madness, look deeper. He’s the perfect extension to the pantheon of misunderstood Sac State presidents.
There was Robert Johns, who illegally built a brick roundhouse for 12 vending machines on campus in 1968. Johns lacked approval from state college trustees, who threatened to demolish the roundhouse.
Soon afterward, state auditors challenged Johns’ attempt to borrow $65,000 from a nonprofit campus foundation for a new house for himself. Johns resigned.
There was James Bond (seriously) who left in 1978 after faculty accused him of “erratic and capricious” authoritarian behavior and lying. Cal State Trustee Roy Brophy said Sac State was “disembowling itself” under Bond’s license to kill.
There was W. Lloyd Johns—no relation to Robert Johns—who was accused by faculty and staff of discrimination, retaliation and personnel abuses against minorities, women and retirees. W. Lloyd resigned in 1983.
There was Don Gerth, who lasted 19 years and told me Sac State would be a wonderful place if not for the students. He might have been joking but wasn’t known for comedy. Gerth’s big contribution was making sure Regional Transit light rail skipped Sac State. He wanted students to walk.
There was Alex Gonzalez, who spent $265,000 to remodel his office and wanted to build a campus museum displaying heads of wild animals slaughtered in Tanzania. The museum never opened.
Gonzalez asked the campus foundation to buy him a multi-million-dollar house. The state attorney general said no.
J. Luke Wood became Sac State’s president in 2023. He’s only 44. A promising future awaits.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
