Sacramento State will join the Big West conference as a full member from the academic year 2026-27.
The state of Sacramento informed The Big Sky on Wednesday that he will leave the conference after this year and that Big West announced that the school will become the 12th school at the conference.
“The Big West membership and the conference staff are excited to welcome the state of Sacramento to Big West,” said Commissioner Dan Butterly in a statement. “In addition to strengthening the Big West in a competitive way and expanding our geographical footprint, Sacramento State is a firm defender of excellence in academics, athletics and service within its community. The new Big West aspect promises to bring a new level of competence and friendly rivalry for students and fans.”
The Big West does not sponsor football, so the Sacramento State program will be independent in that sport. The Hornets are trying to move from the FCS to FBS level as independent and are waiting for a decision next week of the Division I of the NCAA.
The FBS Supervision Committee recommended against the measure earlier this week, citing the “primary importance” of having an invitation to join an FBS conference. NCAA had previously granted an exemption to Liberty in 2017 to move to FBS as Independent, but said the circumstances have changed since then.
The flames were independent in the football of 2018-22 before joining the US conference.
“Although a resignation was granted to the invitation requirement of good faith in 2017, that decision was made in a different era, under a different set of facts and rules …”, recommended the committee, according to the minutes of public meetings. “Due to the importance of the invitation of good faith of a requirement of the FBS conference and the lack of convincing mitigation that explains why this requirement, one that several other FCS institutions have fulfilled in recent years, it has not been met, the committee does not support relief.”
The state of Sacramento said that the school will consider all the options of the Football Conference if the Board votes against its application.
Sacramento State had been affiliated with Big West in several sports in the past, but now he will have 16 teams competing at the conference from 2026-27.
“We are delighted to become a full member of Big West and we are grateful for the invitation,” said Athletics Director Mark Orr. “The state of Sacramento strives to give our students athletes the opportunity to be in the best position to be competitive nationwide, and the Big West for decades has been a conference that has enjoyed national success in several sports. We are eager to compete for the championships, improve existing rivalries and develop new relations with our members of the Peer conference.”
The Hornets will officially join the Big West on July 1, 2026, will join an alignment that includes California Baptist, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullrton, Long Beach State, CSUN, UC IRVINE, UC RIVERSIDE, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and Utah Valley.
The Big West has no current plans to expand beyond the institutions of 12 members.
Hornets have made a great investment in the male basketball program recently, hiring former NBA star Mike Bibby as a chief coach and Shaquille O'Neal as a voluntary GM for the program.
Sacramento State was 7-25 last season under the interim coach Michael Czepil, who was promoted last spring after David Patrick left to take a job as associate coach in LSU.
The Hornets had gone 28-42 in two seasons under Patrick and the program has never made an NCAA tournament since it moved to division I in 1991-92. Hornets have had a winning record only twice since then, with 16-14 in 2019-20 and 21-12 in 2014-15.
