Sacramento State concocted the perfect recipe for wrecking a football program. Start with leaving the Big Sky Conference, one of the strongest in the FCS, with the faint hope of gaining FBS status. Then add a head coach who convinced 50 transfers there was no doubt Sacrament State would become an FBS program.
That assumption was based on a commitment of $50 million to pave the FBS road for the Hornets. The NCAA was not sold on Sacramento State’s proposal because it did not come with an invitation from an FBS conference and any guarantee of money to make the Hornets viable was fool’s gold.
That left Sacramento State without a conference, millions of dollars and now a head coach. Marion resigned Friday to become Deion Sanders’ offensive coordinator at Colorado. As much as Marion appreciated the opportunity to be a Division I coach, he left just two weeks after the season ended.
Leaving a job after one year is a habit for Marion, who has coached at eight colleges and lasted one year at six. He was the 13th head coach in Sacramento State’s history and the first to pull the parachute after one season. Andy Thompson (2023-24), Mike Clemons (1993-94) and Glenn Brady (1976-77) had the previous shortest stints at two years.
Marion ran off most of the returning players such as quarterback Carson Conklin (Fresno State), running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver (Michigan State) and wide receiver Devin Gandy (Louisiana Tech). Several of the offensive linemen returned because Marion retained veteran line coach Kris Richardson, who could be a candidate to grab the reins.
Tackle Aidan Meek stayed put after being a two-year starter for the Hornets. The Garces Memorial High School (Bakersfield) graduate capped his career by being a second-team All-Big Sky selection. Also selected to the second team was center Dean Abdullah, a transfer from San Diego State.
Troy Taylor hired Richardson after becoming the Hornets head coach because the two had worked at Folsom High. The Hornets won three Big Sky championships in as many years with Taylor at the helm. Taylor went to Stanford in 2023 , leaving defensive coordinator Andy Thompson to take charge.
Taylor was a tough act for Thompson to follow as Sacramento State was 8-5 in 2023 and 3-9 in 2024. There was no talk of Thompson losing the job despite not being as successful as Taylor, but Thompson opted to leave to become associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Stanford.
Marion’s hiring signaled a signifiant shift in Sacramento State’s recruiting strategy. The 2024 roster was built with 98 California players. Marion landed players from 19 states, including 11 from Texas. Local fans still turned out despite not being to tell Rodney Hammond Jr. from Damian Henderson II except for the names on their jerseys.
Sacramento State ranked 10th among FCS teams with an average attendance of 15,468. Redshirt sophomore Jaden Rashada has nothing to do with that even with the former five-star quarterback recruit being the most notable transfer. He then became the most disappointing of all the newcomers.
Rashada started in the season-opening 20-3 loss at South Dakota State and was 11-of-27 for 112 yards. He threw just 15 passes the rest of the season after losing the job to junior Cardell Williams. Turmoil has followed Rashada to Miami, Florida, Arizona State, Georgia and Sacramento State.
The only time Rashada has recently made headlines is when he filed a lawsuit against Florida for reneging on a $13.5 million offer that prompted him to decommit from Miami.The suit claims a $1 million payment was promised to Rashada after signing with the Gators, but he never got a dime.
None of that apparently mattered to Marion when he lured Rashada to Sacramento State. Now that Marion has left, who knows how long Rashada will stay. Just like the Hornets leaving the Big Sky, he would make the decision to leave with nowhere to go and just loose change in his pocket.
