Sacramento State to join Big West in all sports but football

Sacramento State will join the Big West conference as a full member starting with the 2026-27 academic year.

Sacramento State informed the Big Sky on Wednesday that it will leave the conference after this year and the Big West announced that the school will become the 12th school in the conference.

“The Big West membership and conference staff are excited to welcome Sacramento State to The Big West,” commissioner Dan Butterly said in a statement. “In addition to strengthening The Big West competitively and expanding our geographic footprint, Sacramento State is a staunch advocate for excellence in academics, athletics and service within their community. The new look Big West promises to bring a new level of competition and friendly rivalry for student-athletes and fans alike.”

The Big West doesn’t sponsor football so Sacramento State’s program will be an independent in that sport. The Hornets are trying to move up from FCS level to FBS as an independent and are awaiting a ruling next week from the NCAA Division I Council.

The FBS Oversight Committee recommended against the move earlier this week, citing the “paramount importance” of having an invitation to join an FBS conference. The NCAA had previously granted a waiver to Liberty in 2017 to move to FBS as an independent but said the circumstances have changed since then.

The Flames were an independent in football from 2018-22 before joining Conference USA.

“Although a waiver of the bona fide invitation requirement was granted in 2017, that decision was made in a different era, under a different set of facts and rules …” the committee recommended, according to public meeting minutes. “Due to the significance of the bona fide invitation from an FBS conference requirement and the lack of compelling mitigation explaining why that requirement, one that several other FCS institutions have met in recent years, has not been met, the committee does not support relief.”

Sacramento State said the school will consider all conference options for football if the council votes against its application.

Sacramento State had been an affiliate member of the Big West in various sports in the past but now will have 16 teams competing in the conference starting in 2026-27.

“We are thrilled to become a full member of The Big West and are grateful for the invitation,” athletic director Mark Orr said. “Sacramento State strives to provide our student-athletes the opportunity to be in the best position to be nationally competitive, and The Big West for decades has been a conference that has enjoyed national success in several sports. We are eager to compete for championships, enhance existing rivalries, and develop new relationships with our peer conference members.”

The Hornets will officially join The Big West on July 1, 2026, joining a lineup that includes California Baptist, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, 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 12-member institutions.

The Hornets have made a big investment in the men’s basketball program recently, hiring former NBA star Mike Bibby as head coach and Shaquille O’Neal as a voluntary GM for the program.

Sacramento State went 7-25 last season under interim coach Michael Czepil, who was promoted last spring after David Patrick left to take a job as associate head coach at LSU.

The Hornets had gone 28-42 in two seasons under Patrick and the program has never made an NCAA tournament since moving up to Division I in 1991-92. The Hornets have had a winning record only twice since then, going 16-14 in 2019-20 and 21-12 in 2014-15.