By Mardeio Cannon | OBSERVER Columnist

If you’re a longtime Capital City resident, Sacramento State has been the sleepy local university you hardly paid attention to. The only time you saw Sacramento State on the news was for the annual Causeway Classic football game vs. rival UC Davis.

Now with the arrival of Dr. Luke Wood as the youngest president in the university’s history, things have really changed at Sac State.

Wood, a Sac State alumnus, returned to the university with a vision to improve its reputation in the classroom and in athletics. First Wood established the Black Honors College, a unique way to show the excellence of Black students in various fields. Wood’s goal is to improve the four-year Black graduation rate from 17.4% to match and exceed the CSU’s systemwide four-year graduation rate of 23%. The Black Honors College achieved nationwide attention when he appeared on Jennifer Hudson’s popular weekday television show in January.

In athletics, Wood has put a charge into growing a successful football program by bringing in high-profile coach Brennan Marion from UNLV. Marion brings cowboy hat-wearing swagger and hopes to garner national attention as Sac State bids to move up from the Football Championship Subdivision Big Sky Conference to a conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision. In line with that pursuit, Sac State is about to undertake a state-of-the-art modernization and expansion of its football stadium to seat 25,000, up from the current 21,000 capacity of its outdated facility. 

The basketball programs also will be bolstered by a new facility being fitted into the university’s existing student recreation center. The 3,200-seat arena is on track for completion in time for the upcoming season. The basketball teams since 1955 have played home games at the Nest, a 1,012-capacity facility that resembles a high school gym.

To put a further charge into the program, Wood recruited former Sacramento Kings fan favorite Mike Bibby as men’s coach. Bibby promised to bring a new era of basketball to the Hornets. To add more pizzazz, he recruited Shaquille O’Neal’s son Shareef O’Neal to play for Sac State, then got the Diesel himself to sign on as the program’s voluntary general manager. Shaq in the ceremonial position brings national visibility, which enhances recruiting.

Sacramento State has entered a new era and we all are jumping aboard for the ride.