Former Sacramento Kings guard is returning to the city where he spent seven season playing in, only this time he’s returning as the new head coach of the Sacramento State Hornets.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the news on Monday evening that the 14-year NBA veteran was returning to city where he had the most success in his pro career. There he averaged 17.6 ppg and 5.4 apg while playing alongside players like Chris Webber and Vlade Divac.
The move to hire Bibby comes from university president Luke Wood, a young, bright and aggressive leader who is “the youngest president ever appointed in the California State University system” according to Shams.
Bibby’s previous coaching experience comes from the high school level, where he guided his Alma mater, Shadow Mountain High in Phoenix, to four consecutive state championships. Between 2013 and 2019, he won five state titles in total.
Wood and athletics director Mark Orr obviously want to strengthen Sacramento State’s presence in sports, and Bibby is another major step in that goal which began this past December when they hired Brennan Marion, UNLV’s former offensive coordinator, as the Hornets’ new head football coach.
But Bibby has his work cut out for him.
In the last two seasons, the Hornets went 28-42 and have never made the NCAA tournament since moving up to DI in 1991-92. Even more alarming is that the program has had only two winning seasons since moving up: 2019-20 (16-14) and 2014-15 (21-12).
It’s a challenge for sure, but the university is obviously committed to athletics through the moves to hire Bibby and Marion.
And when you couple these moves with the fact that the university is slated to open a new basketball facility on campus next fall, it’s obvious that the Hornets will be the buzz of the Big Sky Conference.
