| Sacramento State Hornets | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | California State University, Sacramento |
| Conference | Big Sky (primary, leaving in 2026) Big West (beach volleyball and men's soccer, primary in 2026) WAC (baseball, leaving in 2026) WCC (women's rowing) MPSF (women's gymnastics) |
| NCAA | Division I (FCS) |
| Athletic director | Mark Orr |
| Location | Sacramento,California |
| Varsity teams | 21 |
| Football stadium | Hornet Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Hornets Nest |
| Baseball stadium | John Smith Field |
| Softball stadium | Shea Stadium |
| Soccer stadium | Hornet Field |
| Other venues | Haggin Oaks Golf Complex Livermore Community Park Sacramento State Aquatic Center Sacramento State Tennis Courts Valley Hi Country Club |
| Mascot | Herky |
| Nickname | Hornets |
| Fight song | "Fight, Hornet, Fight!" |
| Colors | Green and gold[1] |
| Website | hornetsports |
 | |
TheSacramento State Hornets (alsoSac State Hornets) is the team that representsCalifornia State University, Sacramento in intercollegiate athletics.
The school fields 21 teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, soccer, tennis, and track and field; women's-only gymnastics, beach volleyball, volleyball, and softball; and men's-only baseball and football. The Hornets compete inNCAA Division I, and are members of theBig Sky Conference.[2] The men's soccer, men's golf and women's beach volleyball teams play as affiliate members in theBig West Conference,[3][4] the baseball team plays as an affiliate member in theWestern Athletic Conference,[5] and the women's rowing team is an affiliate of theWest Coast Conference.[6]
In June 2025 it was announced that the school would join the Big West as a full member by 2026, except for football - not supported by the conference - which would become anFCS Independent.
The Sacramento State official team nickname is the "Hornets."[7]
The university has achieved multiple national championships as a Division III and Division II school. The school has also been a National Runner-up 8 times including Softball in 1989 (D-II), Women's Volleyball in 1979 and 1989 (D-II), Baseball in 1988 (D-II), Women's Track and Field in 1981 (AIAW D-II), Men's Cross Country in 1979 (D-II), Football in 1964 (CDN), and Men's Basketball (1962 CDN). Prior to AIAW softball division classifications, the softball team played in twoWomen's College World Series in 1976 and 1977.[8]
In November 1986, then-university president Donald Gerth, influenced by an athletic advisory board study, announced a five-year plan to elevate the program to theDivision I level.[9] The announcement, which included a reinstatement of the Hornet tennis team,[10] upheld a student election which doubled student-activity fees from $13 to $26 per semester in order to finance the move, providing a more than $175,000 boost into the athletic budget per semester.
Then in 1995, following a reported $1.1 million deficit stemming from elevating the program up to theDivision I-AA level (today known asFCS), Sacramento State students voted to raise their fees from $5 to $45 per semester to keep Hornet football, with 62 percent of voters supporting the increase.[11]
During2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment, there was speculation that the Hornets' Athletic department would like to move the football team to theFootball Bowl Subdivision (FBS)[12] due to the population base of Sacramento (ranked 20th-largest in college sports),[13] the (enrollment) size of the university and the attractiveness of recruiting in theSac-Joaquin Section.
During realignment, theWAC had shown interest in adding Sacramento State as a member.[14] To make the move to the FBS, however, the school needed to add an additional sport for women in order to meet the criteria ofTitle IX,[15] and also needed to fund a new sports complex for men's and women's basketball and volleyball because their arena was inadequate for FBS-level sports and severely outdated (with a crowd capacity of 1,012 people).[16] Sacramento State was unable to fund a massive facility upgrade for their athletic facilities (including basketball/volleyball, football, baseball and softball among others) in order to move to the FBS due to economic reasons and resistance from students and faculty members because of increasingtuition and overall cost.[17] To become an FBS member, the football program would have been required to have an attendance average of 15,000 each season and the athletic department needed to increase overall funds for their athletic programs. On June 6, 2011,Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton announced that "We're in a better place than the WAC is,"[18] marking an end of fan and community attempts to move to FBS-level sports during that period.
All varsity teams representing California State University, Sacramento compete in theBig Sky Conference except baseball (Western Athletic Conference), gymnastics (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), rowing (American Athletic Conference), and women's beach volleyball and men's soccer (Big West Conference).
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Beach volleyball |
| Cross country | Cross country |
| Football | Golf |
| Golf | Gymnastics |
| Soccer | Rowing |
| Tennis | Soccer |
| Track and field† | Softball |
| Tennis | |
| Track and field† | |
| Volleyball | |
| † – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor. | |
The Sacramento State Hornets baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team of California State University, Sacramento.[19] The team plays its home games atJohn Smith Field.
Notable baseball players for the Sacramento State Hornets include:[20]
The Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team represents California State University, Sacramento.[21] The team plays its home games at theHornets Nest.
The Sacramento State Hornets women's basketball team represents California State University, Sacramento.[22] The team plays its home games at theHornets Nest.
TheSacramento State Hornets women's beach volleyball team participates in theBig West Conference. They have played their home games atLivermore Community Park since 2016 while previously playing at theSacramento Softball Complex since the team's founding in 2013.[23]
The men's and women's cross country teams participate in theBig Sky Conference. They host their home meets at theHaggin Oaks Golf Complex.[24]
TheSacramento State Hornets football program began in 1954, coached by Dave Strong (The teams' first football head coach). The programs' first victory came in the second season, 1955, where the Hornets defeated Southern Oregon by a point, which was also their only win of the season(they were winless in their first season of football). Sacramento State Football first affiliated with the Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) from 1962 until 1972, where they were added to the Western Football Conference (WFC) from 1973 to 1985, then becoming part of the D-1AA American West Conference (AWC).[25] In 1996, Sac State was added to theBig Sky Conference along withPortland State, becoming the first California school in the Big Sky.Hornet Stadium has been home to the football team since 1969.
The team have won 7 conference titles: 1964 and 1966-NCAC, 1986-WFC, 1995-AFC, 2019, 2021, and 2022-Big Sky. The Hornets football team participated in 2 bowls, the Pasadena Bowl in 1968 againstGrambling State, where the Hornets lost 7-34, and theCamellia Bowl in 1964 (1964 College Division National Runner-up), whereMontana State Bobcats defeated the Hornets 28–7.
Success against FBS opponents
One of Sac State's most notable wins came on September 3, 2011, in the season opener for both Sac State andOregon State Beavers of the Pac-12 conference atReser Stadium. The Hornets upset the Beavers in OT 29–28 with a 2-point conversion pass from QB Jeff Flemming to WR Brandyn Reed, beating an AQ Conference team for the first time in school history in front of an announced crowd of 41,581.[26] The Beavers were a 23-point favorite coming into the game.
On September 8, 2012, the Hornets repeated the feat of defeating a Pac-12, upsetting theColorado Buffaloes by a score 30–28 in Boulder in front of a crowd of 46,843.[27] The Buffaloes were heavily favored in the match up. Walk-on Edgar Castaneda was awarded a full scholarship following his game-winning field goal.
On September 24, 2022, the Hornets defeatedColorado State Rams football 41-10 atCanvas Stadium, making this the largest win margin by Sacramento State over an FBS team. The 2022 team went on to go undefeated in the regular season for the first time in school, finishing 11-0.
On September 16, 2023, the Hornets defeated Stanford football team 30-23 at Stanford Stadium, making this year the second year in a row that Sacramento State beat an FBS team.
Rivalry
In all sports, the university has a rivalry with theUniversity of California, Davis due to close proximity. The rivalry football game is called theCauseway Classic and is played for theCauseway Carriage, referring to the schools' connection by the longYolo Causeway bridge over theYolo Bypass floodway. More recently, the rivalry was officially expanded to include all sports the teams compete in. UC Davis leads the series 46 to 23 with no ties. This game has consistently drawn large crowds, with the largest on record being the 2022 Causeway Classic game, with 23,073, a Sacramento State Hornets Football record. Sacramento State's second main rival is CSU's sister school Cal Poly (SLO). The game is called the “Green and Gold” game for the similarities in color of the two school. Other notable rivalries includes Portland State,Eastern Washington,Weber State, and conference powersMontana State University and theUniversity of Montana.
Past Hornets drafted in the NFL
Many Hornets have been drafted directly into the NFL onto teams such as theSan Francisco 49ers,Minnesota Vikings,Seattle Seahawks,Philadelphia Eagles and theNew England Patriots.[28]
The Sacramento State Hornets men's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 2–2 through two appearances.[29]
| Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | First Round Second Round | Loyola Marymount UCLA | W 2–1 L 1–2 |
| 2010 | First Round Second Round | Santa Clara UCLA | W 2–1 L 1–4 |
The Sacramento State Hornets women's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 0–2 through two appearances.[30]
| Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | First Round | Stanford | L 0–7 |
| 2010 | First Round | Stanford | L 0–3 |
The Sacramento State Hornets women's indoor track and field team appeared in the NCAA Division I Tournament one time, with that appearance being 56th place in the 2009–10 school year.[31] The Sacramento State Hornets men's indoor track and field team never made the NCAA Division I Tournament.[32]
| Year | Gender | Ranking | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Women | No. 56 | 1 |
The Sacramento State Hornets women's volleyball team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 2–10 through ten appearances.[33]
| Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | First Round | Pacific | L 1–3 |
| 1998 | First Round Second Round | Houston Pacific | W 3–0 L 0–3 |
| 1999 | First Round | Minnesota | L 0–3 |
| 2000 | First Round | Santa Clara | L 0–3 |
| 2002 | First Round | Stanford | L 0–3 |
| 2003 | First Round | Stanford | L 0–3 |
| 2004 | First Round | Saint Mary's | L 1–3 |
| 2005 | First Round | Santa Clara | L 1–3 |
| 2006 | First Round | Stanford | L 0–3 |
| 2007 | First Round Second Round | Minnesota Stanford | W 3–1 L 0–3 |
The Sacramento State Men’s Rugby Team is the only sport to win a Division I national championship, which occurred in 2023. Aside from that Sacramento State has never won a national championship at the NCAA Division I level.[34]
Sacramento State won 1 national championship at the NCAA Division II level.[34]
Below are three national championships that were not bestowed by the NCAA:
Below are six national club team championships:
-Division IAA (USA Rugby):2023
Note: Those with no denoted division is assumed that the institution earned a national championship at the highest level.
The Sacramento State Hornets competed in the NCAA Tournament across 12 active sports (5 men's and 7 women's) 55 times at the Division I FCS level.[35]
Sacramento State had 3 Hornets win NCAA individual championships at the Division I Level.[34]
| NCAA individual championships | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order | School year | Athlete(s) | Sport | Source |
| 1 | 1956–57 | Jim Flood | Boxing | [36] |
| 2 | 1957–58 | Jim Flood | Boxing | [36] |
| 3 | 1958–59 | Terry Smith | Boxing | [36] |
At the NCAA Division II level, Sacramento State garnered 13 individual championships.[34]
The university has accomplished 57 conference championships, the most occurring in the Big Sky. Including:[37]
The Sacramento State Marching Band performs at home football games each fall, as well as at numerous other university functions and also periodically at high school band festivals. The Hornet Revue Pep Band is a subgroup of the marching band, and performs at all home basketball (men's and women's) and volleyball games. Both bands are under the direction of Santiago Sabado.
"Fight, Hornet, Fight!" is the officialfight song of California State University, Sacramento. It is most widely known for being played by theSacramento State Marching Band after scores atSacramento State football games, and during the band's pre-game and halftime shows. It is played after a touchdown, field goal, extra point, or a safety.
"Fight, Hornet, Fight!" is also played as the band forms a tunnel for the football team as they enterHornet Stadium before the beginning of each home game. After every Hornet win, the football team comes over to the sideline where the band's section is and sings along while the song is being played.
"Fight, Hornet, Fight!" was composed by Don McDonald in 1949. McDonald graduated from Sacramento State in 1952. The current arrangement of the song was written by former Band Director Jeffrey Edom in 1997.
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