Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to become the general manager of the men’s basketball program at Sacramento State under new coach Mike Bibby.
A person familiar with the situation said Monday that O’Neal will take the voluntary job for the program that his son, Shaqir, recently joined as a player. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the school hadn’t made an announcement.
ESPN first reported the news.
Bibby, the former NBA star for the Sacramento Kings, was hired as head coach for the Hornets last month as the school tries to raise its profile in collegiate athletics.
One of the first additions Bibby made was signing Shaqir O’Neal as a transfer from Florida A&M. Now Bibby has O’Neal’s father involved in the program.
O’Neal is the latest high-profile athlete to take on a general manager role at a college program. Stephen Curry was recently announced as the assistant general manager at Davidson and Trae Young has that same role at Oklahoma.
O’Neal won four NBA titles, three NBA Finals MVPs and a league MVP during his 19-year career in the NBA. He is currently an analyst on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” show. He also served as a minority owner of the Sacramento Kings from 2013-22.
Sacramento State went 7-25 this 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.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Josh Dubow, The Associated Press
