Shaquille O’Neal agreed to become the director general of male basketball in the state of Sacramento, sources said in ESPN.
It will be an unpaid voluntary role in basketball Hall of Famer, whose son Shaqir O’Neal will play for Sacramento State under the new coach Mike Bibby after being transferred from Florida A & M at the end of March to join the Hornets.
Shaquille O’Neal is the last high -level athlete to accept a role of managing director with a school. The NBA superstar, Stephen Curry, was appointed deputy director general of his Alma Mater, Davidson, last month, while the NFL’s retirement quarter, Andrew Luck, accepted the GM position with her school, Stanford.
Sacramento State is expected to open a new basketball on campus this fall. The president of the university, Luke Wood, a former and the youngest president ever named in the California State University system, was aggressive in his approach with sports programs – and the addition of Shaquille O’Neal continues this.
The Hornets hired Bibby, a 14 -year -old NBA veteran and former Sacramento Kings star last month. He replaced Michael Czepil, who was acting head coach for the 2024-25 season after David Patrick left to take a job as a head coach associated with the LSU.
The state of Sacramento went 7-25 this season under Czepil and spent 28-42 in two seasons with Patrick at the helm. The program has never made an NCAA tournament since its transition to division I in 1991-1992 and only posted a record of victories twice, going 16-14 in 2019-20 and 21-12 in 2014-15.
