I think we have a serious Orr/Wood standoff.
Because Sac State has a serious Luke Wood problem.
Some continue to defend and offer excuses for him, but it’s the truth.
A laundry list of red flag examples and outcomes can be cited to back it up.
I won’t bother to list them all, but rather just point to him overriding or at the very least leading his AD on decisions being made wrt athletics — which allegedly will include this upcoming head coaching hire — and the fact that the football program has regressed since he became heavily involved in the decision making process. It’s definitely in a much more precarious position than it was before, considering the one and done coaching change, lack of conference affiliation, and but 4 games on the 2026 schedule.
While some will defend Wood’s decision making by suggesting that “it was worth the big swing and miss to elevate to FBS” — which I’d actually agree with — the guy still has a chance to minimize the damage and steady the ship a bit by stepping out of the way to allow his AD to do the job he was hired to do yet he likely will not do that. And that’s just one of many problems with this guy. He can’t even manage to align with his AD over the simplest of communication that is released to the public.
He continues to drone on and on about bold initiatives that never come true with timelines that just get pushed further and further out. And along the way has managed to piss off the entire student body, Big Sky Conference, and FCS.
Job well done.
Despite all the red flags and concerns I’ve had with Luke Wood since day one, I also said I’d happily give him due credit if his wild and crazy ways paid off. But they haven’t. And as of today, there’s no significant light at the end of the tunnel to suggest that it ever will. As a former Sacrament Kings player once uttered “I don’t even see the tunnel”.
Circling back to the upcoming coaching hire, if Wood does step out of the way and allow Orr to re-hire Troy Taylor — I’ll give him credit for it. But I just don’t see any indication of that actually happening. Wood has openly laid out his grand plans for this university, beyond just athletics, as well as his M.O. for decision making such as this.