Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to become the Sacramento State men’s basketball general manager, sources told ESPN.
It will be an unpaid, voluntary role for the Basketball Hall of Famer, whose son, Shaqir O’Neal, will play for Sacramento State under new coach Mike Bibby after transferring out of Florida A&M in late March to join the Hornets.
Shaquille O’Neal is the latest high-profile athlete to accept a general manager role with a school. NBA superstar Stephen Curry was named an assistant GM at his alma mater Davidson last month while retired NFL quarterback Andrew Luck accepted a position with Stanford last year.
The university is slated to open a new basketball facility on campus next fall. Sacramento State president Luke Wood, an alum and the youngest president ever appointed in the California State University system, has been aggressive in his approach with the athletic programs — and the addition of Shaquille O’Neal continues that.
The Hornets hired Bibby, a 14-year NBA veteran and former Sacramento Kings star, last month. He replaced Michael Czepil, who served as interim head coach for the 2024-25 season after David Patrick left to take a job as associate head coach at LSU.
Sacramento State went 7-25 this season under Czepil and had gone 28-42 in two seasons under Patrick. The program has never made an NCAA tournament since moving up to Division I in 1991-92 and have posted a winning record only twice since then, going 16-14 in 2019-20 and 21-12 in 2014-15.