Shaquille O’Neal joins Sacramento State as the voluntary men’s basketball general manager.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Shaquille O’Neal to Sacramento State!
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Shaquille O’Neal agreed to become the men’s basketball general manager for Sacramento State University.
Charania said it will be a voluntary role for O’Neal. Sacramento State confirmed the news with ABC10 as well. Officials said O’Neal’s responsibilities include mentoring players, recruitment, and help with acquiring sponsors.
Notably, O’Neal’s son Shaqir O’Neal committed to play basketball at the university, joining new head coach and Sacramento Kings legend, Mike Bibby.
Shaqir O’Neal, a forward in his junior year, is currently averaging 6.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and .6 assists in 29 games with Florida A&M. He previously played with Texas Southern.
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.