{"id":101749,"date":"2025-12-19T22:09:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T22:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/101749\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T22:09:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T22:09:17","slug":"coach-alonzo-carter-takes-helm-at-sac-state-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/101749\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach Alonzo Carter takes helm at Sac State football"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Sac State football coach Alonzo Carter does not begrudge his predecessor, Brennan Marion, for leaving the program after just one year on the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, number one, I wish him and (his) family the best,\u201d Carter said Thursday as his introductory news conference was winding down. I know coach Marion personally. He is a friend of mine, and I think he made the best decision that was best for him and his family. And I\u2019m excited he made the decision, \u2019cause if he didn\u2019t make the decision, I wouldn\u2019t be standing here talking to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter and Marion are both African American. The former is the university\u2019s 14th head coach. The latter was its 13th, stepping down earlier this month to become offensive coordinator at Colorado.<\/p>\n

Marion\u2019s abrupt departure brought condemnation on social media from some Hornets\u2019 fans, not only for leaving after one year but also for taking a job seemingly of lower stature.<\/p>\n

\"\"Coach Alonzo \u201cZo\u201d Carter, new football head coach for Sacramento State Hornets at his welcome press conference: \u201cMy mother, Mary Jean Abraham, used to call me \u2018Coach Carter\u2019 when I was coaching high school. She would save all the newspaper clippings and show her friends,\u201d said Coach Alonzo \u201cZo\u201d Carter. \u201cShe never got to see me coach college football because she passed away in 2019, but she\u2019s been with me this whole time.\u201d Dec. 18 2025 Louis Bryant III OBSERVER<\/p>\n

Carter \u2014 formerly the running backs coach at the University of Arizona who has 30-plus years of coaching experience from high school to major colleges \u2014 has been a leader in the movement to promote and elevate minority coaches to higher positions in college football.<\/p>\n

So he passes no judgments on coaches making what they consider better career moves.<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carter became a national figure through his West Coast Zoom clinics \u2014 weekly sessions involving hundreds of football coaches to assist minority coaches with upward mobility in the coaching profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, man, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. I think when I first started my Zoom calls back in 2020, the biggest thing we were talking about was learning the game within the game,\u201d Carter said during a brief interview with The OBSERVER. \u201cAnd that was one of our main topics, not just knowing the X\u2019s and O\u2019s but learning to be CEOs.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of late 2025, there are about 16 Black head football coaches in NCAA Division I, with about half at Power 5 schools, but the numbers fluctuate, highlighting a significant underrepresentation where Black players are nearly 50% of the athletes.<\/p>\n

In August 2020, Carter was named to the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches (NCMFC) executive committee, whose goal is to identify and groom coaches of color and create a list of coaching candidates for upward mobility. Since August 2020, he assisted 26 NCMFC members who advanced to coaching positions of greater responsibility or visibility.<\/p>\n

Carter ticked off a list of Black college coaches who helped him along the way to landing his long-awaited first college head coaching position.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Carter\u2019s coaching staff will be integrated, but he also made it a point to retain several long-time Hornets assistant coaches who have served under previous coaching regimes and is courting former players to return to the fold to coach.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s retaining defensive coordinator Marcus Patton, offensive line coach Kris Richardson and offensive assistant Bobby Fresques. He mentioned former Hornets great and 49ers receiver Otis Amey as joining the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand tradition,\u201d he said. \u201cI know what the city wants. I know what the community wants. So when you have coaches that are on the staff, that have Sacramento ties, that have a tradition, that goes back to the undefeated teams with coach (Troy) Taylor and with coach (Andy) Thompson, and then even most recently with coach Marion, you do want to give them the benefit of the doubt, to be able to be a part of this, to help elevate this thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you also want to bring in people that I feel that can take it from where it is, to where it needs to go. And I think a great mixture of that will give us the blend that we need to be able to take this program to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter\u2019s news conference was a joyous affair, attended by family, friends and former players sitting rows deep inside the modest meeting room at the university Welcome Center.<\/p>\n

Even before he was formally introduced he led the audience in prayer in the memory of his late mother, Mary Jean Abraham. \u201cShe\u2019s on my shoulder right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sac State Athletic Director Mark Orr spoke glowingly about Carter, noting that their relationship goes back nearly 25 years. Orr cited Carter\u2019s respect in the coaching ranks and his elite ability to recruit as some of his qualities. \u201cCoach Carter has been successful in every step of the way,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once taking the podium, Carter, known to friends as \u201cZo,\u201d proudly spoke in a rhythm and accent that underscored his upbringing in West Oakland. At times, it was a revival of sorts as he issued shout-outs to members in the audience. He was alternatively funny, intense and fierce.<\/p>\n

He listed a goal of owning California on the recruiting trail, soon to launch a four-day \u201cBuzz Tour\u201d scouring every corner of the state in search of top-tier talent. \u201cI can do California in my sleep,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

There was swagger but also humility.<\/p>\n

Carter also was grateful for his first head coaching job at the DI level. As a Bay Area native, he knows Sac State well and said he plans to be around a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is home. This is not a plaything for me. I\u2019ll never take this opportunity for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Sac State football coach Alonzo Carter does not begrudge his predecessor, Brennan Marion, for leaving the program…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[50338,912,121,123,122,17685],"class_list":{"0":"post-101749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-alonzo-carter","9":"tag-carousel","10":"tag-sacramento","11":"tag-sacramento-headlines","12":"tag-sacramento-news","13":"tag-sacramento-state-hornets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}