Kings Legend Mike Bibby to Navigate Recruiting, NIL Minefield

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By JH Kubicek | Last updated Mar 26, 2025 4:10 PM ET

The Sacramento Kings don't have much history to celebrate in living memory, but during the 2000s they were one of the more fun teams in the NBA and made the playoffs for eight seasons in a row between 1999-2006.

At the core of the Kings' success those years was point guard Mike Bibby, who spent parts of seven years with the Kings.

On Tuesday, it was announced that he would be returning to Sacramento in a coaching capacity.

The Sacramento State Hornets announced that Bibby would be taking over as their next head coach. Sacramento State University plays in the Big Sky Conference and went 7-25 last season. SSU has never made the NCAA Tournament and has never boasted NBA talent, although they are likely hoping that Bibby can help recruit better talent.

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Former Sacramento Kings legend Mike Bibby is coming home as the 17th head men’s basketball coach in school history.

: https://t.co/uUjuzYG3HF #StingersUp pic.twitter.com/pi9SJSema7
— Sacramento State Men's Basketball (@SacHornetsMBB) March 25, 2025

SSU has made attempts to hire high-profile coaches before and would like to be invited to join the PAC-12. They tried to hire Michael Vick to be their football coach, but were unable to close a deal.

With esteemed alumni like Tom Hanks and Lester Holt, it makes sense that the affluent school boasts "millions" in NIL money to help keep their athletics program afloat, and they are clearly making a push to be a massive player regardless of what conference they play in in the coming years.

As the transfer portal opens, it will be interesting to see how Bibby navigates his first test in the modern college athletic ecosystem.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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