While the Sacramento Kings are trying to solidify a spot for themselves in the NBA Play-In Tournament, their alumni are making moves off the court. This includes one of the best guards in team history, Mike Bibby.
Mike Bibby named as head coach of Sacramento State Hornets
On Monday, it was announced that the 14-year NBA guard has agreed on a deal to become the next men's basketball head coach of the Sacramento State Hornets. This gig marks not only Bibby's first Division I opportunity but also the first time that he has coached at the collegiate level at all.
Bibby previously spent six years as a coach at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where he played on the school's first state championship team as a student. Bibby then went on to play his college basketball for Lute Olsen and the Arizona Wildcats – winning the national championship in 1997. While coaching at Shadow Mountain (2013-19), Bibby managed to lead them to four consecutive state championships, winning a total of five over his run.
In 2019, Bibby was hired by Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix, Arizona. However, he only coached them for 10 games before the two parties mutually decided to part ways.
Bibby will be the ninth coach in Sacramento State's history. To this point, the team has never made the NCAA Tournament. The team's best season in franchise history to this point was in 2014-15. That year, they went 13-5 in the Big Sky Conference and 21-12 overall. Last season, Sacramento State went 7-25. They were ranked 348th in KenPom's rating system.
Bibby spent seven years with the Kings. During that span, Bibby was the starting point guard for their three most winning seasons since they moved to Sacramento in 1985. In 476 career games with the Kings, Bibby averaged 17.6 PPG, 5.4 APG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.2 APG on 43.9% shooting from the floor and 37.7% from three.
In a recent offseason poll (which I was a part of) that ranked the top 40 Kings of the last 40 years, Bibby was named the seventh-greatest Kings player in the last four decades.
Most recently, Bibby has been working as a broadcaster for NBC Sports California, where he provides analysis for pregame and postgame Kings coverage.