SSU has long been a home for local athletes from Sonoma County and has produced dozens if not hundreds of professional athletes.
For more stories about SSU cuts, go to pdne.ws/4jp7Znc
Sonoma State University has long been a home for Sonoma County-raised athletes and has produced dozens, if not hundreds, of pros. Arguably the most prominent is the late Larry Allen, who starred for the SSU football team in the early 1990s before going on to have a Hall of Fame career in the NFL with the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys.
SSU eliminated its football program in 1996 after 20 seasons.
And now, the rest of it is slated to be gone, too.
University leaders announced Wednesday they plan to eliminate all athletic programs starting in the 2025-26 academic year as part of series of sweeping cuts to address a projected budget deficit of nearly $24 million.
SSU fields 11 NCAA Division II teams, seven of which have not yet completed their seasons. Student athletes who choose to remain at SSU for the next school year will remain eligible to receive scholarships as long as they meet the current terms of the scholarship, the school said in a news release announcing the decision. The school also said it would offer assistance to students who choose to transfer to new schools.
Student athletes were informed of the decision first by their coaches, and then later at a town hall-style meeting with university administrators, including SSU Interim President Emily F. Cutrer.
The move seemed to come out of nowhere, coaches and players said.
“Most of my frustration and disbelief is the extreme lack of communication from the school and the fact that no heads up was given that this was a possibility of occurring. The town hall meeting for athletes left us with more questions than we had originally,” SSU freshman soccer player Carson Sterling said in an email. “I know myself and many other athletes felt as if there was a false act of sympathy from the interim president and administrators, and it very well showed when they could not provide any answers to our questions.”
The wider SSU athletic community expressed a variety of emotions in the wake of the announcement.
“I feel terrible for the student athletes, coaches and support staff,” said former California Collegiate Athletic Association commissioner Mitch Cox, who worked as SSU’s sports information director and co-athletic director from 1991-2002. “It’s unfortunately the sad part of the reality we’re in right now. The finances and the budgets for schools don’t fully maybe appreciate what athletics brings to their campus.”
Men’s sports
Basketball
Baseball
Soccer
Golf
Women’s sports
Cross Country
Track and Field
Volleyball
Basketball
Softball
Soccer
Golf
“It’s not surprising, but disappointing for all the players, coaches, training staff and alumni that they no longer have a university to identify with in regard to their experience,” said Lenny Wagner, the outgoing Santa Rosa Junior College football coach who played and coached at SSU and is a member of its athletic hall of fame.
“These things do happen every year, but it’s kind of a shocker at Sonoma State because it’s such a gem in Sonoma County and all of Northern California,” said former assistant baseball coach Mike Nackord. “It just makes you wonder, ‘What the heck is going on?’”
“It’s very sad, that’s all I can say,” Nackord added. “I really think ultimately it could have been avoided. I really believe that.”
Chris Ziemer, the athletic director and girls soccer coach at Sonoma Academy, has deep ties to SSU. A member of the school’s athletic hall of fame after a star career for the men’s soccer team in the 1990s, he’s the youngest of four brothers — two of whom, Marcus and Ben, still coach at the school. Marcus has served as SSU’s men’s soccer coach since 1991 and Ben has been an assistant on staff since 2004.
Chris Ziemer said he was shocked by the suddenness and finality of the news.
“Normally if something like this was happening, you’d hear about the possibility of it and potentially ways of helping and supporting and mobilizing fundraising efforts. … If you would have told me that I’d wake up today and hear that news, it’s like going from 0 to 100 in the same moment.
“For me and a lot of people, we’ve enjoyed being a part of the university and its athletic program and I feel for the people right now,” he added. “Some of us had amazing, life-changing experiences there and the ones that are involved right now, the coaches and staff and the student athletes, they’re the ones that my heart goes out to. It’s not a day you ever expect.”
Josh Sterling, the Windsor boys soccer head coach, also has deep ties to SSU. He played soccer at SSU in college and was an assistant coach for eight years, including for the 2002 national championship team. His wife, Kristy, also played at SSU, and his son, the aforementioned Carson Sterling, followed in his father’s footsteps on the men’s soccer team.
“It’s shock,” Sterling said. “It’s really, really, really brutal. At the same time it’s like, athletics have never been a priority at Sonoma State by leadership. It got really, really bad after I left and especially in 2015-16.”
Sterling shared Chris Ziemer’s frustration about the lack of notice to SSU alumni and the community at large.
“It’s not surprising how they handled it because they’ve mismanaged it for the last nine years,” Sterling added. “They mismanaged the budget, they mismanaged management and the people, they’ve mismanaged athletics and now they’ve mismanaged the decision on how and when to cut athletics. It’s been a complete and absolute s—show on how to handle something like this.”
The elimination of athletic programs was just one of several cuts SSU announced to address a projected $23.9 million budget deficit for the 2025-26 school year, including faculty layoffs and the elimination of several academic departments and degree majors.
The school had projected a budget deficit of $21 million back in October, but those initial budget reductions “are not enough,” Interim President Cutrer said in the release. SSU’s enrollment has declined nearly 40 % since 2015. Enrollment in October was reported at 5,073 students, down from 9,408 a decade ago.
“I know this is difficult news for our campus community,” Cutrer said. “I am keenly aware of its human impact, and how individuals, families, relationships, and communities are affected by such news.”
In addition to the 2002 national championship in men’s soccer, SSU has won national titles in women’s soccer (1990) and men’s golf (2009).
You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JustGusPD.
For more stories about SSU cuts, go to pdne.ws/4jp7Znc
