It’s the start of the fall semester and you’re still adjusting to your new class schedule, still attempting to read each individual professor and still learning to grip the disciplines of being back in school. Now imagine a situation where you had to pick up where a former student left off at the end of the spring semester. The type of student that that didn’t do all of his homework, didn’t take very good notes and was often disciplined for acting up in class.

Enter the world of new head football coach Steve Mooshagian. After taking over for former head coach John Volek, it’s been Mooshagian’s job to transform Volek’s disorderly program into his own and he’s got to do it with what was left for him. It’s never been an easy task to raise a “C-minus” grade to an “A” in the classroom and it’s not going to be any easier on the football field.

The Hornets have started 1-2 in their first three games under the new head coach and Mooshagian isn’t very content playing the role of the ‘unlovable’ losers.

“Right now I’m disappointed. I’m not happy with where we are,” Mooshagian said. “I would be lying to you if I told you I wasn’t disappointed being 1-2. But am I discouraged? No. Because I see the potential is there, the attitude is there.”

Mooshagian is used to working from the ground floor, he was a member of the Cincinnati Bengals’ coaching staff from 1999-2002. With the Bengals,Mooshagian helped turn wide receivers Peter Warrick and Chad Johnson into one of the games better duos. He will look to make even greater strides with the Hornets this season, but considering their two losses have come at the hands of very tough opponents — on the road against Oregon State, a Pac-10 football powerhouse, and Top-25 Div. 1-AA Cal Poly — it’s hard to gauge the team’s progression thus far. True test results will come against future Big Sky opponents and more importantly, when we host rival UC Davis.

“After watching tapes of our future opponents, I feel like we match up well with everybody left on the schedule,” Mooshagian said. “Athletically we are going to be able to lineup with our opponents evenly or better in every game.”

It now becomes the coach’s responsibility to push the players toward their highest potential and get them to play cohesive “team ball” within the new structure.

It’s a matter of developing the players remaining from Volek’s team, mixing in a group of Mooshagian’s guys and sprinkling in some high-quality coaching to prepare the players. Mooshagian claims that 90 to 95 percent of the players have bought into the program and the other five percent remain on the fence still waiting to decide which way to fall.

“I firmly believe that the players are trying to do the right things,” Mooshagian said. “Just sometimes in the heat of the battle they revert back to old ways and they lose some of that discipline.”

Last season six players were suspended for smoking marijuana on a road trip, Volek was suspended for a little issue with some referees and the whole PAM scandal put our school in an embarrassing spotlight.

Mooshagian is a firm believer that a team should work internally to externally. He feels it is important to put an excellent product on the field before expectations for large crowds can be realistic.

The program shares the same vision for its fans as it does for the team. They hope to capture the current freshman class by enticing them out to the games and winning. They can then slowly gain student support. The older students, who may lack interest and don’t come out to games, will soon be gone and the incoming students can still be captured.

“I would have never even taken a look at the opportunity from where I was, when I had a chance to stay in the NFL, if I didn’t feel like this is a sleeping giant,” Mooshagian said.

It’s going to take more than one season to push Sac State’s football program past respectability, but over time after a number of grueling tests, Hornet football could actually mean something to this school.

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