SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When the news came in February that Sacramento State's elevation to the highest level of college football would come a year earlier than expected with an invitation to the Mid-American Conference, coach Alonzo Carter broke out his old dance moves and performed the "Return of the Mack" for his players. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.

Then it was time to get to work as Carter had been on the job for only about two months and his one-year runway for the transition from being a Championship Subdivision team to a Bowl Subdivision team was gone.

"It was post signing day, post portal period closing so it was a little surprise," he said. "We knew there was a possibility, but we figured we'd have a year to build it. But once it sunk in and it was going to be '26, I went back to my players and told them, 'Hey man, we're playing this now.'"

Luckily for Carter, both dancing and coaching football are second nature for him. The former backup dancer and choreographer for legendary rap star MC Hammer has spent more than three decades as a football coach, going from a head coach at the high school and junior college level near his hometown of Oakland to an assistant at both San Jose State and Arizona.

Carter said lessons he learned as a young man on tour have carried over to his coaching career and he looks forward to having the rap star come to a few games this season.

"I'm very thankful for having MC Hammer in my life," he said. "A lot of people go how do you go from dancing to coaching? Well, he gave me a lot of responsibility then. He put me in a leadership position, leadership role. Just watching his work ethic, seeing how he moved day to day becoming one of the all time best in the history of hip hop."

Athletic director Mark Orr said that Carter is a much better football coach than dancer and believes he's the right man to shepherd the Hornets through this challenging transition.

Sacramento State won three Big Sky Conference titles and made the playoffs four times in a five-year span from 2019-23. The Hornets went 7-5 last season in the first year under Brennan Marion, who left for the offensive coordinator job at Colorado.

Now Carter takes over a team with just a handful of returning starters and 72 newcomers on the roster, including quarterback Carson Conklin, who returns after spending last season as a backup at.