No one expected the situation to unravel this quickly. On August 3, Los Angeles Times reporter Eric Sondheimer revealed on X that Pierce College head coach James Sims had informed his players there would be no football season in 2026 and encouraged them to explore opportunities elsewhere. The college had yet to make anything official at that point, though players had already heard rumors days earlier, after an email went out Friday to athletic directors across the Southern California Football Association. Less than a day later, Pierce made it official.

On August 4, Pierce College confirmed it was placing its football program on hiatus for the 2026 season. The reason wasn’t finances or conference realignment. It simply didn’t have enough players to safely field a team.

Even Sims wasn’t happy with how the news reached him. When he was called into a meeting Monday morning and told the Friday email was real, he reportedly told the athletic director it was “messed up” how the situation had been handled.

According to the college’s official statement, the decision came only after months of waiting in hopes the roster would grow.

“College leadership monitored the football roster throughout the summer and delayed making a final determination for as long as reasonably possible,” the statement said. “After careful evaluation, the College determined that the roster had not reached the size needed for the team to participate safely throughout the season.” 

The Brahmas simply never assembled a roster large enough to compete safely over a full schedule, leaving the college little choice but to pause the program just weeks before the season was set to begin.

That decision naturally raises an even bigger question: What happens to the players?

That decision raises an even bigger question: what happens to the players? For student-athletes, losing an entire season can be a major setback, both athletically and academically, and the stakes here are especially high. About 75% of Pierce’s roster came from out of state, with players from Belgium, Japan, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Hawaii, many of whom had already signed year-long apartment leases specifically to compete this season.

In its statement, the college said, “Pierce College is working with the Southern California Football Association and other colleges to help students who wish to continue competing pursue opportunities with as little disruption as possible to their academic progress.” 

Pierce says it’s working to soften that blow.

“Pierce College is working with the Southern California Football Association and other colleges to help students who wish to continue competing pursue opportunities with as little disruption as possible to their academic progress,” the school said, adding that it recognizes the news is “disappointing for our student-athletes, alumni, supporters and the broader Pierce community.”

That offers some reassurance, but it also leaves real uncertainty. The statement doesn’t name which schools might take in Pierce players or give a timeline for when those opportunities might come through, and Sims himself hasn’t spoken publicly since informing his team.

The news lands especially hard given the program’s history. Pierce has played football for roughly 75 years as a member of the Southern California Football Association’s Pacific Conference, not the NCAA, competing against schools like Victor Valley College, Santa Monica College, and Grossmont College. The Brahmas haven’t posted a winning season since 2013, but the program has still produced real talent over the years. Alumni include former Chicago Bears quarterback Erik Kramer, former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Jimmy Allen, former Houston Texans wide receiver Jaelen Strong, CFL quarterback Nick Arbuckle, and Ron Weaver, whose winding college career took him through three different universities over seven seasons.

Whether years of losing contributed to the roster shortage is open to debate, and it fits into a wider trend. A statewide survey released the same week by the California Interscholastic Federation showed high school 11-man football participation dropped 4% last year. Pierce isn’t the only program feeling the squeeze, either.

The Brahmas have become the second Southern California Football Association program to suspend football in recent months. Another conference school announced its own hiatus in April.

Another California-based college went through the same college football hiatus 

Back in April, Orange Coast College announced it would suspend its football program for the 2026 season. Much like Pierce, the Pirates struggled with a shrinking roster, unable to field the depth needed to compete safely, with coaching staff turnover adding to the problem.

That’s where the similarities end. When speculation surfaced that OCC had shut down its program for good, the college quickly clarified that it was a planned one-year hiatus, not a permanent shutdown, confirming its intention to return to competition in the fall of 2027.

Pierce has made no such commitment. Its announcement confirmed only that the program would sit out 2026, with no timeline for a return and no indication of what comes next. For now, the real deadline belongs to the players themselves, many of whom signed leases banking on this season and now have to decide, with the fall semester bearing down, whether to transfer elsewhere or walk away from the sport entirely.