Dodd to Play for Saddleback, Not Fresno State

Former Capistrano Valley High School pitcher Bill Dodd, who left Arizona State University after his freshman season, will attend Saddleback College this fall.

Dodd originally had thought he would be eligible to play for a four-year school, and after deciding not to return to ASU, made plans to enroll at Fresno State. But at the time he was unaware of an NCAA rule that requires a player to sit out a year if he precipitates moving from one four-year school to another.

At ASU last season, Dodd was 2-3 with a 7.36 earned-run average. He played a little more than half the season before developing arm problems. Dodd said he did not get along with pitching coach Tim Kelly, which led to his decision to leave.

After he returned home at the end of the school year, Dodd contacted Sun Devil Coach Jim Brock and requested that he be released from his scholarship. Brock agreed, and Dodd made plans to transfer to Fresno State.

A story last month in The Times detailed Dodd’s plans, but when the Pacific 10 Conference learned of the situation, it determined that he would be ineligible to play immediately at a four-year school.

According to one section of NCAA bylaw 5-1-M14, a player is eligible to compete without missing a year only if he is not on scholarship or if his scholarship is not renewed by the institution he is leaving. The school must initiate such an action.

But in Dodd’s case, it was he who requested to be released from his scholarship. Dodd said he had thought that if he left ASU because he was unhappy there, he would be allowed to play at Fresno State next season.

“When the article came out it screwed everything up,” he said. “People misinterpreted it. It said I left ASU to go to Fresno. I left ASU because I was unhappy. It’s just a big pain.”

Initially, Fresno State received a letter from ASU clearing the way for Dodd to play there next season, Bob Bennett, the Fresno State baseball coach said. ASU later sent another letter saying that Dodd was not free to play there next year, Bennett said.

“Bill told me that he was free to move and that his scholarship would be removed,” Bennett said. “Somewhere along the way there was some misinterpretation that if a person was dissatisfied, that they could remove his scholarship and he could go anywhere he wanted to. Brock and Dodd both felt like they were doing the right thing.”

But Dodd seemed bitter after he learned of the rule interpretation. “Coach Brock lied to me,” Dodd said. “He just kind of stabbed me in the back.”

Said Brock: “He made a decision to go elsewhere. I always wanted him. I’d still like for him to come back.”

Dodd’s contention that he would be eligible to play at Fresno State since he left ASU because he was unhappy was unfounded, said Jim Ferguson, an assistant athletic director at ASU.

“Under the rules, if you’re unhappy, that’s just tough,” he said. “You decided to go there. If the student initiates it, he can’t transfer (and play the following year).”

Dodd, who was The Times’ Orange County Player of the Year two consecutive seasons while at Capistrano Valley, said he will play next season at Saddleback, a two-year school, with the hope he’ll be drafted by a professional team in 1986.