Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Cal Lutheran Is Making Big Plans

Cal Lutheran University has decided to improve its athletic program, starting with the appointment of a fund raiser and the formulation of ambitious plans for a new basketball arena-athletic complex.

Bill Redell, 45, the Crespi High School football coach who led the Encino-based team to the Southern Section Big Five Conference title last month, will stay on as Crespi’s coach but will join Cal Lutheran with the title of director of athletic development.

Redell’s duties will include fund raising for athletic scholarships and facilities, organizing an athletic association, coordinating season ticket sales and assisting the school’s development office in its campaign to raise money for the anticipated gym complex.

Redell, a former football star at San Marino High and Occidental College and a six-year veteran of the Canadian Football League, held a similar fund-raising position at Cal State Fullerton and has served as vice president of two national insurance companies.

He said an increase in scholarships is his first priority. For example, Cal Lutheran, which plays in the NCAA’s Division II, gives 21 football scholarships. The NCAA limit is 45.

Athletic Director Bob Doering said, “Increasing athletic scholarships is the priority of this position. We have found that it’s nearly impossible to compete at this level without increasing our scholarship money.”

Doering said that the school provides fewer than half the permitted number of scholarships in every sport.

Redell said he hopes to raise $250,000 in his first year. Down the road, he hopes to set up an endowment program to get Cal Lutheran to the scholarship limit in every sport.

“In the past, each coach here has had responsibilities for raising funds,” Redell said. “It hasn’t been in concert. This will bring all the athletic fund-raising under one roof.”

Also in the future is a new gym. Cal Lutheran’s current facility can barely hold 500 spectators.

The university will break ground this spring for a science center. An athletic complex would be the next new facility on the Thousand Oaks campus. Tentative plans call for a 2,000-seat multipurpose arena, football stadium, track, Olympic-size swimming pool, offices and outdoor fields.

Small-college basketball players don’t often draw the attention of pro scouts, but 6-8 Bill Edwardson is turning some heads at Warner Pacific College in Portland, Ore.

Edwardson, a junior center averaging 27.4 points and 11 rebounds in NAIA competition, had his talents on display in the Southland last week when he was the leading scorer and rebounder--77 points and 40 rebounds--in three games in the Point Loma Tournament.

What startled the scouts, though, was his performance a week earlier in a game at Montana State, a successful Division I school. Edwardson scored 43 points, pulled down 17 rebounds and sank 5 three-point shots. His point total was the third-highest ever scored against Montana State.

The mobile 225-pound junior, effective inside and out, is shooting 58% and has made 11 of 25 three-pointers. Going into last weekend he had scored at least 27 points in 8 of 9 games; in the “off” game, he had 22 against Azusa Pacific.

A Warner Pacific athletic department spokesman said Edwardson’s performance has drawn scouts from the Portland Trail Blazers recently, and that Edwardson is considered a legitimate prospect.

Small College Notes The Lisa Terry disaster watch continues. The fearless--and apparently indestructible--basketball player for Southern California College who broke her nose against Chapman two weeks ago but finished the game as high scorer, was in the lineup last week wearing a nose guard in the Whittier women’s tournament. So with her nose protected, she ran into a wall and suffered a gash over her left eye that required stitches. Terry returned to the game, though, and managed to score 14 points. . . . Cal State Bakersfield wrestlers Darryl Pope and Eric Mittlestead are both ranked second nationally in their weight classes. Pope is 20-0 at 177 pounds. Mittlestead is 19-2. . . . Cal State San Bernardino sophomore forward Gerald Duncan scored a school-record 27 points against Wassuk College of Nevada. The Coyotes scored a team-record 109 points in the victory. . . . San Bernardino center Celeste Gates tied the women’s school record with a 31-point game against Southern California College. . . . Shelmarie Tatum of The Master’s College pulled down 26 rebounds against Claremont-Mudd. She has had 20 or more rebounds in two of the last four games. . . . Chapman guard Susan Bergendahl was the spark in two straight victories, scoring two baskets in the final 23 seconds to help defeat Idaho by three points, then making two free throws with one second left four days later in a two-point win over Dominguez Hills. . . . Cal Lutheran forward James Faulk has been declared academically ineligible for the rest of the season. He has the chance to raise his grades, however, by taking a class between sessions. He’ll miss at least the rest of the month. He leads the team in rebounding and is third in scoring. . . . Rocky Railey has been named sports information director at Cal State Northridge. She has served as interim publicist there since July.