Winning May Mean Everything : SDSU Tennis Team Hopes for Title to Boost Program

When San Diego State’s football team won the Western Athletic Conference championship in 1986, the domino effect was amazing.

People surfaced from the woodwork to donate a new football facility, buy season tickets and give money to the athletic department.

The men’s tennis team hopes for a similar effect if it wins the WAC tournament next week.

“The football team got everything it wanted because it won the WAC,” said Skip Redondo, SDSU men’s tennis coach. “That’s the way San Diego would be toward the tennis team. If we win the WAC, we’ll have credibility. Everyone wants to be part of a winner.”

SDSU is seeded second behind Utah in the tournament, which begins Monday at Albuquerque, N.M. Seedings are determined by conference standings, and the tournament winner qualifies for the NCAA tournament.

The tennis team has not been funded by SDSU the last three seasons because of the university’s huge athletic department budget deficit. There were two options for the team: raise $31,000 each year to remain a Division I team or become a club sport.

Each year, the Aztecs have raised enough to retain varsity status. This year, for the first time since 1984, they received $9,000 from the football team’s appearance in the Holiday Bowl.

But even with the added money, remaining a Division I team isn’t getting easier. Two people who contributed $5,000 apiece last year contributed a total of $1,000 this year.

Redondo thinks some contributors may have tired of a tennis team that finished fourth in the conference the last two seasons.

“Last year, things were working a lot better than they are now,” Redondo said. “This is my third year doing it (having a self-supporting team). When you keep telling people you’re going to win and you don’t have results, the money gets smaller and smaller.”

In the summer of 1984, he and his players sent letters to local tennis aficionados for support. Ivan Lendl even came to San Diego for a benefit exhibition match.

At first, Redondo had a simple message for his players.

“Trust me. Don’t go anywhere else,” Redondo said at the time. “I have the right connections, and we can keep our team.”

And they did.

“At the time, most of the guys were pretty disappointed,” said senior Leland Rolling. “We had heard the football team had a huge budget deficit. Everybody knew our program depended on football revenue. We still felt we’d have a program somehow. The guys figured we’d have some kind of money. We weren’t looking for anywhere else to go.”

Redondo needed the $31,000 annually to cover expenses, including his salary and travel. The Aztecs also grant one scholarship a year, four fewer than NCAA rules allow.

Junior Julio Noriego, a native of Peru and SDSU’s No. 1 singles player, has been granted the scholarship since 1985.

“My Peru coach had a player who was No. 1 at Pepperdine,” Noriego said. “My Peru coach talked to Pepperdine’s coach, Allen Fox, and he had me play against one of his players. I beat him, but (Fox) had already given the guy a scholarship. I was told I could get a scholarship if I waited around for a year. I didn’t want to do that, so I visited UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, USD and San Diego State. I liked San Diego State the most, and Skip offered me a scholarship.”

This year, the Aztecs’ only conference loss was to Utah, 5-4. They are 23-11 overall.

“If we win the WAC and go to the NCAA tournament, so many junior players will be interested in going to San Diego State,” Rolling said.

“It’ll make the job a lot easier for Skip. Now, he’s fighting for players. If we do well, people will want to come here.”