Same Old Lament at CSUN

Cal State Northridge Athletic Director Bob Hiegert said: “People were surprised it happened here.”

James W. Cleary, the college president, said: “In its entire 27-year history, the university has had a blemish-free record . . . The present infraction by one individual acting entirely on his own is most regrettable.”

At first glance, it appears these administrators are grappling with the NCAA infractions committed by the CSUN football program that came to light in The Times a week ago. Financial arrangements illegally were made for a transfer student by Northridge assistant football coaches.

But before you waste too much sympathy on Hiegert and Cleary, look again.

Those statements at the top of this column were made in December of 1985, in response to a totally different NCAA violation.

That was the curious case of Tom Keele--current Head Coach Bob Burt’s predecessor--who held illegal tryouts for prospective kickers. That violation was revealed soon after Keele had been fired.

Hiegert maintained that the two were unrelated, that the firing came about as a result of Keele’s poor won-lost record rather than his poor judgment.

The NCAA publicly reprimanded CSUN and there was a lot of hand-wringing at the time, a lot of talk about the tryout violation being an aberration in an otherwise spotless athletic program.

It seemed a fair claim. Most people were willing to buy it and move on.

Eighteen months later, lo and behold, it happened again.

Again the revelation. Again the shock. Again the question: How could it happen here, of all places?

It was revealed last week that Northridge assistant football coach Rich Lopez gave Sierra (Calif.) Community College transfer Eric Staggs a $300 check for a truck-rental deposit last January with the full knowledge of Burt.

Lopez also paid a $58.94 motel bill for Staggs, a 6-7, 280-pound defensive tackle who later returned home to Sacramento without playing a down for the Matadors.

Both those payments violate NCAA rules as did a discount on the rental truck obtained by Jerry Campbell, another Northridge assistant.

According to the Matador coaches, the money was advanced only as a loan. Staggs paid back $110 but says he was not obligated to repay any more.

“What we tried to do was help a kid with a wife and two little kids,” Burt said, “but I’m through with that . . . If a kid doesn’t have the money, he can sleep on the street.”

The NCAA has yet to speak. It will conduct an investigation while Hiegert and Cleary conduct one of their own.

Only the punishment is in question. The crime has freely been admitted by the perpetrators.

And a crime it is.

Some might ask, what’s the big deal? It’s only a few hundred dollars. And it was done to help a poor kid.

But would it have been done if that poor kid didn’t stand 6-7 and weigh 280 pounds?

Don’t bet on it.

Sure, it’s small time. But CSUN is still a small-time Division II program.

The school has declared its plans to go Division I. What can we expect then, Division I-size infractions?

Last time, there was a nice little scapegoat in Keele. This time the blame, though the large share of it surely must rest on Burt’s shoulders, has to be shared by those higher up.

It was Hiegert who publicly stated that the integrity of the football program had to be rebuilt after the kicking fiasco. But several members of the new football staff have turned out to be just as unreliable.

And it is Cleary, a member of the NCAA Presidents Commission, of all things, who has been the head man when both of these violations were committed.

CSUN’s plans to eventually go Division I will depend on public support and generous contributions.

A lack of faith in the men at the controls of the program could quickly dry up such support.

It’s time for both Hiegert and Cleary to stop slapping their foreheads in amazement at these violations and start slapping some discipline on those below them.

You know the old saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.