COLLEGE YEAR IN REVIEW : THE NEWS

Northridge physical education instructors and coaches unanimously recommended in December that the university step up to NCAA Division I status in athletics. Football would be the only sport not affected by the change.

“We feel the San Fernando Valley community is ready to support Division I teams,” said Bob Hiegert, Northridge athletic director.

In subsequent months, work began on campus to study the feasibility of the proposed move. Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Sacramento also announced plans to move to Division I and UC Riverside and Cal State Bakersfield of the CCAA were among other colleges that also considered the move.

More than a month passed before Northridge President James W. Cleary publicly responded to the recommendation of CSUN coaches to move up to Division I. At the NCAA meetings in January, Cleary said cost-cutting measures that would be discussed at an NCAA Special Convention in June might enhance CSUN’s chances of making the move.

The announcement of Northridge’s intent to go Division I will not come before June 1, 1988, Cleary said.

Rich Lopez, a Northridge football assistant, acknowledged this month that he advanced money to Eric Staggs, a transfer from Sierra College. A representative of the NCAA said such an action was a violation of that organization’s rules.

Staggs received a $300 check from Lopez for a deposit on a truck rental. The coach also paid a $58.94 motel bill for Staggs and his wife in January while the couple looked for an apartment. Jerry Campbell, an offensive line assistant, secured a discount on the truck for Staggs, which is another rules violation.

Coach Bob Burt admitted he knew about the truck deposit but said the coaches were simply trying to “help a kid with a wife and two little kids.” Lopez said the fact that Staggs was projected to start for the CSUN football team in the fall had nothing to do with him receiving special favors.

Athletic Director Hiegert is investigating the situation as is the NCAA.

Even though The Master’s baseball team finished second in District III, the team was not allowed to participate in NAIA postseason play. The school’s entire athletic program was suspended for one year and placed on probation for another last fall because of what Wally Schwartz, associate executive director of the NAIA, called “multiple violations in multiple sports.”

Schwartz said eligibility standards were broken by six athletes in five sports during the 1985-86 school year. The violations involved one athlete in each of the following sports: men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball and soccer. There were two violations in baseball.

In September, the Los Angeles Community College District rehired five physical education teachers and 33 instructors from other departments it had laid off three months before. The district admitted it did not correctly anticipate its teaching needs after the layoffs.

The reversal had far-reaching effects on athletic programs in the nine-college system. The move allowed teachers who had been transferred out of the physical education department to coach athletic teams. When layoffs had taken effect, the faculty contract barred teachers from outside the department from coaching teams.

Among those allowed to coach was Chuck Ferrero, who never wavered in his determination to coach the Valley College football team. “We never missed a day,” Ferrero said. “One way or another, I was going to coach.”

Pierce College reeled from the effect of the layoffs long after September. Pierce eliminated its football and men’s basketball programs a year ago this month in the wake of budget cuts and in anticipation of the layoffs.

When the layoffs were rescinded, Pierce moved to restore both programs for the 1987-1988 school year. Steve Butler, an instructor at West Los Angeles College, was selected to rebuild a football program that was 28-5 with three consecutive conference championships before being disbanded.

Jim Stephens, who left the Pierce men’s basketball team after the 1984 season to coach the Valley College women’s team, was asked to return. After months of trying, Pierce was unable to arrange a transfer for either coach, and it will be without both sports again in 1987-88.

Pierce lost two other programs for different reasons. Its women’s basketball team was scrapped when only three players signed up to play. In the spring, the track and field program, resurrected a year earlier, was eliminated when Coach Bob Chambers resigned to concentrate on teaching.

Valley College was forced to forfeit three football games and a share of the Southern California Conference title for using an ineligible player in three one-sided conference victories. Valley, which won its last six games after losing its first three, finished 3-6.

A conference investigation revealed that Bart Hornback, who played in one series of downs for L.A. Harbor College in 1985, violated three requirements for players who transfer between junior colleges. Harbor filed the protest after Hornback appeared in Valley’s 50-21 victory over Harbor. Hornback, one of 12 running backs on the Valley roster, rushed for 156 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries this season. He also caught 10 passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns.

His junior college career consisted of four games over two seasons.

Said Ferrero: “We were just giving the kid a chance to play once the game had been decided. What the hell do I need an 11th-string tailback for?”

Keeping track of who was doing what at Master’s wasn’t easy. See if you can keep this straight: Second-year coaches Randy Stem (basketball) and John Zeller (baseball) voluntarily stepped aside, allowing first-year Athletic Director Geoff Zahn to appoint and anoint new coaches Mel Hankinson (basketball) and Pat Harrison (baseball) without any commotion.

Stem said he suggested to Zahn in March that he hire Hankinson, who had a 255-194 record in 16 years of college coaching. After an unusual move that made Stem Hankinson’s assistant, the former head coach said: “I will learn more from him than from pounding my own head against the wall.”

A month later, Zahn duplicated the move. This time it was Zeller’s turn to get the heave-ho. The former baseball coach became Harrison’s assistant after Harrison was hired away from Washington State.

Said Zeller: “I have no ego problems with this. It wouldn’t have happened without my OK.”

After one season with the official title of “interim basketball coach,” Larry Lopez was hired at Cal Lutheran as a full-time head coach on March 20. The Kingsmen were 10-18 under Lopez in 1987.

After 14 years at CLU, Al Schoenberger announced his retirement as baseball coach during the past season. Rich Hill, a former player and assistant coach at CLU, was named as Schoenberger’s replacement.

CLU also hired Crespi High football Coach Bill Redell as director of athletic development.

Developments at the NCAA Convention in January in San Diego had a big impact on Cal State Northridge. Division II schools adopted academic eligibility standards to comply with those of Division I. Beginning in the fall semester of 1988, athletes must have a grade-point average of 2.0 or above in 11 core curriculum courses and a minimum score of 15 on the American College Test or 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

At the same meeting, a proposal to allow NCAA individual champions from lower divisions to compete at the Division I championships failed. As a result, swimmers such as Jeff Kubiak of Northridge, who has won seven Division II titles, no longer would be allowed to compete at the Division I meet, even if he had met the qualifying time standard.

Judy Brame, Northridge women’s athletic director, cited declining participation in Division II as the reason the school dropped its gymnastics program in April. In May, CSUN dropped its men’s tennis program.