Chapman Considers Moving to Division I : Northridge, CSLA, Riverside Plan to Go; Panthers Play Wait and See

Chapman College Athletic Director Walt Bowman is not worried by the possibility that three of the schools in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. may eventually move up from Division II to Division I play.

Cal State Northridge, with an enrollment of 30,000, Cal State Los Angeles (21,000) and UC Riverside (5,680) have made it known that they have plans to compete at the Division I level.

Though two of the schools planning the move have enrollments of more than 20,000, Bowman says that Chapman, with an enrollment of 1,600 and four Division II national championship titles (two in baseball and two in men’s tennis), can compete with what he calls “the big boys” in Division I.

“We’re absolutely considering it,” said Bowman. “We haven’t made any kind of commitment, but I think if the conference goes as a whole, we can do well.

“But if we go independent, we’ll never survive. No one is going to play us.

“The PCAA (Pacific Coast Athletic Conference), or the Pac-10 or the WCAC (West Coast Athletic Conference) are not going to expand and let us compete in their conferences, so enough of us have to go to make our own (conference).”

Chapman, the smallest and only private school in the eight-member CCAA, competes in 14 sports (eight men’s, six women’s) which qualifies it to compete on the Division I level, where the minimum is 12 programs, six for men and six for women.

But not all the Chapman athletic programs are well-established. Several are fairly new.

For example, water polo and men’s volleyball have only been around two years, and women’s tennis has only existed for three years.

The oldest Panther sport is men’s basketball. The program, housed in the Hutton Sports Center--a $2 million complex which was built in 1978 and seats 2,800--has been in existence since the 1922-23 season.

The Panther basketball team has made nine trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs since 1957, with its best finish in 1960, when it lost in the national championship game to Evansville.

Chapman’s last appearances in the NCAA tournament came in ’83 and ‘84, losing both years in regional play.

Last season, Chapman finished with a 15-14 record under third-year head Coach Kevin Wilson, who says it really doesn’t matter to him what division his team competes in.

“Whether we play in Division one or two or five, my priority will always be to recruit young men that are capable of graduating,” Wilson said. “I wouldn’t coach any differently and we’d still have a lot of fans and I’d still have the same office.”

Chapman came close to beating two Division I opponents in basketball last season. The Panthers lost to Loyola Marymount by five points and to Minnesota by two.

“We like to play them,” Wilson said of Division I teams. “We’re not afraid of them at all.”

Said CCAA Commissioner Tom Morgan: “A number of teams in Division II can play Division I teams and do well. But when you play them every week, it’s a different story.”

Basketball would be the program most affected by a move up to Division I since schedules could not include competition against more than two non-Division I opponents. In other sports, the requirements call for a schedule that consists of at least 50% Division I opponents.

Panther baseball has been in existence since 1939 and Chapman has made 14 trips to the NCAA Division II tournament since 1963, winning national titles in ’66 and ’68.

In 1984, Chapman won the CCAA title, but lost in the regional to Cal State Northridge.

As of late, though, Chapman’s most successful program has been men’s tennis. The Panthers have won two of the last three NCAA Division II national championships--finishing second in 1986--and for the past five years have been ranked in the top eight nationally.

The Chapman women’s basketball program has been relatively successful. In the last six seasons, the Lady Panthers have won two regional titles and two conference co-championships along with producing five All-Americans.

Last season, the women made it to the CCAA tournament under a new coach, Paul Kahn. Chapman lost in the first round.

Other Panther programs include men’s soccer, which was ranked as high as third in the nation during the 1986 season; softball, which tied for last place in the CCAA last season; women’s volleyball, and both men’s and women’s cross-country and track.

But, according to Morgan, only Northridge, Riverside and CSLA have shown legitimate interest in making the Division I move, which would take place within the next three years.

That means they have notified the CCAA commissioner of their intention and of the various impact studies they are conducting, which include outside consultants.

Chapman, along with Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is considering a Division I move as well, once they have the information on what such a move will require.

“Everyone is looking for who (which school) will make the first move,” Morgan said. “They’re looking for (someone to take) the leadership role.”

Six conference teams are needed for an automatic NCAA playoff berth, and what better place to get them from than the CCAA, which may be the strongest NCAA Division II conference in the nation.

Teams in the CCAA have won more than 80 national championships and the two schools in the country with the most Division II national titles are in the CCAA.

They are Northridge with 31 championships and San Luis Obispo with 27. Also, three of the four schools with the greatest number of individual national titles--Northridge (88), San Luis Obispo (64) and Bakersfield (46)--are in the CCAA.

Regardless, Dominguez Hills and Pomona have expressed definite opposition to competing in Division I.

“We’re staying in Division II no matter what happens,” said Susan Carberry, Dominguez Hills athletic director. “Competing in Division I is a fiscal thing. Who can afford it?”

Karen Miller, athletic director at Pomona, which has won nine national team titles, agrees with Carberry.

“The expenses in Division I are just too great,” she said. “In Division I, you have to face extra staffing and travel expenses that we don’t have now. That’s why we’re just concentrating on being a strong Division II school instead.”

But Robert Heigart, Northridge athletic director, says the schools in the CCAA are stuck because they’re running out of opponents.

Division I schools won’t play them because if a Division I team beats a Division II team, it gains nothing; however, should it lose, the defeat counts tremendously against it.

On top of that, Heigart says there’s already a lack of Division II schools in the area.

“Our practice games are being cut in half,” said Heigart, who has been involved with the CCAA for 23 years, first as a coach then as an administrator. “Traditionally, we’d play UCLA twice in baseball and now we’re lucky if they let us play them once.

“And if we want to play other (nonconference) Division II schools, we have to go into the Bay area or Utah because those are the nearest ones.”

Heigart has been researching the expenses of moving up to Division I for the past year, and although he hasn’t come up with specific figures yet, he says that financial changes will come in three forms.

The first will be to increase the number of scholarships offered. The second will be to upgrade recruiting, and the third will be to increase the operational budget.

The operational budget is money spent on travel, which Heigart believes will actually be reduced if his institution moves to Division I because the NCAA pays more traveling expenses for Division I teams than Division II teams.

“In Division I, teams get travel expenses and money back for postseason play,” he said. “Now, we get transportation costs for our team sports and only 50% for the individual sports.”

Heigart says that the increase in traveling expenses for conference games will be made up at the gate.

In Chapman’s case, recruiting expenses could be the most affected since the school’s enrollment is smaller and the chances of team walk-ons are slimmer.

“They (Chapman) will have to assure that they have the minimum number of students in the various sports,” said Shirley Whitacre, head of classification for the NCAA. “So they will probably spend most of their time and money recruiting for their major sports.”

Moving to Division I would definitely work for the CCAA if all the schools are in the same financial situation, Heigart said. Size and enrollment will have little to do with it.

“If we have a conference with like goals and financial basis, everything would be fine,” he said. “That way, you play people who are on the same boat as you’re on. Also, the conference can set its own rules (within the NCAA guidelines).”

Richard Perry, who recently took over as athletic director at Riverside after holding that position at USC, said the CCAA is the premier Division II conference in the country, and that it’s time to make a move.

“It would be short-sighted not to think Division I,” he said. “I mean, that’s the only way you can get to be as good as your potential.

“Money-wise it’s better, too. Take a basketball playoff for instance. In Division I, the school can make up to $250,000, and in Division II, they (NCAA) just pay your way.”

The NCAA requirements for a school wishing to move up in its level of competition are not that complex, according to Whitacre.

The school just has to file a reclassification petition and follow Division I rules for two years. There won’t be much difference after 1988 because of Prop. 48, which makes athletic eligibility requirements the same for Division I and II.

“There’s really not that much of a difference now,” Whitacre said. “The biggest difference is in the basketball programs. In the first year of basketball competition, there can’t be more than two non-Division I opponents and scholarships would change from 12 in Division II to 15 in Division I.”

If Chapman decides not to move while three, possibly four CCAA schools do, the Panthers are content to stay right where they are.

“We’ll have no problem getting other schools to join our conference,” Bowman said. “Schools like Southern Utah and Sacramento State have already shown interest.”

Morgan agrees that the CCAA will exist even if half the present schools depart.

“Schools like Long Beach State and Fresno have left the CCAA throughout the years and it has managed,” he said. “The CCAA will always survive.”