CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Murphy Sacks Defensive End Fears for Involvement in Two Altercations

Andrew Fears’ Cal State Fullerton football career ended before it began when Titan Coach Gene Murphy dismissed Fears from the team Tuesday for his involvement in two recent altercations.

Fears, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive end who transferred from Sacramento City College in January, never played a down for the Titans.

He was suspended from the team in March for his involvement in a brawl in the campus pub and did not take part in the Titans’ spring practice session, which ran from mid-April to May 5.

On April 19, Fears was arrested on assault charges for his involvement in another fight, one that resulted in the shooting of defensive end Clarence Siler by an off-duty police officer outside the Carnivale night club in Fullerton.

Former Titan running back Mike Pringle, a sixth-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons, also was arrested on assault charges for his involvement in the incident.

Murphy has not decided what disciplinary action to take with Siler, who was released from the hospital two weeks ago but may not be physically ready to play his senior season.

But Murphy did announce that he has developed a more stringent code of conduct for his remaining players.

After an El Toro Marine was beaten to death during a fight with two Titan football players in 1988, Murphy included a rule in the team playbook that declared “local bars off limits . . . failure to comply with this rule will result in missing a game or games or dismissal from the team.”

On Tuesday, Murphy said each player must now sign a contract to uphold his responsibility as a Titan football player on a year-round basis, an agreement the coach said will be strictly enforced, even for players who have completed their eligibility.

“We’ve always held our players to higher standards than the average student,” Murphy said in a release issued by the athletic department. “Now, we’re just making a formal document out of the behavioral and disciplinary aspects of it.

“Unfortunately, less than 10% of the players cause the disciplinary problems that draw all the attention. The positive things get lost in the shuffle.”

The Titan baseball team will travel to Stockton this weekend to make up a three-game series against the University of the Pacific so that a Big West Conference champion can be determined.

The Titans (13-5 in conference) have a 1 1/2-game lead over Fresno State (13-8) and UC Santa Barbara (13-8) and already have secured the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

But if Fullerton were to lose three games to last-place Pacific, the Titans, Bulldogs and Gauchos would finish in a three-way tie and be declared tri-champions. Fullerton would earn the automatic tournament berth by virtue of its three-game sweep of Fresno State and its 2-1 series victory over Santa Barbara.

The first game against Pacific, scheduled for noon Friday on the Tigers’ field, will be a resumption of a March 4 game that was called because of rain in the top of the fourth inning. The game will start with Fullerton runners on first and third with no outs and the Titans leading, 3-0.

If Fullerton wins that game, it will clinch the conference championship outright and return home. If the Titans lose, they will play Pacific again at 7 p.m. Friday at Lodi. If they lose Friday night, the teams will play at noon Saturday in Stockton.

The NCAA tournament pairings will be drawn Sunday and announced Monday. Eight schools, including Arizona State, Stanford, Wichita State, Texas, Mississippi State, Louisiana State, Miami and Connecticut, will host regionals.

The school announced Tuesday that it will give construction companies until June 21 to submit bids to build the Titan Sports Complex, an on-campus stadium that will include a football field, baseball field, soccer field, softball field and tennis courts.

Architects had estimated the cost of the complex to be in the $12.5 million range, but a school building committee has scaled the project back to $10.2 million with hopes of adding optional facilities when additional funds become available.

School spokesman Jerry Keating said sealed bids will be opened on June 21 at 2 p.m. The bids will be analyzed, and a final contract will be awarded soon thereafter, Keating said.