CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: THE MOVE TO DIVSION I : IN THE MARKET FOR A HOME : Seeking a Vacancy in a Strong Conference, the University Figures the Big West Would Make for the Best Neighborhood
If Cal State Northridge is able to join a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division I conference soon, it can thank the likes of Notre Dame, Penn State and Arkansas.
Those perennial football powers have started what likely will become a widespread chain reaction. Call it college football’s version of the trickle-down theory.
Since Notre Dame bolted from the College Football Assn. and signed its own network television agreement in February, major college football programs and conferences across the country have scrambled to protect their revenue sources.
Penn State, another powerful independent, has been accepted as a member of the Big Ten (make that 11) Conference. Arkansas, a cornerstone of the Southwest Conference, has relocated to the Southeastern Conference, which also reportedly is talking to Miami and Florida State among others.
Out west, Colorado, Texas, San Diego State and Fresno State all are considered possible additions to the Pacific 10 Conference should it choose to expand (although conference officials said this week they are not yet prepared to do so).
Northridge Athletic Director Bob Hiegert hopes the shuffling turns into a full-fledged game of pickup.
This fall, when Northridge begins playing a Division I schedule in all sports except football, it will do so without a conference affiliation. CSUN’s men’s volleyball team belongs to the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., but its other Division I teams will play as independents.
Northridge coaches and administrators say joining a conference is a priority.
“No question about it,” said Gary Torgeson, CSUN’s softball coach. “From a coaching standpoint, motivation is a big factor. You want to be playing for a championship and you want your kids to have a chance at making all-league. That makes the end of the year worthwhile.
“It will be interesting in sports where there’s no professional sports down the road. Especially women’s sports. Without the recognition or something else to play for, we’ll see how long the kids stay motivated. It’s a real challenge from a coaching standpoint. We’re all human. We all need applause and recognition to help keep us going.”
Pete Cassidy, Matador men’s basketball coach, considers a conference alliance even more important than the construction of a proposed new basketball arena.
“To my way of thinking, that is the No. 1 priority,” Cassidy said. “It helps recruiting, scheduling and in terms of goal-setting it stimulates fan support. When you are in a (conference) race, it’s exciting.”
Hiegert said he believes that Northridge teams won’t be homeless for long.
“All it takes is one major school to make a move and there will be a domino effect all over the place,” he said.
Northridge’s preferred landing place already has been identified. The Big West Conference consists of 10 state-system schools, the majority of which have broad-based athletic programs similar to CSUN’s.
The perfect match.
Unfortunately for Northridge, the Big West has snubbed every one of its advances.
Hiegert first approached Big West officials a year and a half ago. Expansion, he was told, was out of the question. So, too, was allied membership in sports such as baseball and softball.
Last December, Hiegert sent a packet with information about CSUN’s planned divisional move to Jim Haney, Big West commissioner. Haney again offered little hope.
The Big West will consider expansion, Haney said, but only for a school with a well-established Division I-A football program.
“We don’t feel we really need another school to help the conference except in football,” said Jody McRoberts, a Big West spokeswoman. “That’s our weakest area.”
In order for a conference to maintain its Division I-A classification in football, more than half of its schools must meet a minimum stadium capacity standard and additional criteria concerning attendance. The Big West is perched precariously on a ledge in both areas.
A school with a 30,000-seat football stadium must average 17,000 in attendance at home or 20,000 on the road at least once in a four-year span. If a school’s home field has a capacity of less than 30,000, it must average 17,000 at home or 20,000 on the road for more than a four-year period.
The Big West is a 10-member conference, but two of its schools--UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara--don’t play Division I football. That means five of the eight football-playing schools must meet the criteria, but two members--Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach--don’t have on-campus football stadiums.
“Really, it’s up to our other six schools to qualify (the conference),” McRoberts said. “We don’t have very much room for error.”
Only a school that could help the Big West retain its Division 1-A classification in football would be worth enduring the scheduling difficulties in other sports, McRoberts said.
Were football not an issue, Northridge officials feel CSUN would fit right in with other Big West schools.
“Outside of (Nevada Las Vegas’) basketball program, I think within a few years we’ll be extremely competitive with them in everything else,” said Hiegert. “We are now in some sports.”
Northridge’s only men’s basketball game against a Big West team last season ended in an 81-70 loss to Fullerton. In baseball, the Matadors were 8-9 against Division I teams, 1-6 versus Big West teams.
CSUN lost twice to Santa Barbara, once to Fresno State and Irvine and dropped two of three to Las Vegas.
In softball, CSUN was 19-16 against Division I teams, 1-5 against the Big West. But four losses were by one run.
“The Big West is an attainable conference for us in the immediate future and a successful conference for us in the future,” Hiegert said.
If the Big West doesn’t become similarly convinced of that, Northridge’s options will be rather limited. Among existing conferences on the West Coast, that would leave only the Pacific 10; the Western Athletic Conference, with schools such as San Diego State and Hawaii; the West Coast Conference, with Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount; and the Big Sky Conference, with Northern Arizona and Nevada Reno, among others.
Hiegert considers the WCC and the Big Sky as short-term possibilities, but said that Northridge would be better served elsewhere in the long run.
The WCC largely consists of private schools, many of which do not compete in sports such as track and field, swimming or volleyball. Big Sky schools also tend to be limited in the sports they offer and also lack marquee value as opponents, Hiegert said.
“Men’s volleyball is a novelty in some areas, but around here it’s a way of life,” Hiegert said. “Same with swimming and golf. Golf in some areas is a cheap sport to help you qualify (in terms of NCAA guidelines for the minimum number of sports offered). It’s not a fad sport out here.”
Northridge already has declined an offer to take part in the formation of a new conference because Hiegert felt it was not in the school’s best long-range interests.
Early this year as many as eight schools were under consideration for the proposed American Conference, the brainchild of Al Palmiotto, athletic director at United States International University in San Diego.
Palmiotto contacted athletic directors at schools from Northridge to Chicago State, trying to spark interest in an all-sports alliance. After a June meeting of athletic directors in Marco Island, Fla., he settled for far less than that.
What developed wasn’t a conference, only an understanding among six schools to play basketball games against one other for a few years while each waits for a slot to open in an existing conference.
“I really don’t want to get us in a situation that is going to be difficult for us to get out of in a short period of time,” Hiegert said. “The quick thing to do would be to find institutions that are very similar to where we are right now, get them into a conference and stay together.”
But that might not be in the school’s best interests.
NCAA rules stipulate that the champion of a new Division I conference will not gain an automatic berth into the lucrative Division I men’s basketball tournament until at least six of its members have been together for eight years.
If Northridge were to join an existing conference, it would be able to share in the tournament spoils immediately.
However, NCAA tournament money will not be an overriding factor as CSUN shops around, Hiegert said.
“There are a lot of conferences which exist for one sport--basketball,” he said. “They’re not looking at the quality of the program across the board.
“Following a model that concentrates on one sport would be a disservice to the normal student in this area.”
GRADUATION DAY
Cal State Northridge: the Move to Division I.
* WEDNESDAY: A look at the objectives of the school and its expectations as the athletics program moves to Division I in all sports but football; a chronology of the move.
* TODAY: In the market for a home--The prospects of a permanent conference affiliation for all sports; The dating game--The scheduling problems CSUN coaches faced trying to court opponents for an independent in Division I.
* FRIDAY: The young and the restless--The outlook for the basketball team in Division I; On the outside looking in--The football program will remain in Division II--but perhaps not for long.
* SATURDAY: Venues--A look at the school’s athletic facilities and those in the planning stages; Advance party--Several people outside the athletic department are playing key roles in the move to Division I.
* SUNDAY: Brothers in arms--CSUN is not alone in the move from Division II to Division I, State University of New York, Buffalo, will make the leap in 1991-92; Shining example--Fresno State is a model athletic program within the state university system.
