CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Murphy Sticks With Schulte Despite Quarterback’s Turnovers

Despite his recent turnover tribulations and his 1-5 record as a starter, senior Paul Schulte will remain Cal State Fullerton’s quarterback, Titan Coach Gene Murphy said.

With Fullerton virtually out of the conference race--the Titans are 0-2 in the Big West--an argument could be made for playing redshirt freshman Terry Payne, who appears to be Fullerton’s quarterback of the future.

Schulte, who has fumbled away snaps three times inside the opponent’s 12-yard line in the past two games and threw five interceptions against Akron on Sept. 22, is struggling, and so are the Titans.

So why not look toward next season by allowing Payne some more game experience?

Because this season is only half over, Murphy said.

“I’m no virgin to these kinds of seasons, but I’m going to go with what got us here,” Murphy said. “Any thought of winning the conference championship might be gone, but we’re going to try to win as many games as we can this season.”

If there are any personnel shake-ups for Saturday’s homecoming game against Pacific, they will come on Fullerton’s problematic special-teams units.

Against Nevada Las Vegas, the Titans botched two punts, which led to 10 Rebel points, and had 85 yards in special-teams penalties, including two clipping calls, a personal foul and two consecutive five-yard penalties for kickoffs going out of bounds.

Fullerton has always prided itself on special-teams play, but Murphy hit a low Saturday night when Wayne Nunnely, the former UNLV coach who was at the game, told him that was the worst special-teams performance he had ever seen from a Murphy-coached Titan team.

“I felt embarrassed,” Murphy said. “We have to do a better job as coaches. There were a lot of stupid mistakes on our part. I’m not going to mention names, but I will at 3 o’clock today (during practice). We may have to play some more starters on special teams.”

Fullerton soccer Coach Al Mistri was concerned before the season that fans wouldn’t follow the team to Amerige Park in Fullerton, where the Titans will play home games for the next three seasons while the Titan Sports Complex is built on campus.

But the huge crowd that watched Fullerton’s first Amerige Park game, a 2-1 victory over UNLV Friday night, has eased Mistri’s fears. The Titans made $1,168 in gate receipts, “the biggest gate I can remember,” Mistri said.

That would account for about 500 paying customers, but Mistri said the crowd was at least twice as large because many spectators scaled a fence to get in.

“I swear there were about 1,200 people--the field was surrounded,” said Mistri, whose Titans also beat U.S. International University Sunday to improve to 4-5-2.

“There aren’t as many bleachers there and the field isn’t as good, but it’s the best we can do. For the next three years, it will be home,” Mistri said.

Titan basketball Coach John Sneed will begin searching for answers to his team’s many questions when Fullerton begins practice Monday.

The Titans return only one starter, point guard Wayne Williams, and one part-time starter, forward Agee Ward, from last season’s 13-16 team. Gone are the team’s top two scorers, Cedric Ceballos and Mark Hill.

Of Sneed’s 13 players, two are seniors, five are juniors, three are sophomores and three are freshmen.

“We have a wide range of players, and several guys are close in ability,” Sneed said. “There should be a lot of competition for starting positions. Right now, I have no idea who will play what.”

Besides Williams and Ward, Fullerton returns four other lettermen: guards Dareck Crane and Bruce Bowen and forwards Ron Caldwell and Aaron Wilhite.

Forward J.D. Green, who redshirted last season after transferring from Southern Methodist University, and junior college transfer Joe Small, a former Bolsa Grande High School standout, are expected to assume scoring roles.

“It’s always tough when you have so many new faces, but we’re faced with a year when other conference teams have an abundance of returning players,” Sneed said. “Hopefully we’ll be like that in following years, but that’s looking too far ahead.”

A camera crew was on campus Thursday to tape Fullerton women’s basketball standout Genia Miller for a segment of an anti-drug, public-service announcement that will be shown during regional and national telecasts of NCAA productions this season.

Miller, a 6-foot-3 center who led the Titans in scoring (23.9 points), rebounds (12.2) and blocked shots (3.6) last season, is being touted as an All-American candidate this season.

She is one of three returning starters from a team that went 14-14 in 1989-90. Also back are guards Joey Ray, who averaged 4.9 points per game, and Heidi James, who averaged 4.2 points. The Titans begin practice Monday.

Titan Notes

Assessing the damage of the Fullerton football team’s five-game road trip, during which the Titans traveled about 12,500 air miles and 2,100 bus miles: Fullerton lost five games--to Auburn, Mississippi State, Akron, Fresno State and UNLV. The Titans were outscored, 180-60. Through injury, they lost the services of four starters: safety Terry Tramble, cornerback Nuygen Pendleton, linebacker Clarence Siler and offensive lineman Mike Simmons. “It was the toughest trip I’ve ever had physically and emotionally,” Titan Coach Gene Murphy said. “Of course, if we had won four and lost one, I’d say it was a piece of cake and do it again in a second.” . . . Fullerton is off to its worst start since the 1986 team opened 1-5 en route to a 3-9 record. . . . The five-game losing streak matches the longest single-season slump in Titan history. Fullerton lost five in a row in 1975, its first Division I-A season, and in 1982, when the Titans closed the season with five losses. . . . Murphy said receiver Greg West, who was suspended from the team last week for disciplinary reasons and missed the UNLV game, returned to practice Monday and will dress for Saturday’s game. . . . Pacific, which travels to Santa Ana Stadium for Saturday’s 1 p.m. game, has several players with Orange County ties, including starting quarterback Troy Kopp, a former Mission Viejo High standout who set Tiger single-game records for most completions (37) and attempts (61) in a 37-28 loss to UNLV Sept. 29. Other county players starting for Pacific: center Curt Crandall (Costa Mesa High, Orange Coast College); wide receiver Melvin Johnson (OCC), and linebackers Gari Calhoun (OCC) and Ron Papazian (Whittier Christian High).