SAN DIEGO COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : NCAA Post Is Sweet Reward

For 10 years, proponents of women’s collegiate sports have been calling her “Sweet Judy,” but perhaps this evening and no later than noon Friday, UC San Diego Athletic Director Judy Sweet will be called “President.”

The NCAA, currently conducting its national convention in Nashville, Tenn., is about to make Sweet its first female president. Sweet, who is in her 15th year directing UCSD athletics, argues she’s just in the right place at the right time. Others before her were equally deserving, she says. But the time is now for women and Sweet, a pioneer for women’s athletics and role model for female executives, appears to be the right person at the right time.

Sweet, 43, was the first woman to serve as secretary-treasurer, the NCAA’s second-highest position, and will enter a two-year term as successor to Al Witte of Arkansas in the top job.

Her selection may coincide with revolutionary changes in the NCAA, with an agenda proposing scholarship cuts, limits on practice time, stiffer requirements for Division I status, a 50% graduation rate for athletes on scholarship, a crackdown on recruiting privileges . . . you name it.

Sweet was a physical education major at the University of Wisconsin, where women’s athletics fell under the heading of recreation.

In 1981, the NCAA agreed to sponsor women’s sports and include females in its administration for the first time. One of the women voted in was Sweet. She started as a committee member and worked her way up as the presiding officer of Division III in 1983. She was active as far back as 1968, when she was national president of the Athletic and Recreation Federation of College Women.

Already controversial QB: San Diego State’s Dan McGwire isn’t likely to make the kind of splash in the NFL that his brother Mark made in the baseball when he hit 49 home runs for the Oakland Athletics and was named the top rookie of the American League.

Dan is projected as a first-round draft choice, but he may have to throw 25 touchdown passes to make a similar impression. Yet his anticipated arrival already is being heralded. He announced that he had chosen Leigh Steinberg, agent to millionaire quarterbacks, to negotiate his first contract.

That initially prompted the NCAA to declare McGwire ineligible for the East-West Shrine game. Then he was cleared by the NCAA Monday after he was able to prove he did not sign a contract but merely revealed his intentions to hire Steinberg.

Shortly after that announcement McGwire popped up on ESPN’s “SportsLook” and fanned a few flames when he told host Roy Firestone the following:

He’s not concerned with how many millions his first contract will bring. In fact, he’s not concerned with money at all.

Should the NFL abolish the in-the-grasp rule, his stock will rise considerably. So will his salary.

Despite losing to Miami, 30-28, SDSU was better than the Hurricanes.

Dietz promises ace of a card show: SDSU baseball Coach Jim Dietz, who remains on the cutting edge of fund raising to keep his program strong, has organized a baseball card show Saturday featuring former Aztecs now in the big leagues. Tony and Chris Gwynn, Mark Grace, Dave Smith and Mark Williamson, along with Doug Harvey, the dean of National League umpires, and former Padre Manager Jack McKeon, will sign autographs. The show will be conducted from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel in Mission Valley, and all proceeds will benefit the defending WAC champs.

All-American birthday: SDSU second baseman Scott Dennison celebrated his 23rd birthday Wednesday. But the greeting cards have been coming since Dec. 28, the day Collegiate Baseball named him to its preseason All-America team. Dennison, a 5-9, 160-pound senior second baseman, is the first SDSU player since Chris Gwynn, now with the Dodgers, to receive that honor. A former baseball and soccer player at Valhalla High, Dennison hit .362 (.413 in conference play) and had 34 stolen bases for the Aztecs last year.

Basketball announcer/baseball supporter: USIU basketball public address announcer David Berg said he donated half his salary from the school to help pay for the 1991 baseball season. The Gulls need to cover all of their expenses (an estimated $24,000) in order to continue. Berg said for three years he’s had the “best seat” for some exciting basketball, but “I’m a baseball fan more than anything.

“I can’t drive past a Little League game. I’ll take half a check for the rest of the season. I feel ashamed that I’m not working for free.”

SDSU women go prime time: Prime Ticket will telecast live a WAC women’s basketball showdown between SDSU (7-5) and Utah (9-6) Saturday. But the game will be played without two prime-time performers: SDSU point guard Crystal Lee and Utah’s Kristi Smith. Lee, a junior who was the Aztecs’ second leading scorer at 12.5 points a game, will be out six to eight weeks with a broken bone in her left ankle. Smith, who was averaging 14.4 points and 6.8 rebounds for the WAC favorite Utes, quit the team. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. at Peterson Gym.