Cal State Fullerton Gambles on Football : * Faculty’s Uncertainty, Deficit, Tough NCAA Competition to Test President’s Decision

As much as anything, the turmoil over the future of football at Cal State Fullerton has forced a relatively early test of leadership for the university’s new president, Milton A. Gordon.

Several weeks ago, it appeared a virtual certainty that the football program was doomed. An advisory committee had looked at the numbers and pronounced the program’s condition terminal.

But Gordon signaled his strong inclination to carry the program on, and within a matter of days had announced that it would indeed continue. And Gordon put himself squarely on the line with the advisory to the university community that it would take nearly $1.1 million over the next two years to keep the program alive.

All of this has taken place against a backdrop of uncertainty among the faculty. A number of professors have expressed concern about what saving football might mean for academic programs.

Moreover, the task of selling football is complicated by the dismal record of the team, and the sense even supporters have that the team is perennially doomed to being outclassed because it plays in a division over its head. Last season, the team ranked last among major colleges.

These things make Gordon’s decision something of a risk, even with the support he has received from alumni, the Titan Athletic Foundation, community leaders and students. In a very real sense, he has invested some prestige in the future of football at the school.

This risk will have been worth it if Gordon can keep the patient on life-support long enough for the NCAA to change its rules for division play. A planned change would allow Cal State Fullerton to compete in a less ambitious new division without the aid of scholarships.

Gordon might have suspended the program until that change takes place, but he has taken the bold step of keeping it going for now. If he can steer the program to its rightful scale down the road, the inevitably grim Saturdays just ahead may yield brighter days for future Cal State Fullerton teams and their fans.