COMMENTARY : Northridge Should Think Twice Before Extending Cassidy’s Contract

It’s evaluation time for Cal State Northridge coaches, most of whom have in the past had their contracts renewed on a yearly basis.

This would be known as sweaty-palm, nervous-itch time at just about any other major college.

At many schools the title “coach” and the term “job security” are antonyms. But not at Northridge where coaches rarely leave and, when they do, it is usually of their own volition.

This is not necessarily bad, just different.

If a school’s athletic programs are running smoothly and headed in the right direction, there is no reason not to make evaluations a rubber-stamp process.

By and large, Northridge had that kind of year, its first of competition at the NCAA Division I level in all sports but football.

The Matador men’s volleyball team finished ranked third in the nation. There was a conference co-championship in football, a postseason tournament invitation in women’s volleyball, a conference title in women’s swimming and 44 wins and an NCAA regional playoff berth in baseball.

These coaches should be rewarded. Some already have been.

Northridge just recently started the practice of offering multi-year contracts. Walt Ker, the women’s volleyball coach, now has one of them. He says he has a new three-year deal. Bill Kernen, the baseball coach, should expect a similar package.

Each has a proven track record. For years, Ker has been among the nation’s most successful volleyball coaches. Kernen, in three years, has won 113 games and this season brought Northridge to within three outs of a berth in the College World Series.

Another who says he is anticipating a multi-year deal is Pete Cassidy, coach of the men’s basketball team. In 1986, Cassidy became the first Northridge coach to be given a contract of more than one year. In 1988, it was extended three years and now he is expecting another three-year deal.

Figure that one.

During the past basketball season, Northridge won eight games and lost 20. Among the losses were games against USIU, the team America most loved to rout, and Cal State Los Angeles.

That would be the same Cal State Los Angeles that in recent seasons has been a doormat in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., the Division II conference Northridge’s athletic programs presumably had outgrown.

That loss, at home no less, was shocking. Perhaps it should not have been.

Before last season, during which Northridge played as a Division I independent, the Matadors routinely finished the regular-season only a notch or two above Cal State L. A. in the CCAA standings.

Northridge’s last great season, even at the Division II level, was 1984-85, in which the Matadors lost to Cal State Hayward in a regional championship game.

The highlight of last season’s Division I debut was a 17-point loss to USC at the Sports Arena.

So what of the future? The Matadors need a center. Northridge has signed four recruits, the tallest being 6-foot-6. That leaves Peter Micelli, a 6-8 sophomore-to-be, as the team’s big man.

Micelli is politely referred to as a “project” at the major-college level. He played in 22 games as a freshman, averaged 1.8 points and shot a team-low 33% from the field.

Next down the line is 6-7 Percy Fisher, a gifted athlete with lazy classroom habits. Fisher was academically ineligible at the start of his sophomore season. He might be a junior next season. He might not.

Still, Northridge boosters, a group lacking the singular influence of a Mr. or Mrs. Megabucks, remain generally enthusiastic.

A couple of years ago, while sitting in the bleachers during a game, one was asked the reason for the optimism. “I don’t know,” he said, pausing. “I just have this feeling .”

I have a feeling too.

Northridge contributors, many of whom were happy with eight wins, are in for a three-year contract full of the same. They will get what they pay for.

But will Northridge?