USC’s Shumard Named Titans’ Athletic Director : Fullerton: Trojan assistant since 1988 chosen to replace Ed Carroll, who left this spring for UCI.

Bill Shumard, an assistant athletic director at USC the past three years who worked for the Dodgers for 13 years before that, was named athletic director at Cal State Fullerton Friday.

By late afternoon, he and a group of coaches and staff had gathered at the stadium construction site on the Fullerton campus, surveying the project that Shumard hopes will be a pivotal factor in reversing the fortunes of a troubled athletic program.

His predecessor, Ed Carroll, cited job stress in resigning this spring to take a job as an assistant athletic director at rival UC Irvine, and the future of the school’s football program is uncertain even as the 10,000-seat stadium moves toward completion.

“I recognize there has been a financial battle, an identity battle,” Shumard said. “Knowing they’re near completion of the sports complex, which will give us excellent facilities in all sports, that’s a tremendous plus.

“I think there are a tremendous amount of positive things happening or about to happen at this university.”

Shumard, 40, who lives in Brea, was a popular choice among coaches and staff for the job.

“The thing I think everybody agreed upon is that we needed someone who could go out and move their feet and raise money,” said football Coach Gene Murphy, who has known Shumard for about 10 years. “With USC, and with the Dodgers in community relations, he’s always done a great job. He brings in a new supply of contacts we’ve never had before.”

Shumard said that being athletic director for a major college athletic program has been his “lifelong professional goal.”

“Frankly, I always hoped I would have the opportunity to work here,” he said. “Because of where we live, and having children in the process of growing up, this is where I set my sights. I’m a graduate of the Cal State system (Cal State Long Beach, in 1972), and my desire was to get back to this level.”

Shumard, who left a job as the Dodgers’ director of community services and special events in 1988 to coordinate USC’s centennial celebration of its athletics heritage, was one of five candidates interviewed by a 13-member search committee. He was appointed by university President Milton Gordon.

“Among Bill Shumard’s impressive qualities are strong leadership skills, experience in a strong Division I school, familiarity with Orange County and surrounding communities, and success in raising external funds,” Gordon said in a news release. “He is the standout top choice for the position, and was unanimously recommended by the search committee.”

USC Athletic Director Mike McGee said Shumard will be missed.

“We hate to lose him, but it’s such a great opportunity for him,” McGee said. “He’s done an excellent job here at USC. I’m sure the people at Cal State Fullerton will come to appreciate him as we have. He’s a high-energy, personable administrator and just an outstanding person.”

Shumard brings with him from USC a record as an outstanding fund-raiser, as he and four other administrators directed a program that has brought in about $7 million per year in recent years.

Fullerton’s Titan Athletic Foundation set a record in its recent drive by raising $505,000 in pledges. Shumard, whose projects at USC included a dinner for 3,000 in the Coliseum, seeks to take advantage of the new sports complex to raise money through various types of advertising, as well as through name plates in recognition of donors.

He said he sees the stadium as a focal point for involving alumni, and building the department’s reputation.

“An athletic department run with ethical and financial responsibility can mirror a successful university,” he said. “It can bring people to the university in a myriad of ways. I think there are 65,000 Cal State Fullerton graduates living in the Los Angeles area. We’ve got the opportunity to use this to bring them back to campus.

“If we have a program that is competitive and makes an honest effort at moving athletes toward graduation, I think that’s a lot to stand up and cheer about.”

Shumard, who accepted Fullerton’s offer the same week football power Fresno State announced it was leaving the Big West Conference for the Western Athletic Conference, said the announcement did not make him hesitate in taking the job.

“Obviously, the situation with Fresno State will have ramifications for the Big West Conference,” he said. “It will magnify the football situation. The Fresno State situation did not disturb me. This conference has such a great reputation, and I’m led to believe in my discussions with the conference office that football will find its level and be competitive just as the other sports have been.”

Fullerton was on the verge of announcing it had dropped football because of a budget crisis in January, and was dealt another blow to its Division I-A future when Fresno State’s departure increased the likelihood that the Big West will eventually play football at a lower level, perhaps the NCAA’s planned Division I-AAA.

Shumard said he is committed to playing Division I-A, for now.

Shumard began his career as a sports information director at Long Beach and Cal State Los Angeles. He worked with the Dodgers in a variety of capacities, beginning in media relations and rising to director of community services and special events. While at USC, he coordinated the year-long centennial celebration, and was involved in fund-raising, among other duties. He was program coordinator for the Sports Management Institute, a joint venture of USC, Notre Dame and North Carolina that seeks to enhance the training of sports management professionals.

One of his last duties for USC was as tournament manager for the recent NCAA baseball regional at the school. As he stood near the top of the football stadium’s stands looking toward the baseball stadium Friday, Shumard was already envisioning an NCAA regional at Fullerton.

“That’s what I was thinking about when I was working on the one at SC,” he said. “That we could do the same thing over here.”

THE SHUMARD FILE: BILL SHUMARD

Age: 40

Experience: assistant athletic director, USC, 1988-91; director of community services and special events, among other titles, Los Angeles Dodgers, 1975-88; instructor and sports information director, Cal State Los Angeles, 1974-75; sports information director, Cal State Long Beach, 1973.

Education: B.A. in journalism, Cal State Long Beach, 1972; professional certificate, Sports Management Institute, 1990.

Family: Wife, Kim. Sons, David Pasino, 20; Matt, 16; Mike, 13.

Quote: “People are so close to this that they probably think their problems are unique. They’re not. The financial struggles everywhere are the same story. We worked very hard at SC every year to make budget.”