Criticism of Cassidy Questioned

I disagree with several points of Mike Hiserman’s commentary of June 1, regarding Cal State Northridge men’s basketball Coach Pete Cassidy. The one point that really disturbs me is his comment that Northridge will not get what it pays for in rehiring Pete.

That is so absurd, it makes me ill. CSUN is not only getting what it pays for, but it should pay him double.

Pete’s operational and recruiting budgets are not even close to those of Cal State University system colleagues at Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and San Jose State, and look where they finished in the Big West Conference last season: (sixth, eighth and 10th, respectively).

But at least they have a conference in which to compete and two full-time assistants to recruit with, whereas Northridge has no conference affiliation and just one full-time assistant, who has to teach daily physical education activity classes in addition to his coaching responsibilities.

Believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

RUSTY SMITH

Assistant basketball coach

Eastern Washington University,

Cheney, Wash.

(Editor’s note: Both of the above letter writers are former assistant coaches at Northridge during Cassidy’s tenure.)