COLLEGES : Cal State Dominguez Hills Joins Effort to Clean Up College Athletics

It is arguable whether the NCAA can ever clean up college sports, so several schools have taken it upon themselves to make a commitment to taking care of their student-athletes that goes beyond supplying football pads and a new pair of Nikes.

In an effort to clean up their own mess, 72 schools have committed to the National Consortium for Academics and Sports, which has the stated goals of increasing academic services to athletes, encouraging former athletes to return and complete their degrees and establishing an outreach program to stress academics to students who are not yet in high school.

The 72 members of the consortium include such heavy hitters as North Carolina, Georgetown and UC Berkeley. One of the latest additions to the lineup is Cal State Dominguez Hills, which along with Missouri-St. Louis, are the only Division II colleges to join formally.

The NCAS was founded by Richard Lapchick, director of Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society in Boston. Lapchick has been around sports most of his life; his father, Joe Lapchick, is a basketball coaching legend in the New York area, where he guided St. John’s University and the New York Knicks, one of the first teams to help desegregate the NBA.

He established the NCAS in 1984, with the initial goal of getting professional athletes to finish their educations. Lapchick has traveled the country in recent years, speaking about the problems of student-athletes, particularly the poor graduation rate among minority athletes in the money-making sports of football and basketball. Recent stops have taken him to Dominguez Hills and Loyola Marymount, which both entered the fold.

“In speaking with Richard Lapchick we identified many similarities between the consortium and many things which we believe in at Dominguez Hills,” Toro Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said.

“I think our outreach component, our success in featuring two Rhodes Scholar finalists (basketball players John Nojima in 1987 and Kathy Goggin in 1989) and the cultural diversity of the campus drew the consortium to us. These things fit in very well with the consortium philosophy.”

Dominguez Hills already has an outreach program, We Are a TEAM, which provided speakers to more than 3,000 elementary and junior high school students in the last school year.

Guerrero said one area where the NCAS commitment will spur change on the Carson campus is in improved academic services for athletes. Lapchick says athletes enter college at a disadvantage compared to other students because of time constraints created from competing in athletics.

Guerrero said his department has offered academic support and required team study halls, but will expand the support program with the establishment of a campus advisory committee involving athletic department personnel and professors, plus other campus staff.

“The goal of our academic advisory committee will be to provide a comprehensive package of academic services to our student-athletes,” Guerrero said. “The committee will provide everything from matriculation advising right through career development assistance, including advising and assistance for those who wish to continue on into graduate school.”

Lapchick said of Dominguez Hills joining the NCAS: “I was attracted . . . because of the commitment from Dan Guerrero and the school to their student-athletes and to getting the student-athletes involved in the community.”

Although many of the schools involved in the NCAS are powerful programs whose teams appear on television frequently and who recruit high-profile athletes with professional aspirations, Guerrero said he feels the NCAS goals can work at a Division II school as well.

“The key thing is the emphasis on the student-athlete and providing an environment where they can attain a degree and still be successful in their athletic pursuits,” he said. “Although that is something we have always stressed, membership in the NCAS will help us maintain that focus and reaffirm our commitment to that ideal.”

Preseason Prognosticating--Since the West Coast Conference doesn’t play football, it is already gearing up for basketball, having released a summer prospectus and a poll.

To nobody’s surprise, defending champion Pepperdine is forecast to repeat. The Waves return five starters, including WCC most valuable player Doug Christie, two-time all-conference forward Geoff Lear and freshman of the year Dana Jones.

Loyola Marymount, which also returns most of its lineup led by preseason All-American guard Terrell Lowery, is picked second, followed by Santa Clara, which also returns five starters.

Following, in order, are St. Mary’s, San Francisco, San Diego, Gonzaga and Portland. For what it’s worth, San Diego was the heavy preseason favorite last summer and finished third.

Loyola and Pepperdine open the conference schedule Jan. 11 playing each other at Malibu.

John Johnson, the Dominguez Hills golf coach who has been spreading the gospel of American football outside the United States, recently returned from Sweden, where the team he coached won the country’s Division I championship.

His team included two Americans and two Swedes who played in the World League of American Football.

Johnson, who was once a member of the UCLA football staff, will have further contact with the Swedes in November, when they come here for a clinic that will include trips to Rams and Raiders games. Johnson will also work with an Australian team in October and hopes to have his book, “How to Watch Football,” translated into Russian.

College Notes

After a lengthy negotiation period and a stint in the Alaskan summer league, Loyola Marymount first baseman and West Coast Conference player of the year Joe Ciccarella has signed with the Boston Red Sox. Ciccarella was a fourth-round choice in the June draft. He was assigned to Class-A Elmira (N.Y.), where he joins Loyola teammate Joe Caruso, who was a third-round pick of the Red Sox. . . . Another Lion, left-handed pitcher Chris Spears, signed with the San Diego Padres as a free agent and was off to a good start in the Arizona Instructional League. . . . Loyola has finalized its basketball schedule, adding two preseason exhibition games. The Lions will play the Lafayette Hustlers, a touring amateur team, on Nov. 10, then play the Czechoslovakian National Team on Nov. 16. The Lions begin the regular season at home playing host to a four-team tournament Nov. 22 and 23.