CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK / SCOTT MILLER : Mistri’s Ears Ringing From Playoff Success

Al Mistri’s phone rang Monday morning.

It was former Titan football Coach Gene Murphy, the man who hired Mistri to coach men’s soccer at Fullerton in 1981 and now one of many calling to congratulate him on leading the Titans to their first NCAA tournament Final Four.

Mistri’s phone rang again Monday afternoon. It was a female voice calling to say, “Please hold for President Gordon.”

And a minute later, Mistri found himself talking to Fullerton President Milton Gordon.

“He was very fired up,” Mistri said. “He said he couldn’t go to North Carolina and was very apologetic. But it was very, very decent of him to call.”

Suddenly, with an NCAA semifinal game against South Carolina on Friday, everybody wants to talk with Mistri.

Recruits, for instance. High school seniors who used to say “Cal State, uh, where?” now are taking the initiative and telephoning.

“It’s very fashionable to be a Titan now,” said Mistri, who is quickly developing cauliflower ear. “Very fashionable.

He paused, looked around his tiny office tucked away in the corner of what used to be the Titan Football House, and smiled. He was surrounded by three or four of his players, who were enjoying an off day and dreaming of the next few days.

“It seems as though what athletics sometimes can do for a university is happening to us right now,” Mistri said. “It’s something to be proud of.

“I mean, South Carolina, Virginia and Princeton (the other Final Four teams). . . . Well, by word association, Fullerton does not come to mind. At least, not to me. But we play as good of ball as anyone else. It is well-deserved.”

This weekend’s games are sold out, 11,000 strong. Mistri also received a few calls from North Carolina on Monday morning from strangers wanting tickets. No way would Fullerton use all 375 tickets the Titans were allotted, these people figured.

Then Mistri’s phone rang again.

“The NCAA called and said don’t even think about selling those tickets,” Mistri said.

Instead, Mistri must hand deliver any unused tickets to the NCAA, which heavily monitors them.

Mistri’s phone rang into the night on Monday. Not having played South Carolina, he doesn’t know what to expect in Friday’s game. So he telephoned several of his coaching friends to piece together a scouting report.

“I know very little about them,” he said. “They beat Santa Clara, which we were not able to do, but they lost to North Carolina (the Titans defeated the Tar Heels).

“According to the statistics, they’ve scored oh, geez, a ton of goals. It takes us two seasons to score that many goals.”

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Don’t be fooled by the Woe Is Us talk. In transforming itself into The Little Team That Could, Fullerton has shown a remarkable ability to sneak up on people. And it certainly isn’t all dumb luck.

Saturday’s victory over San Francisco proved that. Titan assistant Bob Ammann scouted the San Francisco-St. Louis game the previous week and came back with a glowing scouting report.

“If ever a game plan was executed without a problem, this was it,” Mistri said after the 1-0 victory. “Bob Ammann came back and said we’ve got to play drop-back defense and (San Francisco) was totally unprepared for it.

“I’m just elated. In soccer, it doesn’t happen very often that all the preparation you do works out just the way it is supposed to.”

Goalkeeper Mike Ammann, Bob’s brother, also said the game preparation was perfect.

“To a T,” he said. “Everything he told us, they did. It was incredible.”

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While nearly everyone else has already played at least one real game, the Fullerton men’s basketball team didn’t finish its two-game exhibition schedule until Tuesday night.

But although only two other Big West teams besides the Titans have not opened their seasons--Nevada Las Vegas and Utah State--Fullerton Coach Brad Holland doesn’t mind.

“I wish we had two or three more weeks of practice,” said Holland, whose team opens on Saturday at Wyoming. “A lot of basketball is timing and angles and learning how to play with teammates. We’ve got a long ways to go to figure that out.”

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Judi Garman, the all-time winningest collegiate softball coach, will be honored on Saturday in New Jersey for crossing the 900-victories mark.

Each fall, the National Softball Coaches’ Assn. honors coaches who reached victory milestones during the previous season. Garman enters the 1994 season with a record of 905-256-4.

She will receive a Victory Club award at the Association’s 1993 National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J.

Titan Notes

Outfielder Dante Powell, who batted .335 with 12 home runs and 57 RBIs last year, suffered a fractured little finger while breaking up a fight at the Rams-Washington game on Nov. 21. Powell’s hand is in a cast, although assistant coach Rick Vanderhook said Powell is expected to be healthy for the start of practice Jan. 6. In other baseball news, outfielder Kyle Evans, who batted .3317 in only 28 games before being sidelined because of health reasons, has transferred to Rancho Santiago College. . . . Soccer Coach Al Mistri is attempting to make sure that this weekend’s Final Four isn’t all work for the Titans. “For a California born and raised student, (North Carolina) is a significantly different area,” Mistri said. “I intend to show them the area as much as I can. Davidson (College) is in a beautiful setting, and I want to make sure they get a good taste of what life there is.”. . . . The Titans will be without Matt Bradbury, who is tied with Eddie Soto for the team lead with 22 points, against South Carolina; he received his third yellow card Saturday, making him ineligible for one game. He could return for the final. . . . The women’s basketball team, which lost its opener on Friday against Arizona, 90-77, is on the road tonight at Cal State Northridge and Saturday at Fresno State. In that Arizona game, junior Autumn Hollyfield, a transfer from Sierra Community College, set a Titan record with eight three-point field goals. She attempted 24 three-pointers. . . . James Boston, a walk-on guard, quit the Titan men’s team this week. With three players out with injuries, the Titans have only nine healthy bodies.