Black UCI Coach Stands Up for Boycott : Sports: Baker willing to pay price to join protest of basketball scholarship cut seen as NCAA racial bias.

Taking a stand for his beliefs is nothing new to Rod Baker.

As a student at College of the Holy Cross, he was among those occupying a building for two days during a 1972 protest of the school’s minority hiring and scholarship policies. So the UC Irvine men’s basketball coach has no qualms about boycotting games, whether it’s only one or an entire season.

The possibility of a boycott by the Black Coaches Assn. perhaps this weekend emerged Tuesday after the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rejected a proposal to increase the number of men’s basketball scholarships allowed at each school.

While supporters of the existing limit saw the issue as primarily financial, the black coaches’ group sees it as another step by the NCAA to limit the participation of black athletes and called it a slap in the face.

“You don’t have to be a Rhodes scholar to see who is hurt by this,” said Baker. “If we (blacks) make up the majority of the pool of Division I players, then we’re the ones who will be most hurt.”

The Black Coaches Assn. has voted to stage a boycott, but the timing and nature of the protest is apparently still undecided. Many college administrators anticipate it will happen Saturday, anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr.

It is unclear which coaches and players will participate. Baker, who has been in almost hourly contact with members of the BCA executive committee, said a final decision on the timing and course of action has yet to be decided.

Irvine is scheduled to play the University of Nevada, Reno, Saturday night in Reno.

The men’s basketball scholarship limit for Division I schools has been an issue for several years. It dropped from 15 per school in 1991-92 to 14 last season to 13 this season--one part of a cost-containment package developed by the NCAA Presidents Commission. On Monday at the NCAA convention in San Antonio, representatives of the Division I schools rejected the proposal to increase the limit to 14 scholarships per school.

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There are many, blacks included, who question why the BCA is making such an issue about a single scholarship. Cal State Fullerton President Milton Gordon and UCI Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. Lyman Porter voted to maintain the Division I scholarship level at 13 and Gordon, who is black, said it is not a racial issue, merely another cost-containment measure that is a sign of the economic times.

But Baker, 41, a member of the BCA since its inception in August of 1987 when it was a loose collection of 30 coaches, says the vote is symbolic of something much more insidious than a minor fiscal decision. And to all those pragmatists, he has a most idealistic response.

“There were a lot of people 20, 30 years ago who put a lot on the line so I would be able to vote, be able to go to college, be able to have this job, be able to do so many things that my parents, and certainly my grandparents, weren’t able to do,” he said. “And there comes a time for each of us when there are things you have to do because, if you don’t do them, you can’t face yourself in the mirror in the morning.

“If you let something like this happen and know that you could have done something about it,” he said, “how can you look at yourself in the mirror?”

Baker and other members of the BCA see the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. decision to continue limiting scholarships as a direct blow to minority rights, a slap in the face, and they’re not about to turn the other cheek.

“If it’s just the dollars and cents of it, well, is that one scholarship going to solve everything?” he asks. “Is everyone going to be in the black--which is an ironic way of putting it, don’t you think?--because of that one scholarship? . . .

“I hear guys on the radio talk shows saying, ‘Oh, well, who gets that 14th scholarship anyway?’ But the quality of the athlete is not the point. It’s a chance for a minority player to get an education, to get an opportunity. Can I tell you that our 14th guy would have been black? Of course not. But somebody else’s 14th guy would have. And a whole bunch of those 14th guys would have. That’s the issue.”

Baker wonders why the NCAA has ignored cost-cutting alternatives--including limitations on off-campus scouting and a reduction in the recruiting calendar--proposed by the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches, and why it has rejected a football playoff, which would net member institutions thousands of dollars apiece.

“Is that fiscally prudent?” he said. “Is it just money? I would hate to think it’s something else.”

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Baker’s resolve can’t be shaken by opponents of the boycott who say current players will be the only ones really hurt by such an action.

“You’re only in college for a certain amount of time, but does that mean you never make a stand?” he said. “You only live so long, so does that mean you never make a stand in your life? I just don’t buy that.”

The Irvine coach says he will hold a meeting with his players today before the team flight to Reno to discuss the issues involved and allow them to make their own decision when and if the BCA calls for a nationwide boycott. The team could play the game with an assistant coach in charge.

“So far, I’ve only talked about it with a couple of guys who have come to me, but we’ll have an open forum and it will be their decision,” Baker said. “It will be my recommendation that it will be all or none, as far as the team is concerned.

“I’m not drawing the line about me, though. I will make a decision for myself and they will make a decision as a team.”

Critics also contend that the boycott will do more damage than good, exacerbating current fiscal woes by forfeiting television revenues.

“When it’s all said and done,” Baker said, “hitting people in the pocketbook is usually what makes them understand the quickest.”

He says he hasn’t even considered the ramifications to his wallet. Irvine Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said it would be premature to discuss contractual matters.

“That’s a very minor consideration, anyway,” Baker said. “In fact, it’s not even an issue. There are certain things that supersede personal finances. And if I were to be fired from this job for doing what I feel I have to, then how important is this job?”

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Baker, who lives in Irvine with his wife, Deborah, son, Zachary, 5, and daughter, Rachel, 3, went home after an early morning practice Thursday to take his children to school and returned to his office with the reasons for his resolve more clear than ever.

“The American dream, as best as I can tell, is that you work hard to make this country a better place for those who come after you,” he said. “My parents worked very hard so I could have more opportunities than they had. And it’s my responsibility to make sure my kids have a better opportunity to make the most of their lives than I had.

“Now, because I’m a Division I basketball coach, I have the forum to do something and I can’t pretend that’s not the case. People say it’s just one scholarship. Well, 12 years from now, Zachary’s only going to need one scholarship.

“And if someone says, ‘Oh, Rod Baker’s only worried about his own kids,’ that’s . . . right, that’s exactly what I’m thinking about.”

Profile: Rod Baker

Age: 42

Born: Philadelphia

Home: Irvine

Family: Married with two children, ages 5 and 3

Education: Graduated from Holy Cross, 1974

Playing career: Roman Catholic High, Philadelphia (1967-70); Holy Cross (1971-74)

Coaching record: UC Irvine (two seasons plus) 17 wins, 49 losses; Tufts University (five seasons) 73 wins, 51 losses.

Attitude: “Now, because I’m a Division I basketball coach, I have the forum to do something and I can’t pretend that’s not the case.”

Source: UCI Basketball Media Guide

* EXPLOSIVE SITUATION: Black Coaches Assn. leader says boycott near “nuclear.” C1