Burt Staying Upbeat in Wake of Disaster : College football: Northridge coach expects good crop of recruits in spite of a devastated campus.

Bob Burt does not have a plausible explanation. Then again, he hasn’t paused long enough to consider one.

The Cal State Northridge football coach is immersed in his usual late-winter rock-turning routine, an annual ritual that finds the Matador coaching staff scattered about the state, looking for recruits the major Division I programs might have overlooked.

For cash-strapped Northridge, a member of the unheralded Division I-AA American West Conference, recruiting a new cast of football players always is a challenge.

This winter, there’s a new twist: a university in partial ruins.

The Northridge campus, closed since the earthquake, resembles the world’s largest trailer park. Where there once were large expanses of manicured lawn, makeshift temporary classrooms have been constructed.

Other Northridge coaches, most of whom are either in-season or in the middle of a key recruiting period, have been unable to do any more than visit their offices and quickly grab personal belongings.

Under these circumstances, the football team is attempting to rebuild after a 4-6 season made noteworthy by its distractions.

Burt, therefore, would seem to have every excuse to fail. So why is this man smiling?

Simple: “It might take us three more weeks, but we may end up with a great recruiting class,” Burt said Friday.

On Monday, when Northridge officially opens business for the spring semester, Burt expects to announce the enrollment of a four-year university transfer and as many as four junior college recruits.

Among those will be linebacker Albert Contreras of Valley College, who committed to Northridge on Thursday.

Burt also expects others to commit to Northridge next summer after they earn their two-year college degrees.

“We’re still finding a lot of good players who are interested,” Burt said.

Indeed, the earthquake shook things up, but it failed to alter the bottom line for a player with a choice of suitors. A typical recruit’s first query, Burt said, still is “How much?”

“Everybody knows we had an earthquake. What they want to know is how much (scholarship) money we have for them,” Burt said. “That part hasn’t changed.”

Northridge brought junior college recruits on campus for visits before the earthquake. Since then, Matador coaches have taken their search on the road, visiting players and coaches during the day and meeting at hotels at night to pore over film.

Recruits have until March 15 to sign letters of intent, and several of Northridge’s prime targets still are available. Burt said he will not hesitate to bring players to Northridge for on-campus visits once school is in session.

“They will understand we’re OK when they get here and see how quickly things are being put back together,” he said.

As to how he might handle the objection that the Northridge area is unsafe, Burt is sticking to what has become the party line among Matador coaches.

“How often do major quakes hit the same place twice?” he said. “Northridge is probably the safest place in the country.”