CSUN Ready to Rise a Day After the Vote

With distractions everywhere, Bob Hiegert briefly took the bait.

The Cal State Northridge athletic director sat in his office late Thursday night awaiting election results on a crucial funding measure that would decide the future makeup of his program. Coaches, administrators and athletes milled nervously around his desk. It was crunch time.

At 10 p.m., a caller reached Hiegert and gave him some numbingly bad news. The athletics referendum had again been shot down. Hiegert took a deep breath and asked for the final tally.

At that moment, the prankster’s cover was blown. The caller said approximately 5,000 students had logged votes. Hiegert knew better.

“As of 3:30, only 1,800 people had voted,” Hiegert said. “No way 4,000 had voted in the last couple of hours. Nice try.”

Hiegert hung up the phone and chuckled nervously. Minutes later, when he received official word that the referendum had passed, he laughed lustily.

The third try was a charm for Northridge athletics when students voted to raise their semester fees $27 to bail out a handful of sports programs on the budgetary chopping block. The increase takes effect in the fall. Two previous referendum efforts narrowly failed in 1994.

The referendum, when added to an existing student fee of $4 per semester, will generate $1.41 million annually for the program based on current enrollment levels.

There wasn’t much time for glad-handing. With the school’s athletic foundation now firmly in place, Northridge on Friday began the task of rebuilding its credibility and reclaiming lost ground.

Beats the alternative, of course: Eliminating football, soccer, men’s swimming and women’s basketball. A faculty committee recommended eliminating the four sports had the measure been defeated.

“I’m happy to be back to athletic matters,” said Hiegert, who on Friday was in Cedar City, Utah, watching the Matador men’s and women’s basketball teams compete. “I don’t have to spend any more time on the ‘what ifs?’ or ‘then whats?’ ”

Actually, there are more than a few pending issues, though of a generally more-positive nature. First and foremost, Northridge must round up recruits for next year. Officials concede that uncertainty surrounding the program translated into many lost recruits.

“There’s no question we lost athletes who didn’t want to wait this out,” said Judy Brame, an assistant athletic director.

Coaches in the four sports outlined for elimination must begin playing catch-up. The Matador football team had a 3-7 record last year before the recruiting hardships hit. Since Coach Bob Burt couldn’t guarantee there would be a place for recruits to play, no players were signed.

Northridge plays road games next fall against Southwest Texas State, Idaho State and Northern Arizona.

“We’ve stayed in contact (with prospective players),” Burt said. “Lots of the guys we have in mind are from JCs and still need to get their (Associate in Arts) degrees lined up, so that helps. . . . We’ll do the best we can.”

Burt also has to fill a full-time coaching position. Mark Banker, a 14-year Matador assistant, accepted a position at Hawaii last month rather than ride out the funding storm.

In light of the school’s late start in the recruiting wars, 1995-96 may be a transition year, infusion of capital or not.

Said Brame: “There’s a perception that next year things may be rosy and grand. But I see the following year as being real good.”

Now that money’s on the way, the in-house lobbying can begin. All programs are expected to receive funding increases, though dollars and decimal points aren’t set in stone. Northridge programs still will be funded at levels below many Division I counterparts.

“I hope that since it passed, some money goes to football,” said James (Scoody) Woods, a sophomore defensive back. “The program needs funding, it needs improvement. We can be a good program with the right backing.”

Other wellsprings could soon be tapped. Paul Bubb, an assistant athletic director and the department’s chief fund raiser, said a few corporate and private sources were awaiting the outcome of the vote before considering donations or sponsorships.

“There are a number of things in the works,” Bubb said. “We’re certainly on firmer (fund-raising) ground than we have been in the past three years or so. Pieces of the puzzle are coming together.”

Revenue from private or corporate donors are earmarked to upgrade the school’s sports venues, which are considered well below Division I standards. Previously, the funds were often used for day-to-day operations. Rebuilding the school’s quake-damaged track and field facility already is underway.

“We can finally utilize community resources to make major improvements,” Hiegert said.

Hiegert hopes Northridge can erect or improve existing venues so the school becomes an athletic focal point in the San Fernando Valley region. He envisions Northridge playing host to all-star games, high school playoffs and other similar events.

“The Valley doesn’t really have a legitimate facility,” he said. “We’d like to fill the void.”

Long-term implications of the vote could be even more substantial. Hiegert has repeatedly expressed a desire to join a well-established conference and the retention of a broad-based program increases the school’s salability. Previous inquiries have been made about joining the Big West and Big Sky conferences. Matador football and basketball teams compete in the American West Conference, a four-school alignment with no automatic playoff berth.

“We can be a little more aggressive (about finding a conference) now,” Hiegert said.

Much of the immediate workload will fall at the feet of Brame, who oversees women’s sports. Brame said the school may field a women’s soccer program by next fall. Anybody know a good coach?

“I think that in this area, it’ll be a good spectator sport,” Brame said. “There’s an abundance of players (in the region).”

An additional women’s sport in 1996-97 will put the school in compliance with Cal State University gender-equity guidelines.

Members of the men’s and women’s basketball teams were in Cedar City when the referendum results were being finalized. Coach Kim Chandler, whose women’s team is 1-26, wasn’t sure she’d have a program when she returned to school.

“That was one of the hardest things, being away from campus at the time the voting was going on,” Chandler said. “I haven’t gotten that great of a phone call for a long time.

“It’s like a whole load of bricks off your shoulders. Who knows what the implications would have been for this group had (the second referendum) passed?”

Chandler’s players were in the same boat. Or was it a sinking ship?

“I was calling all day (Thursday) to find out and no one knew,” said Carrie Dormire, a junior guard. “It affects a lot of people--the band, the cheerleaders. Everyone is really happy.”

There may even be money to replenish the supply of red licorice Hiegert keeps in a jar on his desk.

“I got cleaned out,” he said. “There was a lot of nervous nibbling going on.”

It wasn’t a feast, but it sure beat famine.

Contributing: Mike Hiserman.