CSUN’s Best Candidate Could Be in Matadors’ Backyard

This is the tale of two football programs. Half of it is a horror story and the rest is the flip side.

The scary part transpires at Cal State Northridge, where athletic disasters are commonplace. It’s more grotesque than a John Carpenter film. Some people who know the plot still sleep with the lights on.

The other segment unfolds at Valley College and doesn’t call for parental discretion. It makes for easy, relaxed reading.

Let’s start with the pleasant stuff.

Once upon a time, Jim Fenwick was asked to take over the football team at Valley. He built a solid reputation as a coach at nearby Pierce and even gained national prominence when the Brahmas were ranked No. 1 in the nation by the J.C. Grid-Wire in 1984.

It wasn’t long before Fenwick worked wonders at Valley. His first two seasons, 1991 (4-6) and 1992 (5-4-1), were below par by his standards, but things improved quickly. In the past two seasons, the Monarchs were 9-2 and 10-1, and won bowl games each time. Valley was ranked seventh in the nation last season.

People noticed the team’s success and applauded Fenwick. He was 28-13-1 at Valley and 63-31-1 in nine seasons of junior college coaching, and some folks wondered how long it would take before a four-year school came calling.

Meanwhile, the picture wasn’t quite as rosy at Northridge.

There, Bob Burt was trying to keep the Matadors from ridicule. Without much luck. Coach Burt was the skipper of a sinking ship.

On the field, the Matadors were a mess. After five winning seasons under Burt from 1986 through ‘90, when they were 34-21, the Matadors slipped the past four years to 3-7, 5-5, 4-6 and 3-7.

Off the field, they were more embarrassing. Players complained about inadequate meal plans and other shortcomings caused by lack of funds. Some claimed mistreatment by the coaches and staged walkouts. One player was charged with two counts of attempted murder, but administrators refused to suspend him from the team.

The players whined about the student body because twice it wouldn’t vote for a fee increase to help save the doomed football program, and showed their maturity by removing the Northridge logo from their helmets for one game.

Eventually, the students voted for the increase but Burt bolted anyway. He left to coach at Temescal Canyon High in Lake Elsinore and, no doubt, to forget.

This is where the two chapters of this story merge.

The Northridge athletic administrators, in one of their finest moves (and they don’t make many), are considering Fenwick for the head-coaching position. They interviewed Fenwick, 42, earlier this week and he is one of the final candidates.

Dave Baldwin, 40, coach at Santa Rosa College and another finalist, was interviewed Tuesday. Dale Bunn, a Northridge assistant, is scheduled to be interviewed next week.

It would be a major boost for the Matadors if they could lure Fenwick. His recruiting network for area talent is in place and he’s a hard worker who has the tools to rescue Northridge’s Division I-AA program. Fenwick is also an excellent fund-raiser with valuable business contacts.

He’s even a former Northridge assistant, although nobody will hold that against him.

But they might need a large net to catch him because the Northridge job is a land mine. There’s little community support, the football facilities are shameful and whatever money is allocated to the team probably won’t be enough to run a first-rate program.

Others, such as Fenwick, might do so privately. But for public consumption, he keeps a diplomatic line. He says he’ll mull his options if Northridge offers him the position but maintains that Valley remains his priority.

“I’ll worry about it then,” Fenwick said. “I can’t get wrapped up (in the Northridge opening). I’m pretty content with what I’m doing. . . . I want to win a national championship at Valley.”

For Valley, it would be a happy ending. Not so for Northridge.