Plan Takes Shape at CS Fullerton : Titans: Athletic department trying to turn old blueprint into modern complex.

When Cal State Fullerton joined with the city of Fullerton in 1988 to build a 38-acre sports complex for $6.7 million, it seemed as though the athletic program was on the fast track.

Two years later, however, an architect’s estimate for the still-unfinished project had soared to $12.6 million.

Faced with that cost, city and university officials had no choice but to cut back. They did, by more than $2 million.

A phased-down project was completed in 1992 at a cost of $10.2 million--more than a decade after it was first discussed. Even though it was considered bare bones, it was still regarded as a big step forward for the school.

The last three years have brought little progress toward the completion of the overall project, and some renewed frustrations. Now, however, the wheels appear to be turning again to further improve the school’s athletic facilities--especially the home field of its NCAA baseball champion and its antiquated gymnasium.

A new athletic director, John Easterbrook, is in charge, and the effort appears to have the firm support of the university’s president, Milton A. Gordon.

The centerpiece of the down-sized project was a 10,000-seat stadium for the school’s Division I-A football team and its soccer team. But the Titan football team played only one year in the stadium before the program was dropped in 1992 on the heels of a 2-9 season.

The go-go ‘80s suddenly turned into the penny-counting ‘90s, and the university, confronted with trying to keep pace in what had become a swirling money pit of college football during a time of drastic cuts in the state budget, suspended the program indefinitely.

Given that background, Fullerton’s incomplete baseball facility has especially gnawed at Coach Augie Garrido, whose teams have been highly successful. The Titans’ national championship this year provided a wealth of publicity for the university.

But it also focused attention on the Titan baseball facility, which is regarded by the NCAA as inadequate to play host to a postseason regional tournament. It also needs upgrading as a site for future Big West Conference tournament play. The postseason playoffs will be held at Fullerton and Long Beach in alternate years.

The baseball field isn’t the only facility that has fallen short in comparison with those of its rivals.

Titan Gym also has been in need of refurbishing for several years.

A refinished gymnasium floor, completed in late June, has made a big difference. The floor is brighter, and many of the old lines on it have been removed.

Bids also are being taken for permanent restrooms at the baseball stadium, the most glaring need there. Easterbrook said he hopes they will be completed for the 1996 season.

“I think the university stepping forward on the basketball floor and the restrooms at the baseball field are significant commitments,” Gordon said. “The restroom project is on target, and I’d love to be able to get at least one of the permanent concession stands in out there as soon as we can.”

Garrido said he was pleased to hear the restroom project is moving forward. He said he believes a mood of cooperation exists.

“That’s the way these things happen, a step at a time,” Garrido said. “I think there’s an awareness of the needs, and I think people are looking for ways to help.”

Gordon says the sports complex provided the university with “a potentially fine collegiate-level athletic facility,” but one that “needs upgrading.”

The complex was funded as a joint-use project between the university and the city. The city funded construction, with the university agreeing to pay back its share of the costs from a rental agreement for the land on which the Marriott Hotel was built. It was, Gordon said, “a great arrangement we were poised to complete.” Other factors intervened.

“The California budget fell in, and the campus budgets went to pieces,” he said. “The whole thing just didn’t come together. But I’ve never been one to look back and cry about things that didn’t happen. . . . I don’t have any qualms about saying we were not successful in completing the fund-raising. I think there were some reasons why . . . the state budget problems and the recession. But it wasn’t because we didn’t try.”

Gordon said he hoped some of the improvements in the complex would already be in place, but in the last few years the university’s primary concern has been to “save, as a first priority, those areas of the university that students must have . . . class sections and faculty.”

Gordon, who believes intercollegiate sports play “an extremely important role” in the college environment, said he’s personally interested in seeing the baseball site brought up to regional tournament standards in light of the program’s success.

The Titans have won three NCAA regional championships in the last four years for a total of nine at the school, and this year’s College World Series title was their third under Garrido.

“The community has responded in terms of attendance,” Gordon said. “I think there’s so much potential there, if we can make that an adequate regional site.”

Completion of the baseball stadium was a casualty of the increased costs of the original project brought on by general inflation and some plan revisions made necessary by soil conditions at the construction sites.

The planning committee eliminated such items as the baseball pavilion, which was to include a press box, concession stands and restrooms.

Even though the university suspended football, the stadium is used by both the men’s and women’s soccer teams, and the men’s program has been particularly successful in recent years. The men’s team reached the national championship semifinal in 1994, and this past season won two NCAA playoff matches before losing in the quarterfinals to Indiana. The first two of those playoff games were awarded to Fullerton, and the stadium is highly regarded as a soccer facility.

The stadium also is used by Fullerton College and Servite High School for football. Both pay a fee for the use. The Salsa also used the facility before moving its pro soccer operations to Mission Viejo.

A tartan surface running track, two softball fields and 12 tennis courts, which were part of the project, are used by Titan teams and physical education classes, as well as for recreation events run by the university and the city. The city also uses the baseball field for a youth league five days a week from late May into July.

“I’m happy the complex was built, and it’s our job to to see that it gets finished,” said Easterbrook, who regards the refinished floor as the first in a series of steps to spruce up Titan Gym.

“It looks like a Division I basketball floor now,” said men’s basketball Coach Bob Hawking.

Easterbrook also is looking into ways to improve the lighting and the sound system.

“One of the things we might be able to do is move around some of the existing lighting to get more light on the gym floor itself,” Easterbrook said. “If we can do that, we also can make it better for television.

“There are some other things that we’d like to do, but it takes time and money to do them.”

Easterbrook said he would like to have some type of chair seating on at least one side of the gymnasium. There are bleachers on both sides now, and they, too, are in need of refinishing.

Gordon readily acknowledges the need for additional improvements.

A state budget request has been on file two years that involves building two additional gymnasiums in an expansion to the south end of the present physical education complex that includes Titan Gym. The cost is expected to be approximately $13 million.

That also could lead to some spectator seating expansion, as well as possible upgrading in the main gym.

“The project was very close to being funded two years ago, and it continues to be very close,” said Jay Bond, the university’s acting vice president for administration. “But the soonest it could be funded is a year from now, and it would take approximately two more years for it to be built.”

The expanded complex would also include additional office space for faculty and coaches.

“It would make a tremendous difference for us,” Gordon said.

Gordon and Easterbrook said fund-raising is the key to most other improvements.

Harry Gianneschi, vice president for university advancement, said there are currently no plans to seek additional financial involvement from the city to compete the project.

“We see the obligation to complete it through fund-raising by the university,” Gianneschi said, “but our relationship with the city is excellent, and if we felt it was in the city’s best interest as well as that of the university, we’d consider that possibility again.”

Gordon said student financial contributions along with alumni gifts are especially important to supporting athletics.

“I’ve had a lot of comments on the opening of the Pyramid [at Long Beach State] this year. It’s a wonderful facility, but the state only paid for about half of it,” Gordon said.

“Athletics always has been an activity where student and community funding has been a necessity. In the past few years, it’s become absolutely mandated.”

The Pyramid was funded by $11 million from the state and $5 million raised by the university from other sources. An additional $5.5 million is still needed to complete the project.

A total of $11.5 million of the $15-million Bren Center at UC Irvine was financed by revenue bonds being paid for by a special student fee of $69 per year approved in 1982. The remaining $3.5 million came from gifts from the private and corporate donors, including $1 million from Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren.

“This is the first year of our student athletic fee, and it’s really helped all our sports,” said Gordon. “It’s definitely made a difference.”

Fullerton students approved a $14-a-semester athletic fee in 1993. A total of around $500,000 raised from the fee will be distributed among the various sports this academic year, based on recommendations made by a student athletic advisory council.

But that money is also helping to soften the blow of athletic department budget cuts in recent years brought on by the state money crunch.

Easterbrook said he’s considering several ways to improve fund-raising. Among the possibilities for baseball, he said, would be to sell priority seating options, along with developing corporate sponsorships.

The athletic department recently added a full-time fund-raiser, Bob May, who had been working in fund-raising on the university level. “We want to get a broader base of people involved, and get the Titan Athletic Foundation excited about the program,” Easterbrook said.

May said athletic department fund raising “has been sort of stagnant for the last two years, but we’re optimistic that we can double, even triple the contribution level to the Titan Athletic Foundation” through efforts to develop new revenue sources. The athletic department has not had a full-time fund-raiser since 1991.

Gordon said he particularly appreciates the effort made by the individual coaches to improve their own facilities.

“I give the coaches and athletic department real credit for the success they’ve achieved with the level of support that the university has been able to put into it,” Gordon said. “We’re trying to do what we can, but we’re trying in the most difficult budget period in the history of California state universities.”