Northridge Looks in Mirror and Sees Sacramento : Football: Teams that needed student referendums to stay alive play tonight with AWC title on line, then go off into Big Sky.

Baldwin has major rebuilding to do from last year’s 5-5 team and several inexperienced players to start with.

--Street & Smith College Football 1995,

preview of Cal State Sacramento

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Never mind that Dave Baldwin coaches at Cal State Northridge, not Cal State Sacramento.

Close enough. The teams are practically interchangeable.

Both schools had their football programs recently saved by students voting for fee increases. Both hired coaches well after most good recruits signed with other schools.

Short on scholarships and talent, both teams have been on the wrong end of a fair share of blowouts this fall.

Both schools are looking eagerly toward 1996, when they join the Big Sky Conference, the best Division I-AA football conference in the nation.

“I can’t see this program going anywhere but upward, because we’ve already been to the bottom.”

The preceding quote could have come from the head coach of either team. Instead, it came from Lou Patrone, Sacramento’s defensive coordinator.

Patrone and two other assistants held the Hornet program together last spring during a time of uncertainty.

Sacramento and Northridge, which meet at North Campus Stadium tonight at 7 in a game that will decide the American West Conference championship, on the surface have similar programs.

But dig a little deeper and there are significant differences.

Sacramento (3-6-1, 2-0 in conference play) is a few plays from being 5-5. Northridge (2-7, 1-1) has been as close as eight points in only one of its defeats.

All three of Sacramento’s victories came against Division I-AA teams, compared to only one of Northridge’s. Sacramento is 2-4 against common opponents, Northridge 0-6.

“Both coaches are doing a really good job,” said the coach of one common opponent, “but I think Sac has a little bit better talent on their roster right now.”

Baldwin, the Northridge coach, agrees.

“Everyone wants to imply they are at the same level as Northridge,” Baldwin said. “[But] they didn’t have an earthquake. They only had one referendum. They had three coaches who stayed and recruited before [new Coach John] Volek got there.

“I don’t think their cupboard was as bare as people think.”

Volek, staying with the company line, said he is not satisfied with the team’s performance. Patrone, who has endured every minute of the past 12 months with the Hornets, has a slightly different perspective.

“Sure, we’ve had the opportunity to have a better record,” he said, “but for us the bottom line is we are playing.

“And not too long ago we thought we might not be.”

Last January, about two months after the Hornets capped a 5-5 season with a 23-22 victory over Northridge, Sacramento officials announced that football would be eliminated if students defeated a referendum for a fee increase in April.

Several coaches and players immediately abandoned the program. Coach Mike Clemons left to take a job with the San Francisco 49ers. Top assistant Greg Knapp took a post at University of the Pacific in Stockton. Receiver Jake Hoffart and cornerbacks Wasswa and Kato Serwanga followed Knapp to Pacific.

With no head coach and the prospect of no team, spring football consisted of little more than running and lifting weights.

“It bordered on chaos for the first couple of weeks,” Patrone said.

Students were given three options: no increase, small incremental fee increases, or a larger increase.

In a school-record 19% voter turnout, students passed the highest increase, a hike of $15 per semester for 1995-96, increasing $10 annually to a maximum of $45 a semester for 1998-99.

“We didn’t think [the higher increase] would pass and it passed overwhelmingly, so we were kind of in shock,” Patrone said. “Then the day went on and we thought, ‘OK, who’s our coach?’ We went from one dilemma to another.”

Athletic Director Lee McElroy hired Volek, a Sacramento native who rebuilt Fresno City College’s program.

But Volek did not take over until July 1, or 71 days before the Hornets’ opener against Northern Arizona, a top 25 Division I-AA team.

Volek and Fresno City assistants who came with him moved into a tiny apartment near the Sacramento campus. Volek said he spent so little time there, though, that his electric bill for a two-month period was only $5.

He was too busy on the phone, trying to find bodies to put into Hornet uniforms. In less than two months, he signed 31 players.

Naturally, as the season began most observers didn’t think too much of the Hornets’ chances for winning a conference title. Or, for that matter, a game.

After Sacramento opened with a 62-7 loss to Northern Arizona, one newspaper referred to the Hornets as “Sad Sack Sacramento.”

Sacramento went 0-4-1, but just when all seemed lost the Hornets pulled off a 12-3 upset of Southwest Texas State, a fully-funded Division I-AA team that beat Northridge by 29 points a week earlier.

Sacramento also upset Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the AWC favorite, 37-36, on Tyson Becker’s field goal with 16 seconds remaining.

After dropping nonconference games against UC Davis and St. Mary’s, Sacramento last week beat AWC opponent Southern Utah.

A victory tonight would make the Hornets conference champions.

Things are looking up, and Volek envisions an even brighter future.

He sees Sacramento vaulting from obscurity to become the next Fresno State.

On the wall of Volek’s office is an artist’s rendering of Hornet Stadium, packed with 25,000 fans placed in permanent seats.

Sacramento’s home field already has a similar capacity in temporary bleachers constructed for Sacramento’s World League and Canadian Football League teams. After those teams folded, the university purchased the bleachers.

The potential of the facility is among the reasons the Big Sky Conference was attracted to Sacramento, welcoming the school along with Northridge last month.

Sacramento has only 10 scholarships this year, but the number will go to 30 next year, 42 in 1997, 54 in 1998 and 63 in 1999.

Volek has a stadium and an increased scholarship commitment. All he needs to complete his “vision” is some more talented football players to share it with him.

“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life,” Volek said of the process. “But it’s one of the most-exciting things I’ve ever done in my life.”

Baldwin couldn’t have said it better.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Down the Same Path

The football programs at Cal State Northridge and Cal State Sacramento have faced similar obstacles in the year leading to the teams’ game tonight. Both programs were nearly eliminated last spring. They will join the Big Sky Conference, the nation’s top Division I-AA conference, in 1996. A comparison:

REFERENDUM

Cal State Northridge

Last March, on a third attempt, students narrowly voted to raise fees $27 a semester. With an enrollment of about 25,700, that will kick in about $1.38 million extra for athletics per year.

Cal State Sacramento

In a vote last April, students overwhelmingly chose to raise their fees $15 a semester for 1995-96, with semesterly fees increasing $10 a year until 1998-99. With an enrollment of about 22,500, that will yield an extra $675,000 this year, rising to more than $2 million in 1998-99.

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SPRING FOOTBALL

Cal State Northridge

Assistant coaches held practice with the few players left in the program, although they had no system to run.

Cal State Sacramento

No football workouts, conditioning only.

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NEW COACH

Cal State Northridge

Dave Baldwin, a Northridge alumnus who was coaching at Santa Rosa Junior College, took over in May.

Cal State Sacramento

John Volek, a native of the Sacramento area who was coaching at Fresno City College, took over in July.

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PLAYERS REMAINING

Cal State Northridge

37 when Baldwin took over. The season began with one returning starter on offense, two on defense and one kicker.

Cal State Sacramento

44 when Volek took over. The season began with two returning starters on offense, five on defense and one kicker.

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SCHOLARSHIPS

Cal State Northridge: 20

Cal State Sacramento: 10

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THIS SEASON

Cal State Northridge

Matadors are 2-7, 1-1 in the American West Conference.

Cal State Sacramento

Hornets are 3-6-1, 2-0 in the American Western Conference.

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BIG SKY ADDITIONS

Cal State Northridge

Will increase to 40 scholarships next year and 63 scholarships within three years, plus renovate or rebuild stadium.

Cal State Sacramento

Will increase to 30 scholarships next year, then 42, 54 and 63 in successive years. Stadium is sufficient.

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TOTAL ATHLETIC PACKAGE

Cal State Northridge

19-sport offering has a budget of about $4.3 million. Will add football scholarships, women’s golf and men’s tennis for Big Sky membership, pushing budget to about $5 million.

Cal State Sacramento

20-sport offering has a budget of about $3 million. Will add football scholarships and women’s golf for Big Sky membership, pushing budget to about $4.7 million.