Northridge Struck Out by Letting Cowgill Go

They apparently don’t know what to do with prosperity at Cal State Northridge.

Or how to keep it.

Consider the resignation this week of pitching coach Dan Cowgill.

Cowgill joined the program last season as an unpaid assistant and molded a staff that finished 52-18, a single-season best for the Matadors.

But hold everything.

Paul Bubb, the Northridge athletic director, says there’s no money to pay Cowgill next season. Cowgill says his family’s nasty habit of wanting to eat regularly forces his hand.

So Cowgill, a former Los Angeles City College coach, is looking for another job.

Which is a shame, because Cowgill was extremely popular with the Northridge pitchers and because the Matadors gained national prominence with his help.

Go figure. The Matadors, always struggling for athletic respectability, had all the pieces in place on one front but couldn’t hold them together.

Pretty weak stuff for an outfit that wants to impress everyone with its Division I status.

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No one can accuse Pierce College football Coach Bill Norton of being tongue-tied.

He launched an offensive over the phone the other day on how the media handled the Ron McKelvey charade, especially McKelvey’s connection to Pierce.

McKelvey, for those with short memories, was the alias used by Ron Weaver to play at Pierce in 1993 and ’94 and at Texas last season. He played at both schools after he ran out of college athletic eligibility under his real name.

When his true identity was uncovered while the Longhorns were preparing for the Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31, there was concern that Texas and Pierce would have to forfeit games in which McKelvey played.

The NCAA quickly cleared Texas of any wrongdoing but Pierce came close to giving up its seven victories during McKelvey’s stint with the Brahmas.

Pierce is a member of the Western State Conference, which dictates that teams must forfeit games for using ineligible players even if the culprits duped the teams, as McKelvey did to Texas and Pierce.

Norton and the Brahmas fought the ruling all the way to the Commission on Athletics, the governing body for junior college athletics in California, and won an appeal a few weeks ago.

Here’s what bothered Norton: The media neglected to report that Pierce was exonerated.

Mea culpa, coach.

Now, how about subscribing to the paper again?

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Trivia time: Can you name the Division I school that landed the most men’s basketball players from the region during the last two signing periods--November 1995 and last April and May?

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Yes, this is planning waaaaaay ahead but it pays to be prepared.

This season’s football clash between national powers Valley and Bakersfield is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 27, at spacious Memorial Stadium in Bakersfield.

That’s right, the Western State Conference interdivision matchup was moved up one day because Memorial Stadium, a torture camp for visiting teams, is being used for another function on Saturday.

Besides, the Bakersfield people believe they can draw exceedingly well on Friday, even though the high schools play that night. The place can accommodate more than 10,000 fans.

Valley won last year’s game, 33-30, in front of 6,843. The Monarchs later were top-ranked in one national poll and Bakersfield was ranked No. 1 in the state going into the game against Valley.

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Trivia answer: San Francisco, where Coach Phil Mathews signed four of his former players at Ventura College--forwards Damian Cantrell and Hakeem Ward and guards Jamal Cobbs and Gerald Zimmerman.

Montana State was second with three players: forward Mel Claxton of Ventura College and guard Austin McKellar and forward Damon Ollie, both of Santa Monica College. McKellar played at Campbell Hall High and Ollie at North Hollywood High.

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In the past two years, eight Pepperdine head coaches or assistants in five sports have been hired by other schools.

It started when basketball Coach Tom Asbury left in April 1994 to take over the Kansas State program. His assistant with the Waves, Steve Aggers, left 13 months later for Eastern Washington.

The baseball team has been hit the hardest--figuratively speaking--losing head coaches Andy Lopez to Florida and Pat Harrison to Mississippi, and assistant Geoff Zahn to Michigan.

It’s anybody’s guess who will be riding the next wave out of Malibu.