Dominance Has a Downside

From the first time they took possession of the football, the Chapman Panthers have been a success. Two years ago, on their initial drive after a 62-year hiatus from football, the Panthers went 92 yards for a touchdown against Whittier College.

Chapman was very good that season, going 7-2-1, and was better last season, going 8-1 and winning by an average score of 49-12. But as Panther players report this week to begin preparing for the third season, the question begs: Is Chapman getting a bit too strong for its own good?

Perhaps. It’s clear the program had a difficult time finding nine opponents. Three teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the league Chapman would like to join, have shied away from the Panthers. Another, independent Menlo, dropped Chapman after the two worst beatings in school history.

The defections have forced Chapman to upgrade its schedule. The Division III Panthers have added Division I-AA St. Mary’s and Division II Sonoma State to a schedule that already included Division II Chico State. Another new opponent is Eastern Oregon State, an NAIA team that is applying for membership in the NCAA Division III.

“It’s kind of a compromise,” Panther Coach Ken Visser said. “We wanted to upgrade the schedule and make it tougher. However, there were one or two teams we would have liked to keep playing. I didn’t want to necessarily jump as fast or as far as we did in one season.”

Even so, Visser is expecting big results. “We think we are capable of winning nine games,” he said. They probably need to do that to be considered for the NCAA playoffs. Last season, La Verne--the only team to beat Chapman--finished 9-0 and was snubbed by the selection committee.

Visser doubts Chapman will have a similar problem if the Panthers do well with such a tough schedule. Division III football is dominated by Eastern and Midwestern teams and California teams haven’t fared well in the playoffs, going an aggregate 1-7 in the 23 years the division has existed. La Verne, the state’s last team to earn a berth, lost to St. John’s (Minn.), 52-12, in the first round in 1994.

Visser said Chapman had discussions with several Eastern and Midwestern schools for a game this season, but couldn’t find a date that matched both parties’ needs. He hopes, however, that such matchups will be a regular part of the Panthers’ schedule in the future.

“I think that [those teams] are going to be tough,” Visser said. “But I think the way the programs are going in Southern California and the athletes we have in Southern California, we should be competitive.”

But with being competitive nationally as a goal, is Chapman stepping up too high for its local competition? Chapman’s application to join the SCIAC is pending, but joining the conference is far from a sure thing. Pomona Pitzer, which has dropped out of the SCIAC for football, didn’t play Chapman last year. This season, Whittier and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps decided not to schedule the Panthers.

Dave Jacobs, athletic director at Whittier, says his team is not trying to avoid Chapman. The Panthers were dropped to accommodate Division I-AA University of San Diego.

“They are too damn good, of course they are,” Jacobs said of Chapman. “But University of San Diego is also good. It’s not like we’re picking up Caltech. We just like to play different people.”

Programs are sensitive to the insinuation that they are afraid to play Chapman, but Menlo clearly had enough. In 1994, Chapman handed the Oaks their worst loss in school history, 62-0. Last year at Menlo, the beating was even more severe, 79-13.

Matt Monroe, Menlo sports information director, said the decision to drop Chapman was made by Don Baikie, then athletic director and interim football coach. “He saw firsthand what Chapman did to them last year,” Monroe said of Baikie, who has since stepped down. “I think he wanted no part of them this year, even if he wasn’t going to be around.”

Claremont lost to Chapman, 55-25, last year and Claremont Athletic Director David Wells said the decision to drop Chapman was made in the normal process of evaluating strength of schedule that all programs go through. Claremont, which was 3-6 last season, is rebuilding. “We just wanted to have a schedule that helps the development of our program,” Wells said.

Redlands also lost to the Panthers by 30 points, 54-24, last season, but the Bulldogs haven’t given up. “It was clear we didn’t play well against them,” said Redlands Coach Mike Maynard, “and we were overmatched. We’re going to try to give them a go this time and see if that was a one-year situation.”

Maynard said it’s understandable that programs are shying away from a team such as Chapman--a few years ago he had a similar team. Redlands won three consecutive SCIAC titles in the early part of this decade and Maynard said it was tough to find nonconference games during that time. As an independent, all Chapman’s games are nonconference.

Said Maynard: “I think some coaches are saying, ‘We’ve got to play out of our minds and they’ve got to play crappy for us to have a chance against Chapman,’ and that’s just the bottom line.”

Scheduling is everything in small college football, Maynard said, and no coach wants to set up a game he believes can’t be won. “Some people might say I don’t want to put my kids in a situation where they might be injured or embarrassed. I know Redlands thinks that way. Chapman is that way too. I’m certain that USC even thinks that way.”

Whether Chapman continues its ascendancy and local Division III teams decide the Panthers are too good for them remains to be seen. It’s certain, however, Visser isn’t planning to pull back the throttle.

“I don’t know any other way to coach,” he said. “Mediocrity is not a virtue, I don’t care what anybody says. We’re going to try to be the best football team we know how to be ethically, professionally, within the rules of the NCAA and the SCIAC.

“I understand we are fortunate we’re here in this great location and we have a lot of [players] who want to come over here. I understand that and I’m not going to apologize for it.”

Notes

Chapman Coach Ken Visser said 98 players reported Thursday for the Panthers’ first workout, about 1 1/2 hours in shorts. The numbers are down from the about 115 to showed up on the first day the last two years because, Visser said, most of the players are those his staff has recruited rather than the curious. . . . Among those back are senior quarterback Curtis Robinson, who suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the season and received a hardship medical redshirt year, and senior running back Darnell Morgan, who rushed for 1,289 yards and scored 21 touchdowns.

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Chapman Facts and Figures 1996 Schedule

Sept. 14 EASTERN OREGON STATE, 7 p.m.

Sept. 21 at Redlands, 7 p.m.

Sept. 28 Bye

Oct. 5 CHICO STATE, 7 p.m.

Oct. 12 at Cal Lutheran, 1 p.m.

Oct. 19 SONOMA STATE, 7 p.m.

Oct. 26 LA VERNE, 7 p.m.

Nov. 2 at Occidental, 7 p.m.

Nov. 9 at St. Mary’s, 1 p.m.

Nov. 16 at Azusa Pacific, 1 p.m.

1996 Results

Record: 8-1

34 La Verne 35

38 Cal Lutheran 7

55 Claremont 25

47 Occidental 6

10 Chico State 7

79 Menlo 13

54 Redlands 24

45 Azusa Pacific 9

63 Whittier 7

425 Totals 133