Few Dollars, Little Sense at Northridge

We are near ground zero on the one-month anniversary of doomsday in the Cal State Northridge athletic program.

Faxes and letters continue to stream in, coaches and athletes (and, in some cases, their attorneys) continue to complain and school administrators continue to fidget.

But the situation still looks bleak.

On June 11, CSUN administrators announced that four of the school’s most successful men’s sports--baseball, volleyball, soccer and swimming--would be dropped in order keep the few remaining teams competitive in an environment wrought by budget deficits and state-mandated gender-equity requirements.

The shouting hasn’t stopped since. And, for the short term, it might even get a little louder.

Next up on the calendar for those who care about such things is the Cal State board of regents meeting at the chancellors office in Long Beach on Wednesday. Already there is a lengthy list of quasi-dignitaries lined up to speak on behalf of the Northridge programs that were dropped.

Indeed, Northridge athletics is a hot topic--even in political circles.

Just last week state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) decided to weigh in on the matter, proposing that $586,000 of a $15 million Cal State University general support fund be used to afford the doomed programs a stay of execution.

As a member of the state Joint Budget Conference Committee, Wright wields considerable clout, and her offer to fund the programs for an extra year is generous. It is also the closest thing to useless.

Although Wright’s proposal came only three weeks after the cuts--warp speed for a politician--it is too little, too late.

Northridge administrators estimate they need about $800,000 to revive the sports on any kind of a decent competitive level and even though Gov. Pete Wilson could approve the budget as early as next week, many top Northridge athletes already have decided to compete elsewhere.

Wright may be less a savior than she is a savvy politician, but her proposal did have one positive effect: Blenda J. Wilson, Northridge’s president, is squirming.

In a carefully written letter to the senator, Wilson balked at Wright’s proposal, saying it would have “serious unintended consequences for the University” and might also create “ill will” between Northridge and other CSU schools.

Truth be told, Wilson made a couple of strong points in her letter. But she also wrote, “When the University contemplated not going to Division I four years ago, the complaints voiced by huge numbers of football fans were loud and emphatic. Our files contain letters and press clippings from sportswriters that surpass those we’ve collected to date on baseball.”

Huge numbers of football fans?

Loud and emphatic football fans?

Surely she jests.

For Wilson to make such an off-the-wall statement only lends credence to detractors who claim that she doesn’t know much about the very athletic program she dropped an anvil on.

Let’s not insult anybody’s intelligence. This we know:

* Football was saved at the expense of the other sports because it is required in order for Northridge to remain a member of the Big Sky Conference.

* Ronald Kopita, the vice president who oversees CSUN athletics, and Paul Bubb, the school’s athletic director, consider Northridge retaining conference affiliation as the top priority--even at the expense of programs near and dear to the school’s tradition and Southern California heritage.

* When it comes to athletics, Wilson follows Kopita’s lead, even when it’s apparent that he’s completely lost.

These things acknowledged, some advice for the president:

Quit checking the teeth of the good senator’s gift horse. If the budget passes, take the money and act grateful.

Moreover, use the opportunity an extra year affords. When you put together a committee to study the future of Northridge sports, make it legitimate and make it work.

Bubb estimates saving baseball and volleyball and adding women’s lacrosse and water polo (to meet gender-equity requirements) would cost an extra $800,000 to $1 million annually. Try to find it.

Your own statistics show that the Northridge athletic programs receive about $300,000 less from the university’s general fund than similar programs do at Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. Making up the difference would be a good start.

One more year might also provide enough of a window to formulate a wider scale political attack. For instance, if Sen. Wright wants to do more than just throw money at your problem, she can explore why CSU officials signed a gender-equity decree with Cal-NOW, then left it up to the individual universities to overcome whatever problems the agreement caused.

Maybe the next time she goes to the state legislature and asks for help it will be on behalf of the entire CSU system.

And if Wright’s short-term bailout money for Northridge falls through?

Well, at least look sincere when you say, Ah shucks!

Mike Hiserman is the sports editor of the Valley and Ventura County editions.