In Reversal, CSUN May Accept Sports Bailout

After weeks of fierce criticism and strong community reaction, Cal State Northridge is gearing up for a legislative bailout of its baseball and men’s volleyball programs that its president initially balked at accepting.

The about-face by CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson, who only days ago said state Sen. Cathie Wright’s bailout proposal would have “serious unintended consequences for the university,” comes two days before an anticipated firestorm of protest at the Cal State University Board of Trustees meeting, during which more than 20 coaches and community members are expected to speak.

But Monday night Wilson said she is now accepts Wright’s plan, which would restore funding to save the sports programs that were eliminated last month to meet budgetary and gender-equity requirements.

“To have these sports for a year and buy time to consider all the issues is in my view a healthy situation,” Wilson said.

Wright’s legislation calls for the creation of a task force to evaluate the feasibility of continuing the programs and report its findings to the Legislature by March 1, 1998. The committee will consist of alumni, students and community representatives in addition to school administrators.

“The task force is a constructive way for the community and the alumni to understand the complexity of the issues,” Wilson said.

The state budget amendment proposed by Wright (R-Simi Valley) and approved July 2 would earmark $586,000 to restore the sports for one year. Although the budget is stalled in the Legislature due to disagreement over welfare reform, Wright is confident the money will come through.

“I think there is a 99% chance” of Northridge getting the money, Wright said. “The only sticking point would be if the chancellor’s office asked the governor to veto that particular item. But I do not believe that the governor, with all the major issues in this budget, will worry about something like this. We aren’t talking about millions of dollars. We are giving them the bare essentials.”

CSUN Athletic Director Paul Bubb is in charge of creating the task force.

“[Wilson] has asked me to provide her information for the reinstatement of the four men’s sports,” Bubb said. “She wants to make sure we’re ready to move forward just as soon as [the budget] passes and as soon as we hear back from the state. Everyone is optimistic.”

Bubb said he would submit a budget for reinstating the sports Wednesday to Ronald Kopita, vice president for student affairs. Kopita will make a recommendation to Wilson on Friday.

Funds available for 1997-98 would include the $586,000 from the state, plus $131,000 already budgeted for salaries and scholarships in those sports. That would appear ample to fund baseball and volleyball, which combined to spend about $380,000 in 1996-97. Bubb said about $800,000 would be necessary to fund the sports and add women’s lacrosse and water polo to meet gender-equity requirements.

“The only question is what, if any, problems must we overcome to bring the sports back?” Bubb said. “With three of the sports there doesn’t appear to be any significant obstacles. With baseball, we might have a problem with scheduling.”

Northridge baseball Coach Mike Batesole, who plans to meet with Bubb today, said that most opponents on the 1998 schedule already have replaced their games against Northridge, an independent.

Even if enough opponents could be found to fill out a schedule, Batesole said his players need more than a one-year commitment.

“I’m not going to ask any student to come to our school unless he has an assurance that he can graduate [while under scholarship],” Batesole said. “This team was never about winning games. It is about graduating students. And you aren’t going to graduate in one year.”

The most concrete sign that Northridge is serious about a commitment to baseball would be the construction of a stadium.

“If somebody breaks ground on a stadium, the players will come back,” Batesole said. “Otherwise they don’t want to hear words. Promises have been broken.”

A Northridge stadium has been vigorously pursued for weeks by Steven Soboroff, a senior advisor to Mayor Richard Riordan, but his efforts turned to the softball field after baseball was cut.

With architectural plans already drawn up, Soboroff said Monday it is too late to shift the focus back to the baseball field.

“My recommendation would be for the project to stick to the softball facility,” Soboroff said. “Building it on the baseball field would double the cost.”

Despite the continuing uncertainty, several players were elated to hear that their team might take the field next season. Phil Horvat, father of infielder Eric Horvat, a top recruit from Hart High, said his son told Batesole on Monday that he would come to CSUN.

“Now I’m glad we waited and didn’t go somewhere else,” Horvat said. “But now is the time for the community to come forward. All these people who have been so vocal about the program being cut must respond. Otherwise, they will show they never really wanted to do it anyway.”

Wright is convinced that the community is behind reinstating the sports for good. And she plans to keep a close watch on the progress of the task force.

“This committee must be a good mix of students, faculty and community members,” she said. “If it’s not a good mix, if all they do is agree with the administration that these cuts should be made, there will be another war.”