Phenicie Hold Keys to Season

So you want to be a college football assistant?

Might want to check with Rob Phenicie first.

Phenicie, in his first season at Cal State Northridge, is wearing many more hats than he anticipated when Coach Jim Fenwick hired him in January.

At first, Phenicie’s primary job was to coach the receivers. He then became the team’s administrative assistant, responsible for making travel arrangements, and gradually took over from Fenwick as offensive coordinator.

Most financially stable Division I programs have one and even two administrative assistants, but not cash-strapped Northridge.

Every trip can be an adventure, said Phenicie, who books the team flights, hotels, meals and ground transportation on the road.

“In Portland, our rooms weren’t ready. Sometimes the food is wrong,” Phenicie said. “Last week, we had 17 name changes to make [on airline tickets]. Every time I think I have it licked, something goes bad.”

The Matadors travel with 67 players, coaches, trainers and other personnel to Big Sky Conference games. On flights, Phenicie walks the aisle distributing per diem cash and itineraries. At hotels, he hands out room keys.

“All the other coaches are real supportive and help out a lot,” he said.

But that’s not all. Phenicie also is responsible for making copies of Saturday game videos and mailing them to Northridge’s next opponent, which must receive the tapes by the next day as dictated by Big Sky rules.

That means the Matadors sometimes carry two VCRs on the road.

They didn’t last week, however. Phenicie flew into LAX late Saturday after an afternoon game in Missoula, Mont., drove to Northridge to make copies and drove back to the airport to ship a tape to Idaho State.

But Phenicie is not complaining.

“I just have to be really time-conscious when we are going on the road,” he said.

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The Matadors had yet another KCSN-FM (88.5) radio team calling the game Saturday night, with Dave Marcus calling the action for the first time.

Marcus is the public address announcer for Northridge basketball and volleyball home contests. Ron Brown again was the analyst for the football game against Idaho State.