Commissioner Puts Blame on Northridge

The commissioner of the Big Sky Conference told the Cal State Northridge task force on intercollegiate athletics Monday night that the university should have known what it was getting into when it joined the conference in 1995.

“I’m sorry that some people did not catch on to the issues in ’95. They were on the table,” Doug Fullerton said at the third meeting of the task force, which was established in August as a stipulation for Northridge receiving $586,000 in state funds to restore four men’s sports that were cut to meet budget and gender-equity requirements.

“You could see then that Cal-NOW is going to be a problem. You were already out of compliance with the rules when we arrived.”

Fullerton put the responsibility on the Northridge administration to choose the next move.

“It’s not my issue, or it’s not [athletic director] Paul Bubb’s issue. The institution has to make a decision and in simplistic terms it probably comes down to what kind of a commitment you are going to make to the football program. Or you can dump more money into women’s sports,” Fullerton said.

“You either bring your women’s sports up or you reduce your men’s sports, that’s the only way you’re going to [come into compliance],” Fullerton said.

Fullerton said he’d like CSUN to remain in the Big Sky.