CSUN Must Wait or Move Up Level

Unless Cal State Northridge steps up to Division I in football, it must wait in line to join the Big West conference.

That was the message Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell had for the Northridge task force on intercollegiate athletics on Monday.

The top priority for the Big West is to add “one or two football playing members within our geographic footprint,” Farrell said. Only then will the conference add members that don’t play Division I football.

Northridge, which belongs to the Big Sky conference, plays Division I-AA football.

“People in our conference want to move gingerly,” Farrell said. “Currently every school [the conference could consider] is in a I-A conference. That’s the stark reality.”

The Big West membership of Cal State Sacramento, the most recent addition to the conference, will be reviewed in three weeks. Sacramento has performed poorly in several sports, especially in baseball.

“Sacramento was added solely for scheduling and geographic considerations,” Farrell said. “We recognize that Northridge baseball is nationally prominent. If there was a way to figure out a scheduling issue we could see us moving in that direction.”