New Logo Makes Matador Athletes Caped Crusaders

Paul Bubb, Cal State Northridge’s athletic director, unveiled the school’s new logo Friday at a presentation in the Matador athletic offices.

The emblem shows the head and shoulders of a menacing-looking bullfighter who is holding a red cape with “Cal State Northridge Matadors” written on it.

Four secondary markers also were displayed, including the “N” with a sword going through it that the football team is wearing on the helmets.

Bubb said the logo and markers will be placed in the gym and athletic fields, and on uniforms when teams replace them.

“We are very excited about this,” Bubb said. “It’s action-oriented, something our teams will feel better about wearing.”

Bubb said the logo, designed by a New York firm, cost $26,000. Of that, $20,000 was provided by a Northridge alumnus and the rest came from fund-raising and corporate sponsorship funds.

The school hopes to license the logo, Bubb said.

Anthony Marciano, who plays on the Northridge men’s golf team and was one of several athletes in attendance at the unveiling, said he likes the logo.

“I think it’s a great improvement,” Marciano said. “All the other teams have their nice logos. This adds a little class.”

The last logo change at Northridge was in 1990, when the Matadors moved to Division I.

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Bubb said Northridge is nearly finished with a report earmarked for the NCAA that explains why it took so long for the school to uncover the ineligibility of three football players.

He added that Northridge did not prepared the report quicker because he was led to believe in conversations with NCAA officials that the infraction was secondary and the Matadors would not have to forfeit two of the three victories in which at least one of the players participated.

Bubb said he has been in contact with the Big Sky Conference, which Northridge joined last year, and added the school is not trying to delay the process for fear of possible forfeitures.

“If either the NCAA office or the conference office had told us this was a serious offense and they wanted the report right away, they would have had it,” Bubb said.

“We’ll tell [the NCAA] what steps we are taking to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Bob Oliver, the NCAA’s director of membership services, would not comment on the Northridge situation but said sanctions vary with each case.

Kathy Noble, the Big Sky assistant commissioner and compliance director, said there is no time limit for schools to report infractions to the NCAA. But she believes prompt reports are received more favorably.

Northridge athletic administrators recently realized wide receiver Brian Comer, running back Deriek Charles and defensive end Tyrone Gunn have exhausted their eligibility under NCAA rules.

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Aaron Flowers, Northridge’s career leader with 5,079 yards passing, will start against Cal State Sacramento tonight at North Campus Stadium after missing 3 1/2 games because of a hairline fracture in his right leg.

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Former KCAL-TV sports anchor Gary Cruz will be the play-by-play announcer for the remaining Northridge football games this season on KCSN-FM (88.5).