Ass’ad Cashes Out at Northridge

Marwan Ass’ad, coach of the Cal State Northridge men’s soccer team, resigned his post Friday to accept a position as a director and club coach for a West Valley-based youth league.

For the love and for the money, Ass’ad said his decision to leave the program he nurtured so tirelessly and enthusiastically for 16 seasons was two pronged.

Long considered something a Pied Piper for soccer in the San Fernando Valley, Ass’ad said he was yearning for something to call his very own.

“When you coach soccer, you always dream about establishing your own club,” he said.

Some would say he had that at Northridge, but Ass’ad, 44, tired of the annual challenge of raising money for his under-funded program--and himself.

Although he has not signed a contract, Ass’ad said he has reached an agreement with the West Valley Soccer League that will pay him about triple the $18,000 base salary he had at Northridge.

“I have a great opportunity in youth soccer and I can’t let it go,” Ass’ad said.

His resignation, which takes effect Dec. 31, was announced at the end of a week in which Northridge campus police interviewed Matador players and some of Ass’ad’s coaching associates about alleged drinking and drug use within the team.

A Northridge coach and a former assistant coach told The Times that police asked them specifically whether Ass’ad drank alcohol and did drugs at parties with players.

Ronald Kopita, Northridge’s vice president for student affairs, said Friday that CSUN police recently obtained new information about an alleged off-campus incident almost two years ago. He said the investigation was reopened this week, but that police again “came up with a dead end. [The alleged incident] remains unsolved.”

Campus police supervisors did not return phone messages this week.

Ass’ad denied any misconduct. He said he had been contacted by players who were questioned by police.

“I’m willing to take a test anywhere, any time,” Ass’ad said. “I have nothing to hide personally.”

At least two Northridge players were disappointed by their coach’s decision to leave.

“I had a conversation with him today and afterward I was kind of sad because we’ll probably never be out on the field in a player-coach relationship,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, a junior defender who as a youth played club soccer for Ass’ad. “But at the same time I’m happy he’s doing what’s best for himself.”

Said Mike Preis, a junior forward: “Marwan is my mentor and he’s the only reason I chose to go to Northridge. He might not be my coach at Northridge anymore but I’ll continue learning from him forever.

“I was surprised and I don’t know what to say. But I love him and I respect his decision.”

Ass’ad’s final team at Northridge was among his best. The Matadors opened the season 0-4, but then won 12 of 13 games including their last six in a row.

Ass’ad said annually charting the progress of his teams was part of his frustration at Northridge.

“At the end of the season my teams always were playing their best soccer,” he said. “By the time they’re turned on the season is over. I hate that.

“In youth [soccer], the season is 12 months. It never ends.”

Ass’ad had a record of 192-102-26 at Northridge. He inherited an 8-13 team in April of 1983 and turned it into a 12-4-5 winner his first year. What came next was a string of six consecutive Division II California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships--and a burgeoning love affair with a fast-growing Valley soccer community.

A shameless promoter, Ass’ad fostered strong ties with youth soccer organizations and made sure he recruited top local talent. As a result, Northridge’s best Division II teams challenged the Matador football team in home attendance.

In 1988, the Division II championship between Northridge and Florida Institute of Technology at North Campus Stadium drew 4,588 paid customers. The same month, UCLA, one of the nation’s best Division I teams, drew barely more than 1,000 for a home playoff game.

Matador players received loud and high-pitched ovations from their largely very young throng of fans, but the loudest applause was always saved for the coach.

“With Marwan, soccer was always about having a good time and the love of the game,” Fitzpatrick said.

Several of Ass’ad’s Northridge players have gone on to become coaches themselves, including Jose Perez of Louisville High, William Diaz and Terry Davila of Reseda and Kris Swanson of Alemany.

“Everything I learned about coaching I learned at Northridge,” Ass’ad said. “I kind of used the players as guinea pigs. . . . But in the end I produced some great coaches for the area.”

For the West Valley league, Ass’ad will coach two age-group club teams and supervise all of the organization’s coaches.

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Staff writer Tris Wykes contributed to this story.