Women’s Teams, Football Score on Scholarships

Gender-equity and Big Sky Conference requirements will be the major players in determining winners and losers when scholarships are doled out at Cal State Northridge next school year.

Clear winners are women’s sports and football. Every women’s sport will offer the NCAA maximum number of scholarships and football will increase its scholarships from 45 to 50.

Losers are baseball, men’s golf and men’s volleyball, all of which must trim scholarships for at least one year.

“In order to increase football scholarships, we had to whittle down some others,” said Judy Brame, Northridge associate athletic director. “The next phase is adding women’s sports so that, in turn, men’s scholarships can go up.”

State gender-equity laws require that athletic scholarships reflect the ratio of men and women eligible for athletics at a university. Northridge will provide 97 scholarships to women and 90.5 to men in the 1998-99 school year, coming within 1% of complying with the law.

This year, men’s scholarships outnumber women’s, 86.4 to 81.8.

Northridge plans to add women’s lacrosse and water polo teams by the 1999-2000 school year, which within five years will increase women’s scholarships by 20. At that time, men’s scholarships are scheduled to rise to 105.5, with football getting 55 and every sport exceeding next year’s allotment.

Northridge already offers 17 sports, more than any Big Sky or Big West conference school.

“We’d like to have every sport fully funded,” Brame said. “But we have to do what we can to stay within the [gender-equity] proportionality guidelines.”

Football is gaining scholarships because the Big Sky wants Northridge to reach 55 by the 1999 season. Baseball will drop from nine to eight, golf from 2.5 to two and volleyball from four to 3.5.

The only men’s sport that will get the NCAA maximum is basketball, with 13 scholarships.

The dramatic increase in women’s scholarships chiefly benefits swimming, which will grow from 7.8 to 14. Every other women’s sports will gain one or two scholarships except softball and volleyball, which each already have the NCAA maximum of 12.

Although next year’s budget has not been approved, Athletic Director Paul Bubb said the scholarship numbers will not change.

Because of the gender-equity restrictions, it is unclear if fund-raising by boosters can be used to increase the scholarships in men’s sports.

“Fund-raising can certainly be used for recruiting, travel, equipment, those kinds of things,” Bubb said. “We are looking at ways men’s sports can add scholarships through fund-raising, but we have to keep [gender-equity] in mind.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Cal State Northridge Athletic Scholarships

MEN

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NCAA 1997-98 1998-99 2002-03* Baseball 11.7 9 8 10.5 Basketball 13 12 13 13 Cross-Country/Track 12.6 8 8 9 Football 63 45 50 55 Golf 4.5 2.5 2 3 Soccer 9.9 4 4 7 Swimming 9.9 1.9 2 4 Volleyball 4.5 4 3.5 4 Total 129.1 86.4 90.5 105.5

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WOMEN

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NCAA 1997-98 1998-99 2002-03* Cross-Country/Track 18 16 18 18 Golf 6 4 6 6 Soccer 12 10 12 12 Softball 12 12 12 12 Swimming 14 7.8 14 14 Tennis 8 6 8 8 Volleyball 12 12 12 12 Lacrosse -- -- -- 12 Water polo -- -- -- 8 Total 97 81.8 97 117

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* Figures for the 2002-03 school year have been projected by the Northridge athletic department as part of a five-year plan.