Matadors End Hunt, Hire Dull

Richard M. Dull, 13 years removed from a job as a Division I athletic director and the ashes of a major scandal, was introduced Wednesday as athletic director at Cal State Northridge, ending a five-month nationwide search that included nearly 50 candidates.

Dull, 53, a former athletic director at Maryland, has spent the past four years in similar positions at Division II Nebraska Kearney and Division III Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., where he has served since last year.

Dull’s extensive experience as a college administrator tipped the scales in his favor over three other finalists, President Blenda Wilson of Northridge said.

“There is no doubt about it,” Wilson said at a campus news conference. “This is a very complex program. We wanted a veteran athletic administrator with a breadth of experience.”

Dull, speaking by telephone from Avalon, N.J., where he was attending an athletic conference convention, said his immediate priorities upon taking office July 1 will be healing wounds and raising funds.

Dull referred to the arrest last fall of Matador women’s basketball Coach Michael Abraham on federal drug-trafficking charges, which led to the forced resignations of then athletic director Paul Bubb and his assistant, Judith Brame.

Dull also pledged to heighten the profile of women’s athletics, hallmarks of his agenda at his last two posts.

“If there are any remnants of the difficulty that was involving the women’s basketball [program], or if there are any wounds to heal as a result of that experience, I think that is first priority,” Dull said.

No stranger to athletic controversies, Dull becomes part of a new athletic regime at a campus that has had its share. At Maryland, Dull ultimately was driven from his post in the aftermath of the 1986 death of basketball star Len Bias from a cocaine overdose.

During a campus forum at Northridge this month, Dull acknowledged decisions he made at Maryland before Bias’ death were mistakes. On Wednesday, he reiterated his errors in encouraging admission of student-athletes who had little chance of succeeding academically.

“We made mistakes in men’s basketball [at Maryland] and I was the first to admit that to all of you,” Dull said. “Obviously, brokering and advocating admission of student-athletes that are not proper candidates to do successfully in the classroom is something I’m not going to do.”

Wilson and interim president Louanne Kennedy said they believed Dull ultimately benefited from the controversy.

“This experience increased his commitment to the academic integrity of athletic programs and should serve him well in our intense sports-media market,” Wilson said in a prepared statement.

Dull left athletics in 1986 and spent nine years as a marketing director for a firm that arranged sports-oriented tours. At Northridge, he faces the task of pumping money and enthusiasm into a program desperately in need of both.

Dull succeeds interim athletic director Sam Jankovich.

“Sam told me that this is a good situation to come into,” Dull said. “But he also cautioned me that it wouldn’t be without its frustrations and its agonies. Generally . . . if there there were perfect situations, there wouldn’t be openings.”

Dull received high marks from Northridge coaches, several of whom were in attendance Wednesday. Baseball Coach Mike Batesole was part of the nine-member search committee that recommended Dull.

“We put a lot of work into this,” Batesole said. “We did a ton of background checks and we felt we’d be very hard-pressed to find somebody more qualified, who has been around the block as many times as he has. I think we’re all in consensus that we picked the right guy.”

Frozena Jerro, women’s basketball coach, said she doubted Dull would suffer another lapse of judgment as he did in Maryland.

“If he made mistakes in the past, he’s learned from them and he’s moving in a positive direction now,” Jerro said.

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Staff writer Solomon Moore contributed to this story.