Sign of the Times: Braswell Will Come Back

Bobby Braswell will return as men’s basketball coach at Cal State Northridge.

At least, Braswell is closer to signing a contract extension to return for a fifth season at his alma mater.

“I anticipate having it all signed by next week,” Braswell said.

Braswell, 37, last season led the Matadors to a 20-10 record and the Big Sky Conference tournament final, the team’s best season in 22 years.

He was a finalist last month for the coaching vacancy at Oregon State and has been sought by other programs.

Braswell said he is “very pleased.”

Braswell is in the final year of a four-year contract that paid him $96,000 a year.

As for the Matadors, who came within a missed last-second layup by Markus Carr of reaching their first NCAA tournament, the team will be largely intact for its final season in the Big Sky.

Center Brian Heinle, the Matadors’ scoring leader, returns as a senior. Carr, perhaps the Big Sky’s best point guard, will be a junior. There also are plenty of young players who figure to be in the thick of things when Northridge joins the Big West Conference in 2001.

The cupboard far from being bare, Braswell said he hasn’t felt a need to aggressively recruit this season. He expects to sign at least one player, possibly next week.

“We’re recruiting two or three kids, but we’re not really in a panic situation,” Braswell said. “We just don’t feel that we need much. We’ve got the majority of our guys coming back.”

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Interim President Louanne Kennedy and Athletic Director Dick Dull will be among six Northridge representatives attending an NCAA hearing Friday in Indianapolis regarding an investigation last summer of the Northridge football program.

Coach Jeff Kearin and Tom Shannon, faculty representative, also are expected to attend.

Northridge issued a 130-page report in August, detailing a litany of NCAA rules violations ranging from coaches operating slush funds to filing fraudulent expense reports. Former coach Ron Ponciano was fired and Northridge recommended two years’ probation for the program in its report to the NCAA.

Ponciano and his attorney, Scott Campbell, also are expected to attend. Ponciano has long denied serious wrongdoing. Campbell has claimed Northridge is guilty of a lack of institutional control.

Northridge administrators do not expect the NCAA to reach a conclusion Friday.