CSUN’s Conference Call

Cal State Northridge interim President Louanne Kennedy made the right call in switching the school’s athletic conference affiliation from the Big Sky Conference to the Big West Conference, beginning in July 2001.

How right? The most immediate impediment to staying in the Big Sky was the conference mandate to build a new stadium, which would have required raising millions of dollars as well as overcoming neighbors’ vociferous objections.

Add to that a squeeze on other sports because of budget constraints, a consent decree to improve women’s sports, a revolving door of coaches and athletic directors and a self-imposed probation over NCAA rules violations--and you can see that CSUN had little choice but to scale back its ambitions.

Not that common sense has stopped bad choices in the past. Joining the Big Sky in 1996 arguably was one. CSUN teams were competitive, but participation came, literally, at a price. CSUN can now apply savings in travel costs and football scholarship requirements to other sports.

Kennedy says CSUN will still field a football team and build a new, albeit smaller, football stadium, even though the Big West will cease as a football conference after this year. That means Northridge will have to join a new conference as a football-only member, compete as an independent--or drop football altogether, as other Cal State campuses in the Los Angeles area have done.

Without the pressure of Big Sky demands, CSUN will have time to study its options and consider whether scarce funds might be put to better use revamping basketball and baseball facilities.

Kennedy’s announcement came the very week that the California National Organization for Women announced that, although CSUN has made measurable gains, it still ranks at or near the bottom in participation, funding and grants for women’s sports among the 19 CSU schools that offer athletics. There is room for more improvement.

And now there is time, money and focus for it as well.