Northridge Uses Silencer Again
“Pssst. Edniesha Curry quit the team. Pass it on.”
That’s almost how you get information about Cal State Northridge athletics.
Through the grapevine. At the barber shop. From someone who knows someone who knows someone. Every which way but from the school.
Curry, the high-scoring junior guard on the women’s basketball team and perhaps the best player ever at Northridge, quit the program on Monday for what Coach Frozena Jerro said were personal reasons.
The team’s leading player walked out, went bye-bye, and not a word to the public from anyone at Northridge for two more days.
Not a peep, not a hint, not a smoke signal until Wednesday night, when the Matadors hosted Cal State Sacramento in a Big Sky Conference game.
By then, there was no hiding it anymore. Curry was not on the floor, as everyone could plainly see.
Was she sick? Hurt? Abducted by aliens?
Some might argue it’s no big deal, that the information eventually got out, that this wasn’t a famous player requiring an immediate bulletin. It wasn’t Kobe Bryant leaving the Lakers, for goodness sake.
They are legitimate arguments, save for a couple of things: There was no honesty, no integrity in the manner the news came out.
No heads-up to the people who attended the game, some perhaps expecting to see Curry play for the first time, or to the Sacramento players and coaches.
Everyone deserved the courtesy of knowing about Curry’s status long before game time. It was the ethical thing to do, the proper procedure to follow.
Imagine if UCLA didn’t promptly tell anyone that star point guard Erica Gomez quit the team. Then again, Northridge never has been confused with UCLA, and apparently doesn’t want to be. Or with any other big-time program.
Which is funny, since Dick Dull was brought in as athletic director in July to, among other things, lend more credibility to a program woefully short on it. It seems Dull, a former athletic director at Maryland, still has plenty of work to do in that area.
Matt Monroe, who handles women’s basketball information at Northridge, said nobody told him Curry quit until Wednesday afternoon. He didn’t know if it was by design or an oversight.
“I guess it was an internal thing with the basketball team,” Monroe said.
Jerro and Dull were not available for comment. Monroe said an athletic department policy prevents coaches from speaking to reporters on game days. The Matadors hosted Weber State on Thursday night.
But others at the school should have made sure the information about Curry quitting was released promptly and professionally.
Instead, they pulled another hush job, like in 1996 with football player Shayne Blakey. The guy was shot at an off-campus party and former coach Dave Baldwin and others covered up the incident, saying Blakey had been sidelined by an appendectomy.
Four years later, it’s a different cast but the secretive mentality remains.
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The first day recruits can sign letters of intent with four-year schools is Wednesday, but already many top football players from the region have committed to schools other than Northridge.
So far, only defensive back Josh Golden and linebacker Ben Lorier from Westlake High are headed for Northridge. Golden’s brother, Jeremy, is a Matador safety.
Coach Jeff Kearin said it’s not for lack of effort by his staff.
“We go to games and evaluate Valley kids best we can,” Kearin said. “To say we don’t recruit in the Valley is not a fair representation.
“The fact is the elite [colleges] will take [top players] and some kids in the [region] don’t consider us a good enough option.”
Perhaps the rumors floating around the last few weeks about Northridge leaving the Big Sky in 2001 for the Big West, which doesn’t have football, and playing as an independent have soured some recruits.
Or perhaps it’s all the talk about Northridge downsizing football and significantly decreasing scholarships to help the school meet gender-equity guidelines that is scaring off some recruits.
Whatever the reason, Kearin said he’s just trying to field another competitive team next season. And that means getting the best players available.
“To be competitive, we have to do a thorough job of recruiting from Fresno to San Diego,” Kearin said. “We just evaluate talent from all over Southern California.”
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Kearin is aggressively recruiting quarterback Jermaine Guinyard of Marian Catholic High in San Diego.
Guinyard led Marian to San Diego Section Division IV titles the last two seasons.
“He’s Marcus Brady reincarnate,” Kearin said. “He’s a runner and a thrower and an athlete.”
Brady, Northridge’s standout quarterback, attended San Diego Morse.
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It’s payback time for teams playing the Ventura men’s basketball team.
Last week, Moorpark defeated the Pirates for the first time since 1986. A few days before, Oxnard did the same for the first time in more than a decade.
“I don’t know how long it’s been,” said Coach Ron McClurkin of Oxnard, in his seventh season. “All I know is we beat them, baby.”
Ventura discontinued the program the last two seasons because of several rules violations.
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Coach Ned Mircetic would reach 300 victories if the Ventura College women’s basketball team ends the regular season 33-0 and wins its first playoff game.
Mircetic has a 293-39 record.
The Pirates are 27-0 and ranked No. 1 in California.
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Mircetic believed Santa Barbara could give the Pirates the stiffest test in the Northern Division.
Don’t ask him to help you with a Super Bowl prediction.
Ventura blew out Santa Barbara, 71-30, last week.