Northridge Gets NCAA News Today

The Cal State Northridge football program, the subject of a 10-month investigation by the NCAA, is expected to learn today whether the NCAA will impose sanctions for numerous rules violations allegedly committed during the one-year tenure of former coach Ron Ponciano.

Jack Friedenthal, chair of the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions, will conduct a telephone news conference today to announce the decision regarding Northridge and, perhaps, Ponciano.

Northridge, in a 130-page report submitted to the NCAA in August, suggested self-imposed penalties that include two years’ probation for the program and a reduction in scholarships from 63 to 61 for the 2000-01 academic year.

The NCAA could impose harsher penalties and has the authority to sanction Ponciano, now an assistant at Valley College.

Ponciano was fired in July after a 2 1/2-month internal investigation revealed a litany of alleged violations by coaches and boosters. Northridge charged Ponciano with filing fraudulent expense accounts, making improper payments and providing illegal barbecues for players.

Ponciano also is accused of condoning alcohol and tobacco use on campus by coaches, and failing to heed directives from superiors.

Ponciano has denied serious wrongdoing. He was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

A Northridge spokesman said the school will decline comment until the NCAA decision is released.

In April, interim President Louanne Kennedy led a contingent of six Northridge representatives who attended an NCAA hearing in Indianapolis.

Athletic Director Dick Dull, football Coach Jeff Kearin and former compliance director Tom Shannon also attended.

Ponciano and his attorney, Scott Campbell, attended the hearing.

Parties were instructed by the NCAA not to discuss the matter while the report is pending. The NCAA, according to policy, does not comment on ongoing investigations.

Dull, who began at Northridge in July, declined to speculate on the NCAA’s decision.

“Any time you are involved with the NCAA and you go before the infractions committee, you know there is a wide range of options [they] have for censure and sanction,” Dull said last week.

“The school has been very cooperative with the NCAA. We have hidden nothing and we have been forthright in doing what they’ve requested by providing information.

“We approached it seriously, we still consider it serious and right now our fate is in the hands of somebody else.”