Northridge’s Biggest Blow Is From Administration

The quarterback and about a dozen players attend meetings for a special committee formed by the school.

The coach spends his time pleading his case to the administration, reporters, politicians. Then he spends more time thinking about what else he could be doing to help save his program.

“Oh, by the way,” the coach says, “We have to go play Troy State.”

You’ll excuse Jeff Kearin if today’s game against the toughest team on his schedule, a team that just beat Mississippi State of the Southeastern Conference, isn’t a priority.

The Cal State Northridge football coach and his players are consumed with their most daunting opponent: their school.

This week, the President’s Advisory Board of Intercollegiate Athletics voted in favor of Athletic Director Dick Dull’s recommendation to eliminate the football program.

The athletic department is facing a $725,000 deficit, and a football team with 45 scholarships that plays home games before an average of about 2,000 people is the easiest target.

University President Jolene Koester has said she will make her decision by Thanksgiving; for her to keep the program alive would probably amount to a Christmas miracle.

Quite simply, the Northridge football program is in trouble because it has none of what’s wrong with college football. It’s not a testament to excess.

They play in a “stadium” that’s two sets of bleachers, capacity 6,500. The restrooms for the east bleachers are three portable toilets. The coaches’ offices are in a trailer in the parking lot. No team training table, no hotel rooms the night before home games.

The players show up for practice and film sessions and weight training because it’s NCAA football, even if it’s at the Division I-AA level.

For some, it’s their only chance to play it in Southern California. For some, it’s their best chance to go to college.

It’s a group of African Americans, whites, Latinos, Polynesians and an Armenian.

“I think we’re a pretty good cross-section of the city of Los Angeles,” Kearin said. “You just look around, you think, we’re kind of serving this community a little bit.”

The team consists of guys such as linebacker Cos Abercrombie. He has survived a gunshot to the head. He once was shunned because he didn’t meet the NCAA’s initial-eligibility requirements. Now he’s at Northridge, majoring in sociology, on track for a diploma.

“The biggest thing is having the opportunity to get my degree,” Abercrombie said. “I’ve learned a lot through my time here. A lot of experiences that I feel I can share with someone who’s up and coming, as far as college, things you can look out for.

“We all have circumstances. The majority of people that I’ve seen come here, they all had remarkable stories. But it all boiled down to them wanting it. All the cards were down for them. Everybody else closed the door or whatever. It was just up to them. I would tell them, ‘If you want to keep your life going, you’ve got to keep going.”’

The program has given Marcus Brady the opportunity to play quarterback, which the Naval Academy and Montana State wouldn’t let him do.

He has flourished to the point that Kearin said he’ll get a look from NFL scouts.

But they’re all up against the cold numbers on the school’s spreadsheets.

When a school with more than 30,000 students can’t get more than 2,000 people to the stadium, even the most optimistic revenue growth wouldn’t help.

“How about if I double the income and I go from $26,000 to $52,000?” Dull said. “How about if I triple the income or quadruple the income? None of that gets me anywhere.”

Not when the annual football budget is about $1.3 million.

About a third of that comes from student activity fees, which is why the student government wants a say in this decision.

“Dick Dull’s making a short-term decision to put a Band-Aid over a huge problem that will peel off again in four years, five years,” said Jennifer Davis, the Associated Students athletic director. “They’ll say in four or five years, ‘Oh well, basketball’s spending too much money. Let’s cut basketball.’ And I don’t find that to be a viable solution. They keep taking the easy way out.”

Dull said it’s anything but easy.

“I’m somewhat cold and detached on the surface, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any feelings inside,” Dull said. “I have great regret for [the players]. To make this recommendation, to me, is the hardest thing that I’ve ever done.”

But Kearin doesn’t think Dull has exhausted every option. He says if the school will bump the team up to 60 scholarships, it would meet criteria that would allow a game against Northridge to count in the bowl championship series computations. Then the Matadors could offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to a big-time program and earn a $500,000 check.

Even that’s complicated. Adding 15 men’s scholarships would necessitate adding more women’s scholarships to meet gender-equity requirements.

But you don’t hear the school coming up with fund-raising ideas. Sometimes you need to spend money to make money. It sounds as if Northridge is interested only in saving money.

“For me, an intercollegiate athletic program must be financially sound, must be broad-based and must have a reasonable chance to succeed,” Koester said recently.

Kearin wonders about the priorities.

“I didn’t know the standard of success was profit-loss,” Kearin said.

His quarterback seems a little more prepared to face reality.

“It’s all about money,” Brady said. “They’re looking at the budget, the financial statement. If someone doesn’t come save us, financially, there’s no way.”

Maybe it’s the administration that needs to call a last-second audible.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at ja.adande@latimes.com