After a 16-year hiatus, Cal State Fullerton is looking into the feasibility of a football program returning to the campus. By the end of this academic school year, the program will either be prepared for reinstatement or be put off once more.
The football program was cut in 1992 due to a lack of support and financial issues. The team drew an average of 4,806 fans per game in 1992, according to box scores.
The team had a difficult schedule, which included playing UCLA and Georgia in back-to-back games in order to boost attendance numbers. NCAA rules required every Division 1-A team to draw an average of 25,000 fans per game. As a result, the team finished 2-9 and set the record for most fumbles, 73, and most fumbles lost, 41, both of which still stand.
With such a difficult schedule and few home fans to support them, the university made the decision to cut the program.
However, 16 years is a long time and the landscape of college football has changed dramatically. Schools participating in college football get more coverage from the major TV networks and cable networks.
Millions of fans watch games on the Internet. Having taken note of the developments, the university will address the issue of reinstatement this year.
As a result, Associate Athletics Director Steve DiTolla hears questions about the program constantly.
“Most of the interest comes during the fall when people turn on their televisions Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and they see nothing but college football, they look in the mirror and say 'we have 37,000 students on our campus, why can’t we have football too?'” DiTolla said.
A strong push for reinstatement of football came from bringbacktitanfootball.com.
The site was formed in November 2007 after a positive town hall meeting, held by former Associated Students Inc. President Heather Williams, to gauge the interest of the community in restoring CSUF football. David Lamm, a member of Bring Back Titan Football, said there was a very different climate back when the program was discontinued.
“A lot has changed since 1992. If you think back to 16 years ago we had two professional football teams in the Los Angeles/Orange County area, the Rams are in St. Louis and the Raiders went back up to Oakland. Long Beach State at the time also had (a) program,” Lamm said.
Athletics Director Brian Quinn said before any other sports can be added the Big West Conference said the university must add men’s and women’s golf programs.
The athletics department put together a working group on August 11 with an athletics advisory committee at the request of alumni. The working group will be composed of Quinn, DiTolla, Lamm, alumni, former players, and two student representatives, ASI President Curtis Schlaufman and ASI Vice President of Finance Daniel Ramsey.
"This working group, through the athletics advisory committee, is going to be looking at the program, looking at our infrastructure on campus, looking to see how much is going to cost the university and students, to actually see if it is feasible to have a football program back on our campus,” Schlaufman said.
The committee is going to do its own study to show the university it's time to bring the program back. They are in the process of raising funds for a study with an estimated cost between $35,000 and $50,000.
“Personally I think the first step is a feasibility study. We need to be able to have an outside consulting firm come in and find out what exactly needs to be done,” Lamm said.
According to DiTolla, the feasibility study will only go so far.
“A feasibility study tells you what will happen if you bring back football. It doesn’t tell you how to bring football back. It would kind of give you an idea whether or not this community would wrap itself around a football program. In terms of answering all the questions of scheduling and the gender equity issues, I don’t think a feasibility study will answer all those questions,” DiTolla said.
While the study will not answer all the questions, the university will take a look.
“I guarantee the university will take into account the results of a feasibility study,” DiTolla said.
Once questions of finance and support are answered, there are a host of other obstacles, DiTolla added.
"There are the ramifications within the department about the gender equity issues. If we put 85 to 100 more participants on the male side we would have to put a similar or larger amount on the women side. If we were to add two or three more women sports certainly it would be expensive, (and) secondly, where would we put them? Space is at a premium on this side of campus,” he said.
If the feasibility study and working group both come back with positive results then, there could be a fee referendum to be put on a ballot for students.
"Every student who is a student at Cal State Fullerton can vote on it. Just like the regular voting booths when you go to vote for ASI candidates. It could be the next AS elections, during the fall or spring. The fee increase could be another $50 a semester, but the working group is also going to be looking into that,” Schlaufman said.
If the university makes the decision to move forward there are the issues of placement in conference and divisions. This would all be difficult because these decisions would have to be made in compliance with the NCAA rules and other teams.
“You have issues of who are you going to play. Our conference does not sponsor football. Therefore, what conference do you belong to put together an 11-game football season?” DiTolla said.
Coming back at a Division 1-A level would mean competing for the same crop of players as USC and UCLA. Associate Athletic Director at Fullerton Junior College and former Titan football coach Gene Murphy says that CSUF does have a couple of advantages.
“CSUF is a state school and the entrance requirements are easier. It’s easier to get the fringe athletes. There is enough talent in the southern California area to support all three programs, if you have the right facilities and staff,” Murphy said.
The NCAA attendance requirement of 15,000 people per game cannot be met with the current seating of Titan Stadium, which seats around 10,000 people, according to Titan media relations. A stadium renovation would cost upwards of $30 million, according to Quinn.
The Football Championship Subdivision, formerly NCAA 1-AA, which consist of teams like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Sacramento State, has no attendance requirements and would be the likely destination for the program. Both Schlaufman and DiTolla agree that by the end of this academic year the direction of the program will be clear.
Football future decided this semester
Working group is studying feasibility of CSUF football
Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Updated: Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Save the Money!!!! Put it towards keeping more classes open! Think about the budget cuts and the state deficit in the budget. Every penny counts towards a sustainable tomorrow.
LETS GO TITANS... LETS GO!!!