March 14, 1995
SF State sophomore football player Jeremy Weiler said it felt like someone had cold-cocked him from behind.
Weiler found out Wednesday, with the rest of the team, that SF StateÕs football program had been cut in order to meet a gender equity order given by the California State University system in 1993. The order was the result of a lawsuit filed by the California chapter of the National Organization for Women.
ÒWe have a stake in increasing the number of opportunities in sports. In a way, there is not something the football team can do (to keep the program), given the legal issues,Ó SF State President Robert A. Corrigan said.
However, Corrigan told team representatives that if they could come up with a proposal that would put the school in compliance without eliminating football, he would consider it. SF State Athletic Director Betsy Alden said the university is initiating a pro-active four-point plan to bring the athletics program into compliance with the directive, known as the CAL-NOW consent decree. She made it clear that it was not an issue of money, but one of numbers and equality.
Linda Joplin, a member of the board of directors of the California chapter of NOW, said, ÒIt was certainly not our intention to have Cal State schools cut their football programs. We would like to see opportunities for women increase without opportunities for men decreasing. The actual implementation is left up to the schools, though.Ó
In the 1994-95 school year 59 percent of SF StateÕs population is female. To meet CAL-NOW requirements, the athletic program must reflect that proportion to within five percentage points by the fall of 1998. Before the football team was cut, 66 percent of the 286 student athletes were male and only 34 percent were female.
ÒThis extremely difficult decision was made after an extensive review of possible alternative situations,Ó Alden said, Òand it is needed for the entire program to continue its growth. We are taking this step with regret, and only after a thorough examination of our options.Ó
The other options were to cut four menÕs sports or add four womenÕs sports.
The termination of the football program alone will not be enough to bring SF State into compliance.
All of the menÕs teams remaining will have caps limiting the number of participants, and womenÕs teams will need to recruit extensively in order to boost the number of female participants. The sports targeted for the heaviest recruiting include track and field, softball, swimming and cross-country. In addition, a womenÕs tennis team will be added by 1998.
Although cutting the football team only increases the percentage of female athletes to 42, the other measures will bring SF State into compliance with the gender equity order. Though many of the football coaches and players acknowledged that something should be done to help equalize the number and quality of athletic programs for females, they donÕt understand why no one told them earlier that football would be cut.
Head coach Dick Mannini said the coaches in the Northern California Athletic Conference decided by themselves to cap the football programs, but he had no idea anything so drastic as complete termination of the football program would happen at SF State.
Senior strong safety Tim Malatesta, who has one year of eligibility left, said, ÒOne part that really hurts as a player is that the school just dropped us. They look at us as a used car they can just sell off.Ó
Redshirt freshman Troy Gorostiza agreed. ÒI had not the slightest clue (that this was going to happen). I actually thought we were moving in a forward direction. This was one of the most positive recruiting years in a while, and we would have had a good team next year. Now the team is really forming a bond, and we wonÕt let this go down without a fight.Ó
According to Corrigan, the decision to cut the team and to notify those involved so late was made entirely based on what was good for the players.
ÒMy view is that if we said now that weÕll have one last year of football, we would have a demoralized, undermanned team next season,Ó he said. Corrigan said this will give players an opportunity to transfer to other schools to finish out their eligibility on other teams.
Freshman wide receiver Holoi Thompson disagrees. ÒIt leaves a bunch of players with their hands tied behind their backs. ItÕs really late in the recruiting season, and it would be hard for me to get my foot in the door at another school. It really leaves a lot of players in limbo,Ó he said. ÒThe hardest part about it is that I was sitting in a room with 60, maybe 70 other guys who IÕve spent the last year with, four or five hours a day, and theyÕre going to be gone.Ó
Transfer students normally have to sit out one season at the new school, according to Alden. However, since the program at SF State is being totally cut, an exception to that rule will allow the players from SF State to start playing immediately in other programs.
The problem, as far as many players are concerned, is that it is too late for them to find somewhere else to play, and many simply donÕt want to transfer at all.
ÒIÕm not going to give up, and the team isnÕt going to give up,Ó said Weiler. ÒPersonally, I donÕt even want to think about going anywhere else.Ó
Junior Nurcan Ciftcikara was recruited to play football at SF State, and said he most likely will try to go elsewhere to play now that the program has been cut.
ÒIt puts us in a very difficult position,Ó he said. ÒI understand itÕs the law, but the coaching staff spent money to recruit us, and for them to cut it from under us was totally unprofessional.Ó
Corrigan said the team was not told earlier because of the anticipated reactions of both coaches and players.
ÒWe couldnÕt have told players and coaches (earlier) or we would have lost them all,Ó he said. Corrigan added he wanted to have one last year of quality football, and if the coaches and players had known the team was to be disbanded after the season, that couldnÕt have happened. Head softball coach Diane Kalliam empathized with the football team. ÒI think itÕs a very sad day when a student athlete finds out they canÕt participate in the sport they love any more. ItÕs also a really sad day to see my colleagues and friends leaving the coaching family here,Ó she said.
Athletic Advisory Board student-athlete representative Kim Cordoni added, ÒI never thought a school would just drop its football program. IÕm still in shock, itÕs so unbelievable.Ó According to Alden, the decision is final. The determination was made after Alden, on orders from Corrigan, did a six month study on the athletics program and the options available to bring it into line with the CAL-NOW consent decree.
The findings of that study went to the presidentÕs cabinet for discussion and approval, and to the executive committee of the faculty senate, which agreed that ending the football program is a necessary step.
The football team has not yet given up, though. The team held a rally Monday, players have put up flyers to help gather support, and they have also begun to circulate a petition. ÒWe donÕt ask for much,Ó Weiler said. ÒWe love the game. ItÕs a big part of a lot of peopleÕs lives. Just let us play. ThatÕs all we want.Ó
Alden said there is still the possibility of keeping football as a club sport, although she does not know of another university that has done so. Club sports are not funded by the school, so the players would have to pay for the entire program, including equipment, officials and travel costs.
Corrigan said regardless of the support the team gets now, itÕs too late in coming. ÒThis campus hasnÕt shown a commitment to intercollegiate football. Where were they when we needed fans to come out and cheer the team on? Were the fans out there, or did they choose to stay home and watch the 49ers on TV? This campus simply has not shown they care about football.Ó
CorriganÕs decision will leave the three remaining schools in the NCAC with football programs scrambling to fill their schedules. According to Theresa Clements, Chico State UniversityÕs Sports Information Director, Chico will try to schedule games with teams from southern Oregon to fill the spots SF State is abandoning.
Humboldt State University and Sonoma State University will also have to rework their schedules to get non-conference competition.
Mitch Cox, SonomaÕs athletic department information director, said, ÒIt caught everybody off guard, and everybodyÕs pretty unhappy about it. The remaining teams in the conference are going to get together and try to decide how to handle it. We just feel like it was a little premature to make this decision.Ó
Alden said SF State is a step ahead of other California state schools, but it is inevitable that some of the other schools will also need to cut their football programs in response to the CAL-NOW consent decree.
The discontinuation of SF StateÕs team marks the third Bay area football program to be cut in three years. Santa Clara University cut their team in 1993 and Cal State Hayward lost theirÕs in 1994. Both teams were cut for monetary reasons.