Decisions to be Made

I have been asked many times over the past few months, why has CSU Channel Islands decided to start its new Department of Athletics, at this time, considering the state of our economy here in California? My answer to that has been, "We are looking outside of the box, in terms of developing our athletic department and we are going to do things differently than other universities." The question that usually comes next is, 'How and what are you going to do considering that the state as no money and people are holding on to their money until the economy situation turns around?" My answer has been, "We are developing plans now, so when the economic situation turns around we are ready to hit the ground running and present those plans to individuals that are interested in helping us." If you develop long term plans, make sound judgments and have options, we will build an athletic program that will be successful.

Now with all that said, where do we go? Over the past few weeks I have been reviewing budget numbers from other CSU athletic departments (Division II) to get a sense of how much each department is spending on their athletic teams. I'm looking at salaries, travel cost, scholarships, equipment purchases and recruiting costs. I am also review how successful the teams have been in the classroom and on the playing surface; whether that is finishing in the top half of the league to winning an outright conference championship to participating in and winning a NCAA National Championship. There is a misconception out there that says in order to win and to be successful, you need to spend more than everyone else. Success is defined in numerous ways: 1) Graduating your student-athletes, 2) Developing your student-athlete as a whole person 3) Winning.

I have received numerous phone calls and emails from students, faculty, staff and local community members wondering when the decision will be made on which sports we will start first. I can tell you that we can getting closer to making that decision. I have most of the financial information that I need to determine how starting sport "x" or sport "y"will impact our budget. The next factor that plays into this decision is what sport our student body will rally behind and support. I will be holding various discussions with students in residence halls and various brown bag sessions for faculty, staff and students during the month of September. It is our goal to have an announcement sometime this fall.

What still seems to be the million dollar question is what sports are we considering? The first few sports that we offer will have to be sports that do not require building a new facility on campus. With that said, we are currently reviewing the option to offer Men's and Women's Soccer, Men's Golf, Women's Volleyball and Men's and Women's Cross Country. Along with the sports that
I just mentioned, other sports that are under consideration to are: Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Baseball, Softball, Track and Field, Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving.