Sweating Over Cal Poly's Future

Is Cal Poly On Its Way to Becoming a Big-Time Sports School? Can it Afford the Price of Admission?

BY TRACY IDELL HAMILTON

When Cal Poly's athletic director introduced former University of Arizona defensive coach Rich Ellerson as Poly's latest hope for its football team last week, Ellerson hinted at the tension between high-level college sports and a university's academic mission.

"The balance between athletics and academics is just right," at Cal Poly, said the beefy new head coach. "With big-time Division I football, I've seen the coaches, I've seen the money–at that level, things are getting a little bit warped."

His remark came after a member of the local sports media asked Ellerson "what happened at Arizona."

What happened, for those not in the college sports know, was that only days earlier, AU's longtime head coach, Dick Tomey, was forced to resign after a five-game losing streak. His previous winning record was not enough to keep him afloat in AU's world of high-pressure, high-profile, big bucks Division I-A football.

While Ellerson probably could have stayed and worked for AU's new coach, he instead chose Cal Poly, and a football team that has gone 3—8 for the last three years. Many coaches, he said, envision themselves in "a place like this, with a program like this."

A "program like this," of course, is not one with a three-year losing streak, but one that accommodates the dual demands on its student-athletes, and is careful to try to balance those demands.

But as Cal Poly's athletic department continues to grow, some question if the school is tipping that balance. Ellerson's salary, between $100,000 and $110,000 annually for a four-year contract, is up about 10 percent from the previous coach's salary. Athletic staff continues to increase, including an entire "development department" dedicated to bringing in additional alumni dollars to feed the department's growing needs. Cal Poly's new Master Plan includes direction for not just renovating, but eventually moving Mustang Stadium right on top of the newly completed, $10 million Sports Complex.

These expansions come during a time of rising criticism over the corrupting influence of big-time college sports on undergraduate education. Murray Sperber, a professor of English and American Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, who has studied and written about intercollegiate athletics for years, has just published his latest book, "Beer and Circus–How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education." In it, Sperber explores and explodes many of the myths that assume high-profile football and basketball teams enhance a university's mission.

While Cal Poly is no Notre Dame–or even the University of Arizona–it has focused on higher-level intercollegiate sports since students voted in 1992 to become a National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I school.

Eight years later, with the release of Cal Poly's latest Master Plan–which outlines the school's priorities for the next 20 years–some students, faculty, and local residents have scrutinized that focus anew.

Is an expensive, expanding sports program the wisest place to concentrate resources on a campus where it takes some students years, not to mention special priority status, just to get into a required freshman English class? Where graduating in five years is the norm, not the exception? And where, although not an academic concern, a housing crunch that has been ignored for years is now so severe that the university is cramming students into laundry rooms and commons areas?

The Mission

No matter where Cal Poly chooses to focus its resources, it must do it within the context of its mission statement:

"As a predominately undergraduate, comprehensive, polytechnic university serving California, the mission of Cal Poly is to discover, integrate, articulate, and apply knowledge. This it does by emphasizing teaching; engaging in research, participating in the various communities, local, state, national, and international, with which it pursues common interests; and where appropriate, providing students with the unique experience of direct involvement with the actual challenges of their disciplines in the United States and abroad."

That the university is now not only fulfilling, but excelling at its core mission is clear. Cal Poly continues to earn its place on various "best colleges" lists. For the eighth straight year, U.S. News and World Report ranked the school as the top public undergraduate university in the western U.S. This year it rated the College of Engineering's Computer Science Department as the best in the country.

But there are cracks in the veneer.

Smaller colleges within the university, such as the college of liberal arts, operate without the kinds of windfall gifts and subsequent improvements that have been bestowed on some of the university's higher-profile departments.

Referring to the recent $15 million gift to the college of business from Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea, or the millions raised so far by the athletic department's capital campaign, political science professor Phil Fetzer noted wryly, "That just doesn't happen to liberal arts."

Fetzer, president of the Cal Poly chapter of the California Faculty Association, said physical space is at a premium for the college of liberal arts. Classroom shortages and high enrollments force the college to schedule classes from early in the morning to late at night. Very early and very late classes are not ideal from a teaching standpoint, he said: "Most people just aren't in great shape to learn at 7 a.m."

Dealing with too many students chasing too few classrooms has made Fetzer wary of increased funding for an expanded athletics department, even if the bulk of that funding has thus far come from student fees and increased alumni contributions.

"Many, many, many students have trouble getting required classes. Why would teaching not be a priority?" he asked.

Patrick Schwanke, a construction management senior, thinks that at least right now, teaching and academics are the university's main priority. He said he's gotten an excellent undergraduate education at Poly–even though, like so many students these days, it took him five years (and extra thousands of dollars) to do it. "I never had a single [teaching assistant] in five years, and only one big lecture class. I never felt like a number," Schwanke said.

But, like Fetzer, he worries about the university's future priorities. "We have one of the best construction management programs in the country," he said. "But we have shitty facilities. And obviously, people need housing. It would be more substantial to have better educational facilities" than better sports facilities, Schwanke said. "This school is known as a great academic undergraduate school, not as a big sports school."

SLO Mayor Allen Settle, a political science professor at Poly, worries more about future faculty retention and a curriculum that can prepare students to meet the needs of the new economy. "There are always competing interests on every campus," Settle said. "But frankly, our first priority needs to be academics."

Student Choice

The move to Division I sports was made by the students, recalls current Associated Students Inc. president Sam Aborne, and their fees are paying for it. California CSU students, he said, have more power over their own student fees than any others in the nation. "They have voted down additional academic fees," he said, "and chosen to support Division I sports. And they turned out in record numbers to do it."

Aborne is right. The 1992 student referendum on whether to shoulder additional fees to support Division I sports saw the highest voter turnout, in both raw numbers and percentages, in the history of the CSU system, said Ken Walker, a philosophy professor who was tapped by President Warren Baker to be athletic director in a few years before the move.

Before he became the athletic director, Walker was the faculty athletic representative, the person who helped oversee and maintain the academic integrity of the sports programs. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul Zingg, who has written half a dozen books about sports–including intercollegiate sports–said Walker's appointment was a calculated one. "[Baker] was sending a signal, I think, that athletics would still have to abide by tough academic standards."

Walker was called to help guide the football program out of the wilderness of Division II play.

"Division II football was dying in the West," Walker said. "We couldn't fill out a 10-game schedule without going out of state, and that was killing us financially. Division III wasn't really an option, either." Division III schools, which do not offer athletic scholarships, are mainly made up of small, private liberal arts colleges. "They didn't really want us. We even looked at becoming a Division I-AA non-scholarship school, but that raised scheduling problems again." Finally, it seemed that Division I would be the best fit for this large public university.

The choice was put to the students. And while 13,000 of them may have turned out to vote, the election itself was a Bush-Gore squeaker: "I think it won by less than 300 votes," Walker said.

Transitions, Scandals

After the vote, Walker stepped down from his position, making way for John McCutcheon, a former assistant athletic director for Boston College, to make the transition to Division I.

McCutcheon has seen big-time college football up close. He was in the press box when quarterback Doug Flutie threw his famous Hail Mary pass during a nationally televised Thanksgiving weekend game. That pass would catapult Flutie to the Heisman trophy and the Eagles to national fame.

After the game, applications to BC leapt up 25 percent, in what admission offices around the country termed "the Flutie Factor:" Visible athletic success translated into increased applications, and increased applications without increased enrollment meant the school looked even more exclusive, boosting its cachet. Many university administrators have invoked the Flutie Factor, according to Sperber, "to justify their excessive spending on college sports."

McCutcheon is quick to point out that BC has been a traditional football school for years. "It fits for Boston College–it's part of their history and tradition." Cal Poly, on the other hand, is known as an academic school first, he said. "These are institutional decisions. Schools need to ask themselves, 'What's a good fit?"

For Cal Poly football, Division I was a good fit–but not Division 1-A. "Our football program is actually Division I-AA," McCutcheon said. "We have no designs on becoming a Division I-A program. We just don't have the capacity to do it." He explained that the NCAA has certain requirements for I-A teams, including a minimum stadium size and a certain number of athletic scholarships the college must award. Additional costs would come from keeping up the gender equity Cal Poly maintains in its sports programs. "It's mainly a money issue," McCutcheon said.

But Division I-A is the gold ring of intercollegiate football. That's where the big bucks are–and "amateur" sports have never been so lucrative. The technically nonprofit NCAA reaps billions in television rights to the big games–$6 billion over 11 years with CBS alone, according to Sperber. Winning coaches and athletic directors can expect their salaries to rise into the stratosphere. Nationally televised games increase schools’ visibility and prestige. Only the student-athletes themselves reap none of the financial reward.

As is often the case with high-stakes anything, with big money comes big scandals. A few years after the "Flutie Factor" upped college applications for Boston College, several of its football players were busted as part of a gambling ring, earning the college the ESPN nickname "Notre Dame's Evil Twin." Not surprisingly, applications to the college dropped.

Other schools have been fined by the NCAA for allowing their student-athletes to cheat–whether to gain admission or to continue meeting academic requirements. Sperber calls a March 1999 cheating scandal at the University of Minnesota "large in scale but not exceptional in occurrence." There, a former tutor revealed that she had written 400 papers for 20 varsity men's basketball players over a five-year period.

"The coaches knew. Everybody knew. We used to make jokes about it," said former player Russ Archambault at the time. "I would go over there some nights and get like four papers done. The coaches would be laughing about it."

But not all scandals occur at the Division I-A level. When they were still in Division II, Cal Poly had a couple of embarrassing moments of its own, moments no one at the university wants to discuss in detail.

In McCutcheon's second month on the job, he had to deal with a coach who was illegally providing financial aid to some of his players. The NCAA levied major fines against the school. "That coach is gone," McCutcheon said.

Later that same year, one of the athletic department's alumni boosters fixed a raffle, and awarded a trip to Hawaii to a friend. John Madden, arguably one of Cal Poly's most famous alums, publicly pulled his support after the incident. The alumnus who rigged the raffle was also removed, McCutcheon said.

Zingg lauds McCutcheon's efforts, noting that scandals adversely affect booster support. "John sent a strong signal. We had blemishes on our record, about the way we conducted business. Those days are over." He also concurred with Sperber on the state of big-time athletics. "He's got it absolutely right. There is an increasing loss of balance in the values of the academy vs. big-time sports." That's another reason, he said, that Poly is not looking to become a Division I-A football school.

Sperber, in a phone interview with New Times, said Cal Poly was wise not to chase Division I-A dreams. "The problem is, everyone in I-AA loses money. There's no media revenue, and they can't get near the bowl games."

Squeezing the Students

Zingg admitted Cal Poly football would probably never make money, much less show a profit. "Only about a half-dozen football programs in the country make money," he said.

Both he and McCutcheon are quick to point out that the state's portion of funding for the athletic department has not increased appreciably since the move to Division I. Just a little more than 1 percent of the state's $125 million support of Cal Poly goes to athletics, he said, an average that’s slightly lower the average CSU. The rest is made up by student fees and booster support. The students have been hit particularly hard–they were asked to pony up even more when the city pulled out of the Sports Complex.

In the works for four years longer than the two it took to build it, the $10 million—plus complex comprises two stadiums for baseball and softball and multipurpose fields for both college and community use. The new complex fills many needs: for intercollegiate baseball and softball (teams had been forced to play at Sinsheimer Park for the past several years), for student recreation and intramural sports, and as practice fields for intercollegiate soccer and football.

The city yanked its support after learning the school couldn't guarantee it more than 15 years’ use of the Sports Complex fields. "Clearly, there's no use in putting $4.5 million into an area that after 15 years might be bulldozed down," Settle said then. (The $4.5 million included the city's proposed $3 million investment plus interest on the bonds.) The addition of possible maintenance fees for the fields soured the deal further, and the city walked away.

That meant someone else had to fill the funding vacuum. In October, 1997, the ASI agreed to boost their stake in the project by an additional $2 million, raising their share to $4.9 million. Rejecting calls for a student vote first, ASI directors overwhelmingly approved spending the additional money. Instead of upping the fee already being collected, the board voted to extend financing from 15 to 30 years, a move that could wind up costing students as much as $10 million over those 30 years.

To make up the last of the shortfall, President Baker appropriated an additional $820,000 from the University Union's reserve account–a move that upset many students.

"President Baker [said] last year that he wouldn't ask students for any more money," said John Moffat, then—ASI president. "And he was right, we weren't asked, he just took it." (As president, Baker has the authority to draw from any budget at Cal Poly without approval.) The withdrawal shrank the UU's reserves to its lowest allowable level.

Then—vice president of student affairs Juan Gonzalez maintained that the administration had explored all other funding options and that tapping into the reserve was a last resort.

Even with the funding squeeze, opposition to the Sports Complex has been muted. Students, faculty, and administrators have all pointed out the need for more sports fields on campus. Some faculty opposed the 47-acre complex for environmental reasons; some of the man-made wetlands destroyed to make way for the facility had become habitat for migratory waterfowl, providing biology students with a unique laboratory experience. But even the college of agriculture, which had to move its sheep unit and the rodeo grounds to make room for the complex, is satisfied with the university's agreement not to appropriate any more prime ag land.

Alums, Foundation Show Athletics the Money

The other $5 million for the Sports Complex came from increased donor giving. "Donor support has grown steadily over the years," Zingg said. "Obviously you can never predict it, but I think there's a sense that the athletic programs here are legitimate. Boosters have confidence in the programs."

The increased resources have not only allowed for the Sports Complex, but for more athletic scholarships (the NCAA requires a certain number from a Division I school), and an ongoing campaign, mandated by the NCAA, to upgrade other sports facilities, including Mott Gym and Mustang Stadium.

Much of the money has come from the athletic department's capital campaign, "Building the Advantage." The campaign has been very successful, according to both McCutcheon and Zingg. Part of that success, they believe, comes from increasing success of the university's other sports teams, which have fared better than the beleaguered football program.

President Baker made a similar claim in a fall 1995 issue of Cal Poly Today: "Division I athletics will bring increased media exposure to Cal Poly on a local, statewide, regional, and national basis, and we'll attract more interest from our alumni and supporters throughout the state and from potential students. Division I athletics will give us additional opportunities to tell the Cal Poly story to a growing audience."

Myth, says Sperber. That alumni giving increases with performance is the myth "most deserving of a silver stake through its heart," he wrote in Beer and Circus. He bolsters his view with a passage from Richard W. Conklin, vice president of the University of Notre Dame:

"Repeat after me: There is no empirical evidence demonstrating a correlation between athletic department achievement and [alumni] fundraising success. The myth persists, however, aided by anecdotal evidence from sports reporters who apparently spend more time in bars than in development offices."

The booming economy may be far more likely to explain higher alumni giving in the past several years, Sperber said. "But what happens when there is a downturn," and Cal Poly is relying on never-ending alumni donations to keep football afloat?

Alumni money is not a bottomless well, he said, and the athletic department is competing against other areas, such as academics, for alumni contributions. "Contrary to the popular myth, big-time intercollegiate athletics does not generate significant contributions to the academic parts of the university," said Sperber.

But alums aren't even the only ones tapped to help students shoulder higher Division I costs. Cal Poly Foundation, the massive, private organization that accepts most of the gifts bestowed upon the university, has also stepped up to the plate, offering Poly $3.9 million in tax-exempt loans to help pay up-front costs for the Sports Complex. (Part of the athletic department's increased budget goes to serving the debt on that loan.)

Foundation's Associate Executive Director Robert E. Griffin said Foundation's mission is to support and enhance the mission of the university. "But we don't make the decisions about what to fund." Baker, he said, has much of the control over what gets funded, although technically he goes through the Board of Directors. "President Baker is not a board member, but he appoints many of them. He has pretty effective control over it." And while all requests must go through some type of cost-analysis study, "The board tries to avoid second-guessing the President and his purpose," Griffin said.

A 1997 memo from then—Executive Director Al Amaral spells out the process: "The University President has requested the Foundation's assistance to facilitate debt financing of a portion of the funds needed for construction of the Sports Complex. See attached W. Baker memorandum, dated Nov. 3."

The same memo ends with a small note under the heading "Future Requests by the University": "An agreement to find this proposal will in all probability inhibit our ability to respond to any large request for assistance by the University for at least five to seven years."

GIven the college’s obviously finite resources, asked one resident at a recent public meeting, "What is not getting funded because this choice has been made?"

Griffin reiterated the importance of the Sports Complex for all students, not only the elite student-athletes who compete in intercollegiate sports. Four years after the request was made, he said, the athletic department is on track paying down the loan. The assumption was, he said, that "athletic fundraising would grow to help service that debt."

The Final Score

No one argues that what an athlete gets out of his or her sport is not incredibly valuable. University brochures, athletic department newsletters, and boosters all tout the benefits: student-athletes learn the meaning of teamwork, of hard work, of performing well in the clutch. The physical and mental health benefits of regular exercise cannot be overstated. Understanding that their bodies have utilitarian and not just decorative functions has been invaluable for the thousands of women who have grown up under Title IX, which mandated that schools offer women the same athletic opportunities as men.

McCutcheon feels strongly that his department enhances the university's mission. In addition to the 450 intercollegiate Division I athletes, he said, are hundreds of students who take advantage of the intramural and recreational opportunities at Cal Poly. "We're proud of that. We want to be a resource to the campus."

Zingg, too, waxes eloquent about the benefits of sports. In an article published in NCAA News in January, 1997, he wrote, "There is enduring educational value in the more limited, competitive sports arena to which all intercollegiate athletes will eventually graduate. It accrues through the benefits of fair, hard play and success of our colleges and universities to teach this lesson well. If these lessons do not always produce championship seasons and all-star performances, they should foster respect and integrity."

Still, there are certainly differences between the student who plays intramural soccer and the football team's starting quarterback. Sperber said that in his capacity as a professor, he has seen too many cases of burnout in student-athletes who train 30 or even 40 hours a week and continue to keep up there schoolwork. "It's like they have a full-time job," he said.

The mayor said he has been frustrated in the past by the sense of privilege and unreality he's seen in Cal Poly football and basketball players. One student, Settle said, "told me he really didn't have time to do this assignment, because he just got an offer from the Phoenix Suns."

McCutcheon said that for the most part Cal Poly student-athletes are making the grade, McCutcheon said. He is proud that GPAs and graduation rates for athletes have risen under his watch. "We have fewer students on academic probation now, too," he said. Student-athletes, in fact, are graduating at a slightly higher percentage than the at-large student population. "We're just doing the things we're obligated to do," said McCutcheon.

Zingg said that this year the university will be award honors to the teams with the highest GPAs. "It's a statement of our values. It's probably long overdue. But you can have both."

For now, at least, it appears that Cal Poly is trying to have both, trying to keep that delicate balance between academics and big-time athletics intact. It has not been without its stumbles on the way up, and there may be more conflicts in the future.

The research is out there, and it's clear: Schools that neglect their academic mission to concentrate on big-time sports in hopes of increasing their prestige imperil their undergraduate students.

Zingg said the topic of big-time sports vs. academics is so hot right now that the university has considered hosting a forum on the topic as part of its "The Good, the Bad, and the…" series. "I'd really like to invite Murray Sperber, in fact," Zingg said.

If Sperber does make it, he will almost certainly share the stage with new coach Ellerson, who has been working feverishly to lay the groundwork for a successful football team. Because while he may appreciate Cal Poly's balanced approach to sports and academics, he also knows he's got four years–or he's probably out. Æ

Tracy Idell Hamilton isn't too sporty, but she thinks the Cal Poly women's basketball team rocks.