CSUN NOTEBOOK: ODDS ON ARIAS, DULL FOR CSUN ATHLETIC DIRECTOR.

Byline: Chris Branam Daily News Staff Writer

It could be the most important athletics decision during Cal State Northridge President Blenda Wilson's seven-year tenure.

Just days before she leaves the university to become the president and chief operation officer of the Nellie Mae Foundation in Braintree, Mass., Wilson will select CSUN's new athletic director. The athletic department has been without a leader since Paul Bubb resigned under pressure seven months ago.

By the end of this month, the A.D. search committee will send Wilson its three recommended candidates, from which she will select one. Four finalists have interviewed: Robert Arias, Myles Corrigan, Richard Dull and William Lide.

Handicapping the finalists, it appears two have gained favor. An overview:

Arias: If the voting would have been made the day of his interviews, he would be the choice. Even though he hasn't been involved directly with college athletics since 1985, this former A.D. at Loyola Marymount impressed the coaching staff with his enthusiasm and charisma.

Personality only gets one so far, though. There are legitimate questions about Arias' long absence from the college realm - he is president of One to One/Los Angeles Communities in Schools - and CSUN can't afford to wait for him to learn on the job.

Odds of hire: 3-1.

Corrigan: He was the leading candidate when the finalists were announced; his resume leans heavily to football, which is CSUN's No. 1 sport.

But according to some department employees, Corrigan, an assistant to the athletic director at Washington, came on too strong in his interviews, appearing almost arrogant. Because of Washington's status as a viable, enriched athletic department, Corrigan also hasn't been forced to make the kind of cost-cutting decisions he would be asked to make at CSUN.

Odds of hire: 25-1.

Dull: His greatest weakness when he was the A.D. at Maryland in the early 1980s - playing to win at the expense of the student-athlete ideal - might now be his greatest strength.

Dull learned from those mistakes he made and went through 10 years of soul-searching after being forced to resign in the wake of the Len Bias scandal.

Dull, the A.D. at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., didn't come off as the most energetic finalist, some coaches joked that his demeanor lived up to his surname, but he is professional and realistic about CSUN's strengths and weaknesses. He knows how to do the job better than any other candidate. Whether that makes him the favorite remains to be seen.

Odds of hire: 3-1.

Lide: His resume is impeccable and his list of accomplishments are nonpareil in this group.

But Lide, the athletic director at North Carolina Central, has been operating under a different scope: a Division II school of 6,000 enrollment with 11 sports. CSUN is Division I in almost all of its 21 sports and has an enrollment of 27,000.

Although he might be the brightest candidate and excellent at what he does, Wilson won't gamble with her choice.

Odds of hire: 15-1.

Finishing the job: The softball team's streak of seven consecutive playoff appearances didn't end in 1999, in part because the Matadors finished the regular season on a high note.

CSUN swept Utah State this past weekend to finish 29-22, 15-9 and third in the Big West. Senior right-handed pitcher Tara Glaister (20-13) provided the highlight of the three-game sweep with a no-hitter on Friday.

Flying: The future is certainly bright for the women's track and field team.

Freshman sprinter Krystal Harris was selected as the Big Sky Conference women's track athlete of the week after she ran a wind-aided time of 11.87 seconds in the 100 meters at the Modesto Relays on May 8.

Harris' time was in a preliminary heat; she finished third in the 100 final. She also ran the Big Sky's second-fastest 200 at Modesto - 24.29 seconds - which trails teammate Annetta Wells, who is only a sophomore.

Net effect: CSUN women's tennis players Isabella Peintner, a junior from Germany, and Kendra Segura, a sophomore from Los Angeles, were selected to the Big Sky's all-conference first team. Shaheen Bhanji was honorable mention.