CSUN RAZES HOPES; THESE CUTS MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL.

Byline: ERIC SONDHEIMER

Let's all hum together: M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E. What's that spell? Mickey Mouse. That's now the state of Cal State Northridge's athletic program.

Eliminated from Northridge's sports program on Wednesday were its two most successful NCAA Division I sports - baseball and men's volleyball. Also sent to the athletic grave were men's soccer and men's swimming.

These are outrageous decisions made by school administrators who held no public forums and sought no community financial help in a time of crisis. The school president, Blenda Wilson, didn't even bother to show up at a press conference announcing the decision because she was out of town on university business.

``Budget constraints'' was the reason given, along with mandated gender-equity requirements.

``I'm despondent,'' Lou Marino, a long-time Northridge baseball booster, said.

``I'm sickened,'' said Alicia Mendoza, mother of Northridge freshman baseball player Adrian Mendoza.

``That's incredible. It's a sad day for (San Fernando) Valley residents,'' said Bob Lofrano, a 1972 Northridge alumnus and Pierce College baseball coach.

What kind of incompetence led to this day of infamy at Northridge?

Just two years ago, Adam Kennedy was a freshman Northridge baseball player running around putting up banners and trying to convince students to pass a $27 fee hike to save the football program and supposedly make the entire athletic program financially secure.

Two years later, he and others have learned a harsh reality. That vote saved football and led to Northridge joining the Big Sky Conference. But it also caused the elimination of four sports that weren't played by fellow Big Sky members.

``Every day, we'd be out there with petitions to get people to vote for the football team,'' Kennedy said. ``Who would think they would cut the only successful sports they had? It just doesn't make sense, but once again, that's the kind of athletic department we have around here.''

Did anyone think of long-range planning? Apparently not, because just last summer, baseball coach Mike Batesole signed a three-year contract. Now he has no team to coach.

To cut baseball in Southern California would seem unthinkable. To cut it in the Valley is incomprehensible.

Athletic director Paul Bubb and school vice president Ron Kopita said it was a painful decision. They agree many people are angry. But Kopita said, ``I did not meet with the community.''

No community meetings were held because Kopita and Bubb were afraid of pitting team against team, coach against coach, player against player. Yes, it would have been vocal, even emotional, but perhaps somebody could have suggested a solution or offered financial help.

It's clear these administrators have chosen to give up Northridge's Southern California sports identity with the hope that stronger football and men's basketball teams will bring regional and national recognition through the Big Sky Conference. They've bet the Northridge athletic future on a pipe dream.

My sympathy to football coach Jim Fenwick and basketball coach Bob Braswell. You'll be fired if you don't win a conference title in the next two years and don't start gaining the school some national recognition.

Meanwhile, come next spring, Northridge will have practically zero visibility. A baseball program that began in 1959 and made the Division I playoffs five of the past seven years is history. A volleyball program that played for the NCAA championship in 1993 and attracted more loyal student fan support than any other sport is gone.

Northridge administrators want to move on and look toward the future. But severe, permanent damage has been done. It will take years, if not an eternity, to ease the hurt and disgust felt around the Valley community.

The mother of Northridge baseball player Adrian Mendoza was trying to hold back tears on the phone when told baseball was gone.

``The scholarship has enabled him to go to school,'' Alicia Mendoza said. ``I have five kids, and as they were growing up, I tried to bring out of them what they had abilitywise. I saw in my son baseball would enable him to get his education. This is being pulled out from under him.''

Life will go on. Northridge, though, will never be the same.

RONALD KOPITA

Position: Vice President, Student Affairs.

Appointed: Aug. 31, 1992.

Salary: $116,688.

Background: Formerly vice president for student affairs at Moorhead State University, Minn., as well as assistant vice president for student services, director of counseling. Earned Ph.D in counseling psychology and higher education administration from University of Michigan in 1973.

Quote: ``I am not going to take money away from the core of the university.''

PAUL BUBB

Position: Athletic Director.

Appointed: July 19, 1995.

Salary: $85,008.

Background: Joined CSUN staff in 1990 as director of athletic development, was later promoted to associate athletic director for external affairs. Formerly served as director of athletic development at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Earned masters of science from Western Illinois University.

Quote: ``We expect to have a respectable Division I-AA football program. It is reasonable to think we can draw 11,000, 13,000 or 15,000 fans.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--color) A crumpled baseball schedule lies among trash behind the visitors' dugout at the baseball field Wednesday. Our expanded coverage on CSUN's decision continues on Pages 3 and 4 with reaction from affected athletes, the community, local NOW leaders and new football coach Jim Fenwick. In addition, a Big Sky official explains the role her organization played.

(2) CSUN's Ronald Kopita, left, and Paul Bubb are feeling the weight of their decisions.

John McCoy / Daily News

Box: RONALD KOPITA (see text)