THINK BIG CSUN BOOSTERS SAY WINNING TEAM NEEDS UPDATED ARENA.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - CSUN will make history Friday when the Matadors' men's basketball team plays its first game ever in the NCAA national championship tournament.

But the team's high-profile success this year - including a conference championship and victory over University of California, Los Angeles, at its historic Pauley Pavilion - hasn't translated into support for what coach Bobby Braswell and Matador fans say is a much-needed new gymnasium at California State University, Northridge.

School officials, putting the finishing touches on $400 million worth of rebuilding from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, said Wednesday that overhauling the old 1,600-seat Matadome sits on a long list of upgrades that are still needed on campus.

``There are lots of priorities in terms of athletics facilities ... and then there are other issues on the campus - we've got lots of needs in our academic programs,'' said CSUN President Jolene Koester. ``It will just take a little while to sort it out.''

Koester, who has attended most of the team's basketball games this year, including last week's conference tournament, said while the campus is brimming with Matador pride these days, it takes more than a couple of sold-out crowds to generate the kind of community support needed for a new gymnasium.

Or, as Athletic Director Richard Dull said: ``You don't build a new arena after one weekend.''

``I certainly know the team and the coaching staff deserve better than what we have. Buildings don't win championships - Pauley Pavilion didn't win any of those champions. (Former UCLA coach) John Wooden did, and those players he had.''

Basketball coach Braswell has made it a mission to bring a new, or expanded, facility to CSUN, and many say that's what it will take to keep the program successful and the popular coach at the helm.

``I don't think anybody from the president on down is satisfied with the Matadome,'' said Lee Kanon Alpert, past president of the Athletics Association.

Boosters say there's a golden opportunity for CSUN to capitalize on the team's success - the most national attention it's received since the Northridge Quake.

``It's obvious that the basketball team has brought that student body alive - they were absolutely dead,'' said Richard Hardman, president and chief executive officer of the Northridge-Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce.

``All you have to do is put a winner on the floor and believe me they will come,'' he said. ``We've got some good-sized corporate sponsors that could come through in the Valley.''

The gym is just one on a long list of needed facilities - from a new baseball field to additional classroom space - at the almost 50-year-old campus, according to those studying facility needs.

Building an arena would be costly - estimates put a 5,000-seat venue, the size CSUN has been interested in, at $20 million - particularly for a school that, while hitting record fund raising last fiscal year, is without the deep-pocketed resources of its neighbors.

Some campuses in the CSU system have tapped other sources to build new gyms. San Diego State students approved a student fee to finance its $52 million arena and recreational facility, while CSU Long Beach sought state funding for its pyramid-shaped gym, officials said.

CSUN Associated Students President Robert Hanff said he doesn't think students will support raising student fees to finance a new venue. He said the university should raise money specifically for a new gym.

``If there was a time, it would be right after this,'' Hanff said. ``We can start looking at these things now.''

Instead of building a new gym, CSUN officials want to add 800 seats to the current facility, at a cost of about $150,000, to replace those hauled out after the earthquake, Dull said. They hope to have the new seats in time for next season.

``All of us want a major building, (but) that's something that needs to be thought out,'' Dull said. ``There's nothing worse than building a huge facility and having it sit empty.''

He added, ``We've only had, I think, three sellouts this year. The community has yet to embrace the basketball team in the way I think they should.''

CSUN religious studies professor James Goss, chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, said his committee believes the Matadome - with its poor lighting and small size - may be ready for retirement.

The group envisions a multipurpose venue used for a range of activities, from basketball and volleyball teams to classes and community meetings.

``One of the problems we've had since I've been here is getting the community to back the program,'' said Goss, who said in his 32 years on campus he's never seen the enthusiasm he found at Saturday's game - the conference victory that guaranteed the team a spot in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.

``We have never been able to capture the community's interest.''

That may be changing.

David Honda, chairman of the CSUN Foundation, the main fund-raising group on campus, said CSUN's surprise victory over the University of California, Los Angeles, Bruins earlier this season changed the business community's perception.

``There's so much spirit, I think they'll be able to build on,'' he said.

Unlike the college's recent plans for a football stadium that drew the ire of neighbors for its commercial component, some residents said a multipurpose gymnasium might be a proposal neighbors could support.

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(color) CSUN President Jolene Koester has attended most of the men's basketball games this year in the Matadome, which many say should be replaced.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer