Happy New Year Titan fans! Exciting things are happening at
Cal State Fullerton as our men’s and women’s basketball
teams begin Big West Conference play this week. We also are looking
forward to the start of our spring competition season which begins
very soon.
Below is the fourth installment of Ask Jim. Please continue to send in your questions and I look forward to sending responses.
From Brad Gianneschi (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Q: I'm a Titan alum living in Florida. It's
gotten old hearing people yell "Go Gators!" at me when I'm wearing
my blue and orange Fullerton ball cap. Any chance of seeing the
Titans represented in SEC/ACC country in the near future? It would
be great to take my Gator and Seminole buddies to see the mighty
Titans in action at Florida or Florida State. And just maybe, I can
start hearing a few "Go Titans!" when donning that blue and orange
hat.
A: Thank you for your question Brad. Because of the cost of air travel, we are only able to schedule a few out of the area non-conference events per team, and with Florida being so far away from Orange County, we don’t get there very often. That said, our Titan Baseball Team is playing in the University of South Florida “Clearwater Tournament,” February 13-15th, 2015. In addition, if you’re able to travel about 900 miles up the East Coast, the Titan Baseball Team will be playing at the University of Maryland – April 17-19th, 2015. And thanks for wearing “the colors” in Florida!!
From Enrique Puente (Long Beach, Calif.)
Q: At one point in time, Cal State Fullerton had a pretty
good wrestling program. I know that CSUF has to take into account
Title IX, but a growing number of high school girls are wrestling
now. Therefore, Cal State Fullerton could have a male and female
wrestling team. Does CSUF plan to reinstate its wrestling program
any time soon?
A: Enrique, at this time we do not have any
plans to add any additional intercollegiate sports at Cal State
Fullerton – men’s and/or women’s wrestling, or
any other sports. For the next few years we are focusing on
growing our budget so that we can fully fund the sports that we
already have. However, as I stated in previous
“Ask Jim” answers, if a donor would like to endow a
sport in perpetuity, we would be willing to have serious discussion
about starting that sport – with Title IX considerations
being taken into account, of course!
From Frank Otsuka (Costa Mesa, Calif.)
Q: Has anyone brought up the question as to plans
for erecting a statue of Tuffy or an elephant? This would be
something that could be erected as a rally site between the Student
rec center and Titan Gym.
A: I’m just heading into my third year as Athletic Director, and this is the first time I’ve heard of an idea like this. We are looking into renovating the entrance and potentially other aspects of Titan Gym over the next five years, and this is an idea we can bring up. In addition to getting the statue concept approved, my guess is actual building of a Tuffy statue will come down to cost, or whether we can find a donor to provide the funding for the statue. At this point we are focusing on “need-to-have” improvements, or improvements that enhance the student experience, help create additional revenue or help us provide customer service.
From Luis Borovinsky (Santa Ana, Calif.)
Q: It was attempted some 20 years ago or more, but the
time may be right to attempt to go to “Fullerton
State,” it looks better and sounds so much better. I know our
alumni would be thrilled like me!!
A: Your proposal really speaks to a university name change, which is not under discussion at this time. Any name change would be a very involved process, up to and including approval by the system’s board of trustees. Right now, there’s no real evidence to suggest a name change would be helpful (or hurtful, for that matter) to the institution and our Athletics program. It’s just not an issue under review.
From Dan Craig (Coralville, Iowa)
Q: I am curious on the timetable for the 2015-2016
women's basketball schedule?
A: Dan, our goal is to post the winter sports
schedules on our website 120 days before the start of the
season. That said, Assistant Coach Steven Fennelly is the
coach on our women’s basketball team that primarily works on
the scheduling (with Coach Park’s guidance), and you can
contact him and he can let you know what has been contracted to
date. Coach Fennelly can be reached at:
sfennelly@fullerton.edu
Want to submit a question to Ask Jim? Click HERE