At least volume one: The Lindy Vivas discrimination trial against Fresno State is almost over. It's about to go to the jury, and I say thank goodness. The Fresno State athletic department is such a mess that maybe it does need to be disbanded and folded into other university operations. (Fresno Lawyer Phil Fullerton has suggested that option, which was done at Vanderbilt).

What a snakepit we have at Fresno State. When this trial and the two scheduled to follow are done, University President John Welty needs to put together a blue-ribbon committee of outsiders to determine if the athletic department is worth saving, and if it is, what structural changes need to be made to allow it to function normally.

I also believe that Chancellor Charles Reed, who runs the CSU system, should step in and find a way to settle this trial and the upcoming trials to save the university's reputation. If you believe the testimony so far -- and there are several versions being offered -- the Fresno State athletic department is a miserable place where divisions are along gender and sexual orientation lines.

But this isn't just about those differences. The split, which one witness described as a "civil war," has led to those on all sides of the issue attempting to destroy each other's reputations. That's one area where they have been successful. The Fresno State athletic budget may be out of whack, and the teams may not be winning championships, but they've become very good at tearing down individual members of the athletic department.

How could things have gotten this bad? What will Reed and Welty do about it?

Posted by Jim Boren at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The first of three big discrimination trials against Fresno State has revealed one indisputable fact: The athletic department at Fresno State has been troubled for a long time. No matter which way these trials go, I hope the university steps back and takes a look at how and why the politics of personal destruction became what this athletic program is known for.

At the heart of the problem is inept athletic directors going back several years. Gary Cunningham and Jack Lengyel probably did their jobs well, but the rest of the AD's had serious issues. Testimony Friday in the Lindy Vivas case revealed a "civil war" in the athletic department during the mid-1990s over gender equity and diminishing resources. The university reached the bottom of the barrel when it hired Scott Johnson as AD. The athletic department careened out of control under Johnson's clumsy guidance. (That must be why Mayor Alan Autry hired Johnson at the city for $115,500 a year. But that's a story for another time).

Phil Fullerton, a retired lawyer, suggests that the athletic department be dissolved and the operations go under another university umbrella. He says Vanderbilt has done this successfully: "At Vanderbilt, they abolished the Athletic Department, and merged it with the Intramural Program to create a new Office of Student Athletics, Recreation, and Wellness. It has responsibility for not only varsity sports but also 37 club sports with 1,000 participants and an active student intramural program. The physical plant including stadiums was combined with the Student Recreation Center and playing fields in a new Office of Facilities and Conferences. The university's Public Affairs Department assumed responsibility for publicity. Chancellor Gordon Gee announced at the time that 'Vanderbilt is committed to competing at the highest levels in the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA, but we intend on competing consistent with the values of a world-class university.'"

This idea is worth discussing, although Fresno State's problems have been caused by incompetent administrators allowing the personnel issues to get out of control, and a desire to win, no matter how many felons some coaches recruit as athletes. The combination has given Fresno State a black eye across the nation. That doesn't seem to bother the sports folks. If the football team has a good season, that's all that matters.

Maybe Fullerton is correct that the athletic department needs to be blown up. But I think the problems could be solved at Fresno State with a competent AD supported by a university president willing to buck the big-dollar boosters.

Posted by Jim Boren at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have three words for Charles Reed, chancellor of the California State University system: STOP THE INSANITY.

The reputation of your university in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley is getting pummeled in a trial in the Fresno County Courthouse. If I were you, I'd leave your Long Beach office, come to Fresno and offer a settlement that would cover the current Lindy Vivas discrimination case, as well as upcoming trials brought by former associate athletic director Diane Milutinovich and former women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein.

You may be getting positive reports out of Fresno on how the trial is going. I'd ask a few more questions of your lawyers because it doesn't look good from my perch. And it will only get worse in the following cases. Do the smart thing and settle.

You only have to read the words of former Athletic Director Scott Johnson to know that you've got a problem at Fresno State. Johnson, testifying under oath, said this on Wednesday: When asked if, in his entire life, he ever talked about a person's sexual orientation, Johnson responded, "never."

Most people couldn't answer never. But Johnson can, even though he presided over an athletic department that once held a party that participants called, "Ugly Women Athletes Day." And Johnson testifies that he "never" in his entire life talked about a person's sexual orientation.

Wow. This is your star witness, Chancellor Reed. He will testify in the upcoming trials as well. Former Bulldogs basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian calls Johnson a liar in his book published in 2005. I don't know about Tarkanian's claim, but Johnson's statements in court Wednesday sure make me wonder whether I'd be confident in winning a trial if he were testifying on my behalf.

There's been a lot of collateral damage already in this case, and there's no reason to believe that the nasty personal accusations will end when this trial is done. Maybe the law is on the university's side in these cases and jurors will reject the discrimination claims. Maybe not. But this has gone beyond legalities to the court of public opinion. That's your big problem, chancellor.

Someone has to be the adult, and say it's time to stop. That's you, chancellor. Find a way to get a settlement that's fair to the plaintiffs and fair to the university.

You're a smart man. Pull the plug and settle these cases. Fresno State's reputation will thank you.

Posted by Jim Boren at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

The Fresno Chamber of Commerce has stunned Fresno State officials by opposing the Campus Pointe retail project on the east side of the university campus. The opposition of the Clovis Chamber of Commerce has been long-running and vocal, but Fresno State did not expect the Fresno Chamber to jump into the fray. That came on Friday, just days before the California State University Board of Trustees will take up the project in Long Beach.

Here's Russell Clemings' story about Campus Pointe.

There's another twist to this story.The CSU committee that will take up the Campus Pointe project on Tuesday includes Moctesuma Esparza. He is chief executive of Maya Cinemas. That's the theater company which is under contract to run the theaters at Campus Pointe. Sounds like a conflict of interest to me.

Posted by Jim Boren at 5:55 PM | Permalink

Given the controversy over the Campus Pointe project at Fresno State, we have editorialized twice for the need to have next week's meeting of the Board of Trustees of the California State University system in Fresno to give proponents and critics a chance to voice their views in person to the board. The meeting will be held in Long Beach. Here's today's editorial on the subject.

I called the CSU headquarters in Long Beach to ask about the possibility of moving the meeting to Fresno. "That's not something we would do," said a public information officer for the system. She went on to explain that meetings are planned a year in advance and it's a very elaborate production. You can't just pick up and move, she said.

Well, then, what about a committee of the trustees holding a hearing on Campus Pointe in Fresno? Nothing like that is on the schedule, she said.

The trustees are scheduled to approve the Campus Pointe environmental impact report at their meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Posted by Jim Boren at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I attended a funeral today for Don George, who I have known for almost 40 years because I grew up with his nephew. Don was a high school baseball coach and teacher for 35 years. He also was top-notch baseball player in his own right. He was part of the much-acclaimed 1951 Fresno State baseball team that went 36-4 and featured some of the region's best athletes. Don, who led the '51 team in hitting, was inducted into the Fresno State Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Jake Abbott, onetime Fresno Unified superintendent, gave the eulogy for Don at a chaopel packed with friends and famiily. Abbott pitched on the '51 team, along with future major leaguer Truman Clevenger. Clevenger, by the way, looked like he could still go nine innings for the Yankees. Members of the 1951 team served as honoray pallbearers.

Don started his teaching career at Fowler High School. He retired in 1992 while at Hoover High School. Don made his mark as a baseball coach at Roosevelt Hgh School.

The last time I saw Don was in May at the funeral of his sister-in-law, Mildred George. It seems that we see too many longtime friends only at funerals these days. That must change in the new year. I'm hoping for fewer funerals and more quality time with friends.

Posted by Jim Boren at 7:04 PM | Permalink

You don't go to college football games any longer just for the football. It's about tailgating, socializing and what's being called the "entertainment experience." Oh, yeah, and Fresno's State's Pat Hill is putting a competitive football team on the field every Saturday in the fall.

But much more is needed to put people in the seats at Bulldogs Stadium. That's why there will be a new football scoreboard this year costing $1.6 million. The scoreboard will include a 24- foot by 32-foot video screen. Athletic Director Thomas Boeh told our Editorial Board Tuesday the scoreboard will be funded totally by advertisers, who'll get space on the high-tech device. The project will also include a new video marquee on the corner of Cedar and Barstow avenues.

"What you'll get is a better entertainment package for the fans," said Boeh.

The problem is that fans these days need to be stimulated at all times. So between plays, they must see cool video on a scoreboard -- it's like being at home, with commercials, too. The idea of waiting 30 seconds for the next play apparently is just too excruciating. No wonder we think everyone has attention deficit disorder.

Posted by Jim Boren at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Bee's front-page story today about Terry Pettis' troubled history as a Fresno State basketball player raises serious questions about whether the university athletic department ignored rampant marijuana use on the basketball team because it was trying to fill seats at the Save Mart Center. Pettis, who will be sentenced Tuesday for the 2004 murder of 18-year-old Rene Shannon Abbott in a parking lot near the university, agreed to a series of interviews with The Bee's Vaughn McClure.

A Fresno County jury convicted Pettis of Abbott's murder on May 26 following a four-day trial. Pettis still denies that he killed Abbott, despite overwhelming evidence that easily persuaded the jury of his guilt.

But this is the part of the story that stuns me: "Marijuana was a problem my whole time at Fresno State," said Pettis, who spent 19 months with the Bulldogs, "and they [school officials] looked past our marijuana tests my freshman year. The people that looked at our marijuana drug tests my freshman year, it didn't matter to them because we were winning."

That's a statement that Fresno State leaders need to explain or rebut. But as usual in these situations, they refuse to talk publicly. Their hands apparently are tied by student privacy regulations. But whose privacy is being protected since Pettis is talking and his life has already been examined in-depth because of the murder case?

Pettis claims to have failed drug tests nine times during his short time on the basketball team. Here are two more crucial paragraphs from McClure's story:

Current school officials also said they could not discuss Pettis' allegations. Linda Gannaway, coordinator of Fresno State's student-athlete assistance program, pointed to the school's drug-testing policy, which at the time stated an athlete was to be suspended for a year after a fourth positive test.

"I probably failed three drug tests during the time I got back on the team [sophomore year]," Pettis said. "I wished they would have suspended me for that whole year. ... I wish they just would have taken me away from the [basketball] program."

Call me naive, but I think someone at the university needs to either say that Pettis is lying or tell us why they allowed the basketball program to become a haven for marijuana use.

Posted by Jim Boren at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)