With the new athletic director search in full gear, facilities should be, and actually appear to be, the main priority for the Athletics Department. But if history at Sacramento State tells a tale, it is that, “When opportunity knocks, set it on fire, hide the matches and run the other way.”

The fact that our softball and baseball squads aren?t playing in shiny new facilities is a prime example.

On the last day of the 1998 baseball season, it was announced that the Sac State-University of California Davis game played on that April 29 would be the last game ever played at Hornet Field. Four years and one week later, the Hornets, mightily struggling this year, are still there. The softball team was also supposed to see their facility significantly upgraded at that same time, but that went down with the same ship. The new upgrades that were started this year on the facilities won?t resemble what they could have, if only Sac State could have worked something out with area developer Carl Panattoni. Panattoni, who built other baseball-softball complexes in the area, including a large complex off Power Inn Rd. just recently, knew the school badly needed a new baseball field. He thought that he could help, according to a Sacramento Bee article published at the time. The softball field, because of Title IX rules (which were created so that male and female sports would have equal funds), would also have to see major upgrades. The plan was then changed to include a 1,980-seat baseball stadium (double what it is now) and a 900-seat softball stadium.

According to The Sacramento Bee and campus sources, Panattoni had plans for a $3 million dollar project that would pay 2/3 of the cost. The CSUS Foundation was to pay the remaining $1 million.

Neither baseball coach John Smith nor softball coach Kathy Strahan, who surely haven?t forgotten the ordeal, would speak about the issue. Edward Del Biaggio, the vice president for administration, who is currently in charge of interviewing the potential athletic directors, said the University really tried to make it work.

“Obviously we worked hard to get that deal and work it out,” Del Biaggio said last week, who was in charge of the negotiations in 1998. He added that the University was pleased with how the plans for the project were progressing at the time. “[the new stadiums] wouldn?t have adversely affected the University.”

Panattoni was willing, the University was beaming in anticipation over the two new jewels on campus, ceremonies were held and announcements were made. So what went wrong? Well, everything at once.

Panattoni wanted to lease the land from the University for two years and then give it back to the University as a gift. According to Panattoni at the time, this would just give him a tax break. Del Biaggio and Sac State administrators were scared, fearing this would put the University at risk, since there was no guarantee that he would relinquish the stadiums after two years.

When the dust cleared, after everything had seemingly been worked out, the five-year-old plan was scratched. Panattoni got so frustrated with the University?s handling of the negotiations, that within a day of completion, he simply gave up.

It was back to the Division II facilities for Sac State?s Division I competitors.

The saga of the baseball and softball fields that never happened are the most dramatic, but not the only missed opportunities for the University. Will things change? Who knows, but the incoming athletic director should be chosen primarily on the ability to play the game of raising money for improvements.

Without a decent place to play, the good student athletes will go elsewhere, and the wins, essential to fan support and hence revenue, will follow.

The new athletic director should fight the administration to work with anyone who has plans for upgrading Hornet sports facilities.

Does Russ Edmondson strike out? E-mail him at [email protected].

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