Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Riverside May Be Preparing to Make Move

Change is in the wind at UC Riverside, where the athletic director is stepping down and a former USC athletic director is being brought in to lead the program to the promised land of big-time athletics.

All the school’s moves are aimed at improving the program to Division I status, although that hasn’t been publicly avowed yet. In December, an all-star panel that included John Wooden recommended that the school consider moving up from Division II.

Athletic Director Chris Rinne, who has presided over the 14-sport program since 1982, announced last week he would resign in July to concentrate on coaching track and cross-country as well as teaching physical education.

With an eye to upgrading, the school will search for an experienced athletic director whose duties won’t include coaching.

Meanwhile, the administration last week brought in Richard Perry, former USC athletic director, as a special consultant on intercollegiate athletics to Chancellor Theodore L. Hullar. Although it is specified that Perry’s duties are “to advise the chancellor on enhancement and further development of UCR athletics . . . (and) also evaluate the need for improved facilities,” it is assumed Perry is on hand to show Riverside the way up.

Perry, who was USC athletic director from 1975 to 1984 and remains a physical education professor there, will spend at least one day a week at Riverside. He was introduced at a press conference there last week and had meetings with athletic department officials, faculty and community groups as well.

Since 1982, Riverside has won NCAA Division II titles in women’s volleyball, twice, and baseball. In addition, the men’s basketball program may be the strongest in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and the school recently built a track and field facility.

Still, there remains a question whether Riverside can compete with its more powerful UC brethren. In a release, Hullar hedged when he said the school “is poised for a major initiative in intercollegiate athletics, whether it be on the Division II or Division I level.”

But it seems unlikely someone of Perry’s prominence would be employed to keep Riverside in its current position.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team, ranked No. 1 in Division II and winner of 43 straight Division II games, will play host Saturday to Chapman College, the last team in the CCAA to defeat the Broncos. Chapman is 3-1 in the CCAA, a game behind Pomona going into the weekend.

Chapman will have its hands full, trying to derail the 17-1 Broncos and their hot seniors, forward Debra Larsen and guard Michele McCoy. Larsen, who was most valuable player in the championship tournament last year, is coming off a 28-point, 18-rebound performance against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is averaging 17.4 points and 11.4 rebounds. Her numbers go up to 18.5 and 13.3 in conference games.

McCoy, the Broncos’ flashy point guard, is averaging 14.4 points and 7.3 assists. In CCAA games, her numbers read 17.3 and 8.5. With 132 assists this season, McCoy is gunning for the school record of 225. She had 181 as a junior.

The Broncos will play at Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday, then will play Chapman at 8:05 p.m. Saturday in Pomona, after a 5:45 men’s game.

The most original reason to miss the rest of the basketball season belongs to Cal State San Bernardino’s Sayori Baldwin, who is on maternity leave.

Or, as a school spokesman put it: “She’s pink-shirting the rest of the season.”

The junior guard, who holds 10 school scoring records and was voted the team’s most valuable player the last two seasons, played eight games this season. She was averaging 11 points, and the Lady Coyotes were 8-2 when she left. They are 9-8.

Baldwin’s single-game records include most points, 31; rebounds, 21; and blocked shots, 5. She also holds the school records for most points in a season, 477, and highest average, 19.9. She married early in her college career. School officials said it was uncertain whether she would continue her career next season.

One basketball player who definitely has a home-court advantage is Cal Lutheran sophomore guard Steve deLaveaga, who has scored 30 or more points in five of seven home games and is averaging 28 points at home. On the road, his average dips to 11.8.

Overall, he leads the team with a 17.9-point average. One of DeLaveaga’s 30-point games helped Cal Lutheran to an 80-77 victory over Westmont, probably the biggest upset in NAIA District III this season.

Small College Notes The Pomona-Pitzer women’s basketball team is ranked seventh in Division III and is setting team records weekly. Forward Regina Juniel recently broke the school scoring record with a 35-point game, and teammate Melissa Barlow had a record 15 assists in another game. Juniel is averaging 21.6 points and 10.3 rebounds and leads the SCIAC in shooting at 59%. The Sagehens (15-2) have a nine-game winning streak going into tonight’s showdown at home against Whittier. Both are 2-0 in the SCIAC. . . . Midway through the season, junior forward Laura Mars leads the Golden State Athletic Conference in scoring with a 20.5 average, and rebounding with a 12.2 mark, and is shooting 48.5% from the field.

The Biola basketball team, off to a 15-1 start, gained more depth last weekend when transfer Ellis Yarrell became eligible. Yarrell, a 6-1 swing man, played at Tennessee Temple last year. . . . Forward Zenon M has been Cal Poly Pomona’s hot player since conference play began, averaging 15.7 points and 9.3 rebounds and shooting 60% from the floor in CCAA games. . . . Junior forward Elroy Moses of Cal State San Bernardino set a school record with 16 rebounds against Claremont-Mudd. . . . Cal State L.A. sophomore center Lupe Quintana had 30 rebounds in two weekend games and is fifth on the school-career rebounding list after only 42 games. . . . Cal Poly Pomona’s 60-57 victory on Adam Sacks’ last-second three-pointer over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in men’s basketball was its first against SLO since the 1977-78 season.

Mike Gregorian, Cal State L.A. soccer player and the team’s leading scorer last season, was one of 26 players invited to tryouts for the U.S. 20-and-under national team in April. . . . Cal Poly Pomona will induct five alumni into its athletic hall of fame Feb. 7--football star Jim Zorn, four-sport player John Hardy, football-track men Mike Curran and Reginald Southerland and three-sport star Karl Finch. . . . Jim Sanderson, who coached football for 15 years at Cal Poly SLO, the last five as head coach, is now the athletic fund-raiser for the school.