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Cegles ready to begin his era

During the 2005-06 school year it looked as if Long Beach State would never be able to replace athletic director Bill Shummard after he left the school in 2005. Finally in April, President F. King Alexander named Vic Cegles the man to lead the 49ers athletic program in the future.

However, don’t expect any new sweeping changes to the athletic department in the near future.

“I need time to evaluate the marketplace. That includes coaches, staff, fundraising, marketing promotion and student services,” Cegles said. “It is probably going to take me six to nine months. It would be a mistake for me to say ‘I want to changes this this and this’ because if you do you that you run the risk of disenfranchising some people and thoughts.”

While Cegles develops a plan for 49er athletics in the future, right now he is overseeing a program that is as strong as it has been in quite some time. He is also the first athletic director at LBSU to deal with new NCAA academic standards and is inheriting the problem of the relatively low number of Division I sports offered by the university.

On the field, LBSU might have had its strongest season in its history last year. For the first time ever, LBSU won the Commissioner’s Cup, which is given to the Big West school that has the most success on the field.

This year, LBSU is again expected to be one of the top schools in the conference in a variety of sports. The 49ers are expected to compete for conference championships in men’s and women’s volleyball, water polo, basketball, women’s soccer, baseball and softball.

“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone this year,” Cegles said. “It’s going to be fun getting to know our student-athletes, our coaches and our programs. Then to figure out how we can get better, because in the end it’s about getting better.”

Outside the lines of competition, Cegles will need to be paying close attention to the new strict academic standards the NCAA has implemented for large Division I programs.

The new standard, called the Average Progress Report (APR), is a system meant to gage the success of athletes in the classroom on a team-by-team basis.

Each player can receive a maximum of two points; one point is given to the player if he or she stays in school, and another point is given if they are on track to graduate. If a team falls below the minimum points allowed, they are subject to punishment, which includes loss of scholarships.

“This is going to be a great barometer for coaches,” Cegels said.

“Now they are going to think twice about the types of kids they are recruiting, because they are going to be penalized if the student flunks out of school.”

There have been no penalties given to any of the LBSU teams after the first six months of the APR, but according to Cegles, baseball is the in the most danger of being affected by the new rules.

Another issue for the athletic department is the number of Division I teams in the program. LBSU doesn’t have a football team, men’s soccer team or men’s tennis team.

“Because of gender equity, it is very difficult to add sports,” Cegles said.

“If you add sports, especially for men, then you certainly have to add sports for women. It would be nice to have, say, a men’s soccer team, but then you have to add the same number of scholarships for women. For every action there is a reaction, so it makes it very very difficult to add sports.”

Before becoming the A.D. at LBSU, Cegles spent over 20 years as an athletic administrator. He spent a majority of his time at Arizona State (1986-2002), where he oversaw fundraising, marketing and stadium operations. His last position was at Temple University, where he was associate athletic director of external affairs.

Cegles said he was interested in the A.D. position at LBSU because of the school’s academic reputation, the outstanding athletic tradition, the possibility of continuing to win national championship and a president who cares about athletics. Plus, a reason why many incoming freshman chose LBSU.

“The weather is great, why wouldn’t you want to live here?” Cegles said.

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