Long Beach State athletics director sat down with the Daily 49er to talk about the upcoming fall seasons, projects the athletics department is working on, and the change in administration.
Q: Which team are you especially excited to see this year?
Cegles: That’s a good question. I think we can be really good in a lot of sports, so I just think it’s fun to see how well everybody is going to do. Soccer has been our great tradition the last four or five years. We’ve got five freshmen starting, I mean, how good will that be. We lost the other night on Friday, but I think this team can be really good by the end of the year. I think Mauricio Ingrassia is an outstanding coach, and I’m excited to see how they come out and do what they’ve got to do.
With volleyball, last year was the first year we didn’t get to the tournament in 25 years, and that says something about Brian Gimmillaro, and he’s won three national championships. Haleigh Hampton’s back, and she’s 6’ 6”. I think we have a couple of new players plus some kids who have really grown, and we can have an outstanding year in women’s volleyball. So that’s just fun because it’s always about the excitement you can generate with your alumni, and your boosters and your friends, and I think that kind of kicks off the season.
Certainly basketball is very important to us, and I played college basketball and I really enjoy it. Our schedule, we’re going to Arizona, Washington, Missouri, North Carolina State, playing Michigan in the Puerto Rico tournament. We’ve got Creighton at home, who is a top-10 team. And you’ve got USC coming to the Pyramid. That’s pretty exciting. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, it’s exciting. I could go on and on. With water polo we finally made some progress there with our men last year, and I think we could really get going there.
And then women’s basketball … I don’t want to go through every sport, but it’s really impressive what our coaches are able to do with some of the limited resources that we might have. And I really expect baseball to turn the corner this year. I feel very confident in Troy Buckley and his staff, and I think with a lot of changes in the game in recent years and a lot of competition, we’ve talked about the salaries that they’re paying some of these coaches. Some of our guys are nowhere near this stuff, and yet I think we’re going to turn around, and I think people are going to be pretty impressed by Dirtbags baseball in the next couple of years.
All in all, I’m just excited. You go through the summertime, and I enjoy some of the relief as far as not having events to go to; you kind of recharge the batteries, but then you’re at the point too where’s it’s like, let’s get started, let’s go after it, and that’s what makes it fun. And I tell the coaches all the time, it’s a given that we will graduate our kids, but I know it’s a lot more fun to do this when you win. Certainly all of these coaches are all competitive, and that’s why I like what I do because I’m around competitive people. They try to get better every day. We have great coaches. I’m excited for the year ahead. Yeah, we won three successive [Big West Commissioner’s Cups], so there’s no reason we can’t win four. That’s our goal. Certainly all of the coaches have their own goals for their teams, but I think we can be successful again and win another cup.
Q: You did a lot of upgrading to facilities last year. What is planned for this year?
C: Right now, we’re going to get a new track. The university is going to do that for us, which we really needed to do. We needed to go out and raise additional dollars to enhance that track. I’m just excited that the kids on the track team now have a competitive track. Our goal then is to go out and raise additional dollars to add seat and make it a first-class facility so we can host some NCAA regional meets and all types of activities. Southern California track and field is about as good as it can be anywhere in the country.
Q: What has changed since F. King Alexander left, and what do you hope to see in the new president?
C: At this point nothing has really changed since King left. I feel very confident with the administration and that the people that are there understand and appreciate the value of athletics and that they’re supporting us in every possible way that they can. I feel comfortable about that. I think that we bring a lot to the table as far as promoting the university and successful teams rally the alumni, and I think it’s really important for us to rally the alumni.
There are 250,000 alumni and 150,000 in L.A. and Orange County that we need to get to to support the university — not athletics necessarily — but support the university financially, and that’s what we can do. We can help promote that by having successful teams.
Q: Are there any projects you’re currently working on?
C: We’re just trying to raise money. We have plans on expanding the Bickerstaff Academic Center. We have plans to build new locker rooms for softball and women’s soccer, and then we have the renovations at Blair Field. We’d also like to move sports medicine over to the Pyramid. We have these plans, and now it’s a matter of trying to find the major gifts to make it work and make it happen.
Q: What should fans expect to see from Long Beach State teams this year?
C: We have terrific fans. People who live here don’t leave here. Why would you? The weather is phenomenal, and I think if you can afford to live here, you stay here, so there’s a lot of loyalty to this institution. Sometimes you get a little frustrated that we don’t sell more tickets because I think this institution is so important for the vitality to the community.
There’s no great city without a great university, so give back, support us; help us do that. The expectation is that we graduate our kids and that we do everything with integrity and that you win. If you’re in Southern California and you don’t win, nobody’s coming. Nobody’s going to USC, nobody’s going to see the Raiders if they don’t win. Obviously you have to be successful, and our coaches, they try to get better every day and to win.