CSAS: Proactive relationship with the athletes

By Bob Keisser
Staff writer
Saturday, March 19, 2005 - There's something sublime about the location of Long Beach State's Center for Student-Athlete Services (CSAS).

It is in a small room across from the aged Gold Mine, the claustrophobic former gym for 49er teams. The room itself has four walls and no privacy.

Its former use? It was the campus boiler room.

"We were all a bit sad when they took down the 'boiler room' name plate outside the office," CSAS director Gayle Fenton said with a lilting laugh. "It's a small room without any doors. Whenever we say we need to have a meeting in the 'conference room," it means we all go outside."

Sometime in the fall, the CSAS will move into new offices built courtesy of the recent $2.1 million endowment by the Walter Family that also put a name on the Pyramid. But the lack of a modern facility hasn't kept the CSAS from turning in Top 20 work for 49er student-athletes.

The university's recent excellent scores in the first NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) study were attributed in part to the CSAS. Fenton and her staff of seven work directly with more than 400 student-athletes in planning their college careers and meeting NCAA and school academic requirements.

The CSAS was created in 1995 by academic affairs. Fenton was essentially drafted as director of the new office and given a mandate to assist student-athletes academically and keep them informed about NCAA and university requirements and eligibility.

When the office opened, Fenton was given one half-time student assistant, then-49er softball player Sandra Shirley. Ten years later, Shirley is now assistant director and Fenton oversees a staff of seven.

Fenton had no athletic background when she was asked to create the center. "None whatsoever," she said. "I'm the most unathletic person you've ever met. The first athletic event I attended here was a women's volleyball game, and I left after the second game because I thought it was over. Everyone ran off the court. That's how little I knew about sports."

She's learned plenty in the last decade, and has become an important conduit to life off the field and outside the arena for student-athletes. "I like to joke to (athletic director) Bill Shumard that we're the school's 17th team," she said.

The CSAS works with the athletic department but operates as an extension of academic services, reporting to the academic provost, "which gives us better credibility on campus," Fenton said.

Fenton said the center doesn't advise student-athletes as much as counsel and inform them. They cut through the verbiage of the NCAA rule book so athletes know the rules, and keep students on track for eligibility and graduation.

"We believe in student-athlete responsibility," Fenton said. "We don't have the personnel to hold their hands. When the athlete leaves college, who's going to hold their hand then? We don't want to enable student-athletes to just get through school.

"But we are here to help them. I always tell them that if they're struggling with something, they should come into the office, stand in the middle and scream help. That's what we're here for."

Fenton doesn't have the personnel to hold 450 hands the approximately 380 current athletes and a growing number of former athletes who return to school after pausing for professional careers. Former volleyball Olympian and All-American Brett Winslow has worked with the CSAS upon his return to school.

But she does have the personnel to keep them informed. The CSAS staff meets with all incoming freshmen and help them map out their first two years of school, focusing on core requirements and NCAA rules.

The CSAS later counsels student-athletes on career paths, be it becoming a pro athlete, entering the business world, or extending their education.

The CSAS encourages a proactive relationship between students and the faculty. Many universities mail grade-checks directly to professors; the CSAS designed a strategy where student-athletes take their grade checks directly to the professors.

Fenton and the staff meet often with the coaches so they know how their athletes are progressing in class. "Our coaches are probably a bit more responsible for their athletes than coaches at other schools," she said. "We want as many people as possible involved in the process."

Two years ago, Fenton was able to add a learning strategist to the staff, Carol Barr, who holds workshops teaching students time management and finding academic services and resources. The new offices will include a study hall and computers for use by the student-athletes.

Fenton may not understand a zone defense but she's become an expert on the pressures and requirements for student-athletes. She is working on her doctorate at UC Irvine and her dissertation is on academic standards and providing support.

The CSAS works, she says, because it operates outside the athletic department, and admits she can't imagine it operating any other way.

"I think I'd be uncomfortable if I was an academic adviser in the athletic department for a Top 20 university with coaches who make $2 million a year," she said.

"We're proud of the scores we received in the APR, and they will get better. We've already corrected a few scores. We may not have the money a major school can put to academics, but we can provide the same kind of resources."