Bill Shumard, CSULB's interim athletics director

New athletics director plans for future

There was no press conference for Bill Shumard when he was named athletic director at Cal State Fullerton in 1991.

"Nobody around there even seemed to know what one was," he said.

Well, Shumard didn't exactly have the luxury of one after being named interim athletic director at Cal State Long Beach March 8. His luck: he was in Reno, Nev., for the Big West Basketball Tournament.

This time, however, he at least got to meet the press in an informal luncheon Wednesday at Spaghettini's in Seal Beach. Shumard shared his vision of the future of CSULB athletics with athletics officials and a contingent of media Ð and sounded a lot lik e someone looking farther down the road than a couple of months.

"We'll have to see if the university and I are a good fit," Shumard, who left CSUF for a post as assistant vice president of university relations and development at CSULB, told the Forty-Niner Online as he cleaned out his old office. "But as much as I'd like to do it Ð it's OK if I don't . I know we're a fit here [as an assistant vice president]. I am really excited though."

Shumard, 45, said Wednesday that the athletic program gained a great deal of momentum under Dave O'Brien, who resigned Feb. 28 to take the athletic director position at Temple University in Philadelphia. Not surprisingly, Shumard pointed to the building of the Pyramid as being the hallmark of O'Brien's regime.

"When the Pyramid got built, what that did for recruiting and national recognition was incredible," Shumard said.

Built as the Pyramid may be, it remains incomplete nearly a year and a half after hosting its first event. Shumard said finding funds to complete the facility would be a top priority during his tenure and that negotiations with a potential corporate spon sor for name rights to The Pyramid have been under way for the past four to six weeks.

Money from that sponsorship would put the university in position to finish financing the $22 million structure and put the finishing touches on it, including moving the basketball and volleyball offices to the still - incomplete second floor and adding 2,000 seats. "We need to get The Pyramid built out and sold out," Shumard said. "It's important to increase the image of being a tough ticket."

That will be a tough task for Shumard, but one he said he is more prepared to take on than when he was at CSUF. By his own admission, Shumard was unprepared to be an athletic director when he took that job.

"I'm going to try to be more patient," he said. "I don't think I am a patient person, but I am a good listener."