U athletics director Chris Hill announced late Sunday night that the university had, in a cost-cutting move, traded golf coach Wayne Fisher and women’s tennis coach John Tsumas to San Diego State for a conditional fourth-round draft pick.
“We are struggling to get under the NCAA-mandated salary cap, and, rather than risk offending and potentially losing a high-paid star like [men’s hoops coach] Rick [Majerus] by asking him to take a pay cut, we found it more feasible to deal a couple of our second-tier coaches,” Hill said.
Critics questioned the deal, noting that SDSU already has coaches for men’s golf and women’s tennis, in Dale Walker and Peter Mattera, and charged that Hill was simply trying to rid his athletics department of a pair of coaches whose teams are mired in mediocrity, and have been for several years.
“Look, the fact that Wayne couldn’t get our golfers out of 13th place if doing so would bring about the return of Christ had nothing to do with it,” Hill said. “And as for John, his tennis teams won some conference titles a decade ago or so, before they got really bad these last eight or nine years. We had no reason to think he couldn’t get things turned around within the next five or so. We just felt like we could use another draft pick.”
From the Aztecs side, Athletics Director Rick Bay found himself having to defend the decision to tamper with the chemistry of his department, especially considering that the golfers are ranked 17th in the country, and the netters 29th, respectively.
“We feel these fine new additions to San Diego State have as-yet-untapped potential that could not be reached at Utah, and that we are the school that will bring that potential out in them,” Bay said. “In giving up a fourth round pick, we’re really not risking that much.
“What can you get with a fourth-rounder in the NCAA Draft anyway? A women’s water polo second assistant, but not much more,” he added.
Bay also maintained that the jobs of Walker and Mattera were safe, and that Fisher and Tsumas would not be usurping any of their coaching duties.
“We’re going to give them some time to acclimate themselves to our system,” he said. “Maybe they’ll see some action with the women’s golf or men’s tennis teams, where our success rate is not quite so high. Or maybe they’ll make snack and coffee runs to the local Dunkin’ Donuts for our administrative personnel. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll use them quite yet.”
The newest Aztecs, though relegated to lesser roles, said they were happy in their new situation.
“Sure I’ll miss some of my colleagues at the U, but man?playing golf in southern California all the time?does life get any better,” said Fisher.
Meanwhile, Hill said the Utes were in no hurry to fill the positions vacated by Fisher and Tsumas.
“Knowing our athletes on those two teams, I’m confident that their performance will be relatively unaffected by the absence of a coach,” Hill said.
As for the draft pick itself, its conditional nature stems from performance incentives achieved by SDSU’s newest additions.
“If either of them drops us out of the top 25, the pick goes from fourth to fifth round,” Bay said. “I’d like to see them get a cross country coach with that.”
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