BCC: AD see bright future for Vikings

BARSTOW • Gary Schwartz still hears about the old negative attitude and opinions about Barstow Community College Athletics when he’s out recruiting.

However, it’s an image that the BCC athletic director doesn’t think is representative any longer.
“I discovered that that old perception of Barstow College athletics of being inferior kind of permeated the community,” Schwartz said. “I’ve been battling that to get the local athletes to understand things have changed here.

A year into his tenure as BCC’s athletic director Schwartz predicts success is not far off for a program which has perennially struggled in most sports.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we are doing it pretty fast,” Schwartz said.

When Schwartz was hired in August 2008, he took a job that had been vacant for several months. The school hadn’t had an athletic director without the interim tag in more than a year and never had a full-time athletic director.

Schwartz said he knew there was hard work to be done and it would take commitment from him and the college to get it done. That commitment started when BCC hired him as the first full-time athletic director. It’s continued since Schwartz was hired. The men’s basketball head coaching position is now a full-time position and it will soon be followed by the women’s basketball head coaching position.

If there wasn’t a commitment from the college, Schwartz said he would not have been back for a second year.

“The college administration, when they hired me they decided to go with a full commitment to athletics and a much bigger commitment than they’ve made before,” Schwartz said. “They wanted the program to grow.”
Men’s basketball coach Reggie Howard said he can see the difference after just a year.

“I feel like it’s a 100 percent turnaround,” Howard said. “(Schwartz) really knows the Xs and 0s. He know the politics. He knows the rules and regulations. When someone comes to campus, he’s real good with communicating with the kids.”

Signs of success are slowly starting to show on the field. The cross country team, fueled by several former state champion Barstow High School runners, has performed well in several recent invitationals and top runner Andrew Romano has several top 20 finishes.

“All of our programs are getting ready to have significant success,” Schwartz said. “You are seeing that already with the cross county team.”

The softball team, which went dormant in 2009 after half the 2008 season was canceled due to not having enough players, has been reformed and will play in 2010. New coach Diana Maestas has about 16 players on the roster.

Schwartz also has plans to expand the number of sports offered by the athletic department. He expects to add women’s volleyball in 2011, women’s soccer in 2012 and eventually men’s soccer once the school is in better standing with Title IX rules.

“We’ve had low women’s numbers,” Schwartz said. “We are required by law to increase women’s sports. That will get us into some equitable numbers and after that I’ll be able to add men’s soccer.”

Basketball Fridays

The Foothill Conference recently announced that all conference basketball games will be played on Wednesdays and Fridays due to the economic recession.

Games were previously held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but Saturday games created overtime because a maintenance worker had to be available to work the game, Schwartz said.

Every sport, excluding football, also dropped about 10 to 15 percent of scheduled games from a year ago to save money. Basketball teams went from 28 games a year to 24.

Women’s basketball tournament
The BCC women’s basketball team will open its season on Nov. 19 as it hosts the Barstow College Tournament.
The tournament will include Mt. San Antonio College, Citrus College, Imperial Valley College, Poterville College, San Diego Mesa College and Victor Valley College.

The men’s team opens its season on Nov. 6 at the Cuesta Tip-Off Tournament at San Luis Obispo. The Vikings play their first home game at 3 p.m. on Nov. 14 versus L.A. Harbor.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4124 or
mpeters@desertdispatch.com