CCSN starts from scratch in creating a sports program

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, March 23, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

Rodger Fairless is the first of what will be 10 head coaches to be hired by the Community College of Southern Nevada, if the school's president and athletic director have their way.

It's an adventuresome goal, given the fact the school has no athletic facilities nor even a name for its Coyote mascot. But CCSN president Dr. Richard Moore and AD Mike Meyer have announced an intention to initiate 10 sports programs within the next decade.

Baseball is up first and will play its initial season in the year 2000. Perhaps next year or at least the year after, softball will make its CCSN debut.

Eight other sports -- four for men and four for women -- will follow. Soccer, golf and volleyball are among the possibilities.

But right now, today, CCSN has only Fairless under contract to coach baseball and a wealth of dreams on the horizon.

"If you have modest or low expectations, that's what you get," Moore said, figuratively reaching for the sky. "We're going to create some athletic programs. People might wonder how good they're going to be, but I don't want to be like Dixie (Utah) Junior College.

"I want us to be successful at the national level."

CCSN is starting from point zero. And to expedite the process, Meyer -- whose forte is fund-raising -- was hired earlier this month as athletic director after a 25-year run as executive director and president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas.

He's coming out sprinting.

"It's scary in a way," he said. "My job is to raise money. I think the groundswell is out there, but right now that's about all we have: Interest in the community."

He also has a $50,000 commitment from an unnamed donor that is earmarked for covering some of the start-up costs for baseball and softball.

He's looking at operating budgets of $95,000 for baseball and $85,000 for softball. All money for sports would come from private donors.

"I think everyone here is really excited," Meyer said. "This is very important for the students and the community, and I personally feel this baseball program should have been launched years ago."

Fairless was hired last week, albeit at a part-time salary of $12,000. Moore said he's looking to have the coach -- and a soon-to-be-named softball coach from among six applicants -- on full-time salary and benefits within a few months.

Of course CCSN also needs a field for its baseball team to play on, plus uniforms and equipment. The bare-boned Coyotes don't even have a bat and ball to play with yet.

"This is kind of like a dream job," Fairless said. "It's going to be tough to be starting with nothing, but we'll get it done.

"I'm taking it one day at a time, but I can guarantee you I'll put everything I have into this program. We'll become a national power eventually."

CCSN may play its 2000 home games at a public park, perhaps Pecole or Burkholder. Moore said an on-campus field (at one of CCSN's three campuses) is on the drawing board but may not be feasible for a year or two.

The Coyotes -- who will wear Navy and gold school colors -- will either play as an independent or join the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference, a 14-team league. CCSN will not have an in-state rival as Nevada has no other junior or community college teams.

"This college has waited 25 years for this," Moore said. "Athletics is often the first field of excellence for people, and I just think Nevada had been flat-out wrong to not have had athletic programs at its community colleges."

The school is just now forming club programs for assorted sports and the response to those will determine which sports are formally added to CCSN's roster. "We'll make a plan but be willing to change it, based on how well received the club sports are," Moore said.

CCSN enrolled 2,400 freshmen last year and has an approximate enrollment of 3,500 now.

Fairless will be looking to corral some of the "25 to 40" high-school baseball players from Clark County schools who annually play junior-college baseball outside the state.

Meyer said the number was actually 42 last year.

"Rodger is the cornerstone of baseball in this community," Meyer added. "By bringing him here, we're telling the community we're serious about sports."

Fairless, 47, is a legendary high-school baseball coach with more than 500 wins to his credit. In 19 years of coaching at Valley and Green Valley high schools, his teams won 12 state championships.

Among the players he has helped develop are three first-round draft choices and perhaps the finest Major League Baseball pitcher of this generation, Greg Maddux.

Fairless has had 25 players drafted by major-league teams.

But his incoming players at CCSN will not be offered scholarships, nor any financial assistance beyond the school's standing offer to pay for the first class of each of its students.

"Two years ago I had seven players off my (Green Valley) team go to junior colleges," Fairless said. "Every year in this city we have 25 to 40 kids who have to leave the state to play junior-college baseball.

"That never made sense to me, plus it's a real financial burden on their families.

"This will open a lot of doors for Nevada kids."

Meyer -- and Moore -- will be using similar arguments as they scrounge for funding in the coming months and years. Ten sports in 10 years? The first grains of sand just passed through the neck of the hourglass.