Cal State Fullerton Titans

Cal State Fullerton Titans
University	California State University, Fullerton
Conference	Big West Conference (primary) Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (swimming & diving)
NCAA	Division I
Athletic director	Jim Donovan
Location	Fullerton, California
Varsity teams	6 men's & 8 women's
Basketball arena	Titan Gym
Baseball stadium	Goodwin Field
Softball stadium	Anderson Family Field
Soccer stadium	Titan Stadium
Other venues	Titan Courts Titan Track Complex
Mascot	Tuffy the Titan (Elephant)
Nickname	Titans
Fight song	For our dear old Fullerton!
Colors	Navy blue, white, and orange[1]
Website	fullertontitans.com

The Cal State Fullerton Titans (also known as CSUF or Fullerton Titans) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Fullerton.

The Titans are a member of the NCAA Division I level. The Titans compete within the Big West Conference (BWC) for most sports.

The Cal State Fullerton official team nickname is the "Titans."^[2] The nickname was chosen in a vote by the students.^[2]

CSUF has won 13 national championships in eight different sports.

Baseball is Cal State Fullerton's strongest sport based on winning the most national championships at the university and consistently being rated among the nation's elite baseball programs. They have won four national championships in the NCAA Men's Baseball College World Series since 1979: 1979, 1984, 1995, and 2004.

Fullerton home games are played at on-campus Goodwin Field, and the team is currently coached by Rick Vanderhook.

This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2023)

The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team competes in the Big West Conference and has been led by head basketball coach Dedrique Taylor since the 2013–14 season. The team plays at Titan Gym.

The Titans men's basketball team has appeared in four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments in 1978, 2008, 2018, and 2022. Their combined record is 2–4.

The men's team has also played in three National Invitation Tournaments in 1983, 1997 and 2005.

The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team competes in the Big West Conference and plays at Titan Gym.

The team began play during the 1969–70 season under head coach, Billie Moore. During that season, the Titans were invited to the national tournament sponsored by the CIAW (a predecessor to the AIAW.) The Titans defeated West Chester to win the women's national championship 50–46 in their first year of existence.^[3]

Head Coach John Elders has directed the men's and women's cross country programs since 1988.

• 1971 NCAA Division II Championship Team Title
• 1970 NCAA College Division Individual Championship winner – Mark Covert '73
• Seven-Time All-American – Mark Covert '73
• 1992 Individual Big West Champion (8K) – Mike Tansley, Time – 25:53.00
• 1993 Individual Big West Champion (8K) – Mike Tansley, Time – 24:33.00
• 1992 & 1993 Big West Athlete of the Year – Mike Tansley

• 1994 All-American Heather Killeen, distance runner
• 2019 Big West Team Champions

In 1967, Martha Wilkinson won the women's national intercollegiate individual golf championship (an event conducted by the Division of Girls' and Women's Sports, which evolved into the current NCAA women's golf championship).

The Titans men's soccer team competes in the Big West Conference and has been coached by George Kuntz since 2014. The team plays at Titan Stadium.

The Titans men's soccer team's first season was in 1965 and the first Head Coach was Dr. Azmy Ibrahim. There were five Head Coaches from 1965 to 1974 before they became a Division I soccer program.

The Cal State Fullerton Titans men's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament appearance of 7–10 through ten appearances.^[4]

Titans on the United States Olympic Men's Soccer squads

• Mike Fox – 1984
• Joe DiGiamarino – 2000
• Brian Dunseth – 2000

The Cal State Fullerton women's soccer team competes in the Big West Conference and plays at Titan Stadium.

Demian Brown has been head women's soccer coach since 2007. He has led the team to three Big West Conference championships and was named Big West Conference soccer coach of the Year twice in 2007 and 2012. Brown led the Titans to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007 as a first year head coach and again in 2013 after winning the Big West Conference championship.

As a Titans assistant coach, Brown helped the team to two NCAA Tournament appearances. Once in 2005 and a "Sweet 16" tournament berth in 2006. The team also won two Big West Conference championships with Brown as assistant coach.

The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 3–7 through seven appearances.^[5]

The Cal State Fullerton Titans softball team competes in the Big West Conference and plays at Anderson Family Field. Since 2013, the team has been coached by Kelly Ford.

Titans softball won the 1986 NCAA Division I Softball National Championship. The team has also appeared in eight Women's College World Series, in 1980, 1981, 1982 (NCAA), 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1995.^[6] As of the 2019 season, the Titans have made twenty-five NCAA postseason appearances in their history.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, "Titans Three-Time All-American," Jenny Topping, won a gold medal as a member of the team in Athens, Greece.

Former head coaches

• Head Coach Judi Garman directed the team from 1980 to 1999 with overall record 913–376–4.
• Head Coach Michelle Gromacki directed the team from 2000 to 2012 and had an overall record of 424–302–1.

Head Coach Dianne Matias has been leading the Cal State Fullerton women's tennis program since 2013. She is the fifth women's tennis head coach to lead the program since the 1983 season.

The team has competed in the Big West Conference starting with the 1987 season.

Head coach John Elders has directed the Titans men's track program since 1988. Starting in the 2021–22 academic year, Cal State Fullerton began competing in men's indoor track and field in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.^[7] Previously, only the women's team competed indoors.

Head coach John Elders has led the Titans women's track program since 1988.

The Cal State Fullerton women's volleyball team competes in the Big West Conference and has been coached by head women's volleyball coach Ashley Preston since 2015.

During the 2010 season, Fullerton won the conference championship with a record of 26–6. That year, head coach Carolyn Zimmerman won the Big West Conference coach of the year and Erin Saddler won Big West Conference player of the Year. In 2008, Brittany Moore also won the Big West Conference player of the Year.

The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's volleyball team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 0–1 through one appearance.^[8]

Titans on USA Women's Volleyball rosters

• 2009–10 Brittany Moore, Women's US national team
• 2013 Bre Moreland, USA U23 beach national team^[9]

Former head coaches

• Kristi Conklin (1976) (5–10–3)
• Jill Goldberg (1977–79) (24–50)
• Fran Cummings (1980–88) (84–216)
• Jim Huffman (1989–91) (25–80)
• Mary Ellen Murchison (1992–2001) (76–211)
• Carolyn Zimmerman (2002–2014) (162–169)

• The fencing Intercollegiate Program for Men and Women was discontinued in 2008 due to budget constraints.
• Football was discontinued in 1992 due to budget constraints.
• Gymnastics and wrestling were both dropped at the same time after the 2010–2011 season due to budget constraints.^[10]
• Men's tennis was discontinued after the 1987 season due to budget constraints.

The CSUF football program, discontinued in 1992, set NCAA Division I-A records for most fumbles (73) in a single season and most fumbles lost (41) in a single season.^[11] Several Titans moved on to the NFL, including New York Giants standout Mark Collins. It also produced three Canadian Football League players: Mike Pringle who is the league's all-time leading rusher, Damon Allen, the league's all-time leading passer until October 2011, and Allen Pitts, the league's all-time leading receiver until 2008 when he was passed by Milt Stegall.

Cal State Fullerton fielded a men's tennis team from 1960 to 1987.

Wrestling dates to 1968 at Cal State Fullerton. The Titans never won a team championship but boast 31 conference champions, 12 Div. I and 3 Div. II All-Americans and 87 NCAA Div. I national qualifiers including at least one in each of the last 26 seasons. Titan Wrestling competed in Division I in the PAC-10 conference, as the Big West Conference did not support wrestling. Cal State Fullerton's intercollegiate wrestling program was discontinued after 43 years at the conclusion of the 2010–11 season. The program was given the opportunity to continue operating if it could fund its own annual budget. An action was considered at the end of the 2009–10 season, an extensive fund-raising campaign for the 2010–11 season came up short of the $196,145 cash deposited goal by the Aug. 2 deadline.^[12] Two former Titan wrestler's include former UFC Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw and former Pride/Strikeforce/UFC Champion Dan Henderson.

The CSU Fullerton Titans competed in the NCAA Tournament across 10 active sports (5 men's and 5 women's) 99 times at the Division I level.^[13]

• Baseball (40): 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
• Men's basketball (3): 1978, 2008, 2018
• Women's basketball (2): 1989, 1991
• Men's soccer (10): 1975, 1986, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2014, 2015, 2017
• Women's soccer (8): 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019
• Softball (29): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
• Men's indoor track and field (1): 2003
• Men's outdoor track and field (4): 1994, 2002, 2003, 2004
• Women's outdoor track and field (1): 2011
• Women's volleyball (1): 2010

The Titans of CSU Fullerton earned 5 NCAA championships at the Division I level.^[14]

• Men's (4)
  • Baseball (4): 1979, 1984, 1995, 2004
• Women's (1)
  • Softball (1): 1986

Results

CSU Fullerton won 4 national championships at the NCAA Division II level.^[14]

• Men's cross country: 1971
• Men's gymnastics: 1971, 1972, 1974

Below are six national championships that were not bestowed by the NCAA:

• Women's (4)
  • Basketball (AIAW) (1): 1970
  • Fencing (NIWFA) (1): 1974
  • Golf (AIAW) (1): 1967 (individual: Martha Wilkinson)
  • Gymnastics (AIAW) (1): 1979^{[Note 1]}
• Below are two national club team championships:
  • Men's bowling (USBC) (1): 1989
  • Co-ed roller hockey, Div. II (NCRHA) (1): 2014

CSU Fullerton had 3 Titans win NCAA individual championships at the Division I level.^[14]

At the NCAA Division II level, CSU Fullerton garnered 12 individual championships.^[14]

The Sports Complex is a multi-purpose stadium complex created in conjunction with the Fullerton Marriott and the City of Fullerton. The complex includes a dance studio, fencing rooms, an indoor archery range, an outdoor swimming complex, racquetball courts, weight-training facilities and wrestling facilities.

• Anderson Family Field — softball
• Goodwin Field — baseball
• Titan Courts — Women's tennis
• Titan Gym — Men’s and women’s basketball, Women’s volleyball (non-varsity - Women’s gymnastics, Wrestling)
• Titan Stadium — Men's and women's soccer
• Titan Track Complex — Men’s and women's track and field

• Amerige Park (1992) — Baseball
• Anaheim Stadium (1970–1971, 1983) — Football
• Santa Ana Stadium (1971–1975, 1984–1991) — Football
• Falcon Stadium (1976–1979) — Football
• Titan Field (1980–1982) — Football, (1991) — Baseball
• Glover Stadium (1983) — Football
• Titan Stadium (1992) — Football

As of 1962, a mascot hadn't been chosen to represent the nickname, "Titans."^[2] In what began as a practical joke turned into the “First Intercollegiate Elephant Race in Human History.”^[2] The event attracted elephants from universities around the United States and even one from England.^[2] To publicize the event, an elephant called "Tuffy the Titan" was used and it began appearing on items around campus.^[2] A crowd estimated at over 10,000 turned out for the event in Spring 1962.^[2] As a result of hosting the race and with no other mascot, the elephant, "Tuffy the Titan," was adopted as the university mascot.^[2]

The school colors were chosen as a result of a vote by the student body.^[2] The colors chosen were royal blue and white, but the athletic equipment manager at the time of the vote thought orange was appropriate on uniforms for a college then known as Orange County State College.^[2] The unofficial color was adopted, but wasn't officially acknowledged by the Athletics Council until 1987.^[2] In 1992, a change from royal blue to navy blue was initiated.^[2]

Because of the proximity to Long Beach State, the schools are considered rivals. The rivalry is especially heated in baseball with the Long Beach State baseball team also having a competitive college baseball program.^[17] This of one of few sports where at least two teams from the Big West Conference frequently make the NCAA national tournament.^[17] Fullerton also has an intense rivalry with Big West stablemate UC Irvine; the two schools are the only Division I universities in Orange County.^[18][19][20]

• Jim Donovan (Dec. 2012–present)
• Dr. Steve Walk (July 2012–Dec. 2012) – Interim
• Brian Quinn (2002–2012)
• John Easterbrook (1994–2001)
• Bill Schumard (1991–1994)
• Ed Carroll (1985–1991)
• Lynn Eilefson (1982–1985)
• Mike Mullally (1979–1981)
• Neale R. Stoner (1972–1979)
• Dr. John Caine (1968–1972)
• Dr. Elmer L. Johnson (1965–1968)
• Ernest Becker (1963–1964)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to California State University, Fullerton athletics.

• Official website