How many championships have Fresno State teams won this year? Think low, very low

The burden of Bulldog Nation is upon you, baseball.

No pressure.

Fresno State sponsors 19 intercollegiate sports (it’ll be 21 next year when wrestling and women’s water polo come aboard), but unless the baseball team catches fire not one will win a conference championship.

“Zero,” answered Jim Bartko, curling his hand to form a “0” once he recognized where my question was headed.

“Yes, we’re fully aware of that.”

What Fresno State’s athletic director didn’t realize, not until I informed him, is how finishing with zero titles would be an extremely rare and dubious occurrence. Since 1992, a quarter century ago, at least one Bulldogs team, (and usually multiple ones) has finished first in the regular season or won a postseason conference tournament.

(Why 1992? Because that’s the year Fresno State joined the Western Athletic Conference and I could only spend so much time researching. So it’s possible the streak goes back a lot further.)

But this year, unless the baseball team reverses recent history in Albuquerque, N.M, likely site of the Mountain West Tournament, the Bulldogs will come up empty.

Which does not make the man in charge, someone who once uttered “I did not come here to be average,” especially pleased.

“Obviously it’s disappointing,” Bartko said. “We expect to compete for championships in all our sports. We have great coaches in place, but I think they know the expectations are higher.”

Perhaps the football team’s 1-11 stumble was a sign of things to come. Women’s soccer (seventh place) and volleyball (eighth) didn’t do much better.

Things improved slightly in winter. Men’s basketball was fourth in league play and lost in the conference tournament semis. Women’s basketball advanced to the championship game as the No. 7 seed. Swimming and diving was seventh at the Mountain West meet.

But even the spring sports, Fresno State’s usual stronghold, have fallen off. The baseball team, in third, hasn’t been anywhere near as good as coach Mike Batesole advertised. Softball, off back-to-back conference titles, is rebuilding under first-year coach Linda Garza.

Women’s lacrosse managed the best record in program history at 9-7, but fell short of its No. 1 goal of postseason play after some schmuck gushed over how well they were doing.

“You jinxed ’em,” Bartko said with a laugh. “Like the Sports Illustrated curse.”

Fresno State’s best athletic success during the 2016-17 academic year came on the tennis courts, where the men’s and women’s teams finished second during the regular season. But at the Mountain West championships, neither reached the final.

Who have I left out? The equestrian team had a solid year but not quite a championship one. Women’s track and field, despite individual standouts, will be hard-pressed to repeat last year’s third-place conference result.

Men’s track and field is manned by walk-ons. Women’s cross country finished 10th out of 11 and the men eighth and last.

“We can’t be happy with zero titles,” Bartko said. “I think every one of our coaches understands that.”

Which is why the third-year AD replied “bringing back Jeff Tedford,” the coach he hired in November to resuscitate football, when asked to name Fresno State’s No. 1 athletic success over the past nine months.

Fortunately for the athletic department, the Bulldogs had a much better year in the classroom.

Fresno State student-athletes posted a collective 3.149 GPA during the fall semester, the highest on record. Fifty-seven were named to the conference all-academic team, also a record. Five teams posted perfect multiyear Academic Progress scores led by women’s golf, which has done it four straight years.

So, no, winning isn’t the only thing that matters in college athletics. But it sure is a big one when you’re trying to sell tickets and attract donations. Which Bartko and his team are in the continuous business of doing.

It’s entirely possible that 2016-17 will prove a one-year blip and the Bulldogs will get back to winning. Fresno State captured 78 league titles during its two-decade run in the WAC and 10 since joining the Mountain West in 2012. (Plus one by the equestrian team, which competes in the United Equestrian Conference.)

Or it could signal the beginning of a downward trend. What makes me say that? The biggest concern is money. Starting next year, Fresno State will offer the third-most sports of any Mountain West school behind Air Force and New Mexico. And they’ll be doing it on a budget that ranks in the lower-middle of the pack.

For those same coaches Bartko has so much faith in to win conference titles, they need the resources to schedule and recruit. And for student-athletes to reach their maximum potential, they need ample support from trainers, academic counselors and the like.

By adding sports during what should probably be a time of belt-tightening, the Bulldogs are in danger of stretching themselves too thin.

Bartko disagrees with that assessment, pointing out that academic services are fully staffed and one more trainer will be hired to accommodate wrestling and water polo.

“I don’t feel like we’re shorting our coaches,” he said. “Yes, our budget is less than some schools. But I’m confident we’ll be competitive in the Mountain West.”

Competitive, sure. But Fresno State is a place that has gotten used to championships. Just not this year.

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 2:13 PM with the headline "How many championships have Fresno State teams won this year? Think low, very low."