A new era at Cal State Fullerton will begin at some point this summer.
Jim Donovan announced at the end of March that he will retire after more than a decade leading the Titans, a run that included meaningful competitive success and growth in Titan Athletics. Before arriving at Fullerton, Donovan spent four years as athletic director at Hawai‘i and previously served as the Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl’s executive director.
Fullerton had plenty of high points under Donovan. The Titans remained nationally relevant in baseball and softball, with College World Series appearances in 2015 and 2017, while softball won seven straight conference titles. Men’s and women’s soccer also reached the NCAA Tournament multiple times.
Overall, the Titans won 33 Big West championships under Donovan.
Now, Cal State Fullerton has to find the next person to guide the department through a very different era.
Finance Snapshot
According to Fiscal Year 2025 FRS reporting, via Extra Points Library, Fullerton reported a department budget of $27,805,913. That ranked eighth among the 11 current Big West members.
That number is significant, but so is the changing neighborhood around them. Four of the top five highest-budgeted Big West members are leaving: Hawai‘i and UC Davis to the Mountain West, UC San Diego to the WCC, and UC Santa Barbara to the WCC. That should bring the league’s average spending profile closer to Fullerton’s current level.
The Titans have also grown their budget. In FY 2021, Fullerton reported a budget of $17.4 million. By FY 2025, that number had climbed to nearly $27.8 million.
Fundraising has been a strength, especially relative to the rest of the Big West. Some of that may be out of necessity, as Fullerton sits at the bottom of the league in both direct institutional support and student fees. But the Titans ranked third in contributions at $2,631,509, trailing only Cal Poly and Hawai‘i.
Fullerton cannot solve every challenge by relying on institutional support. The next leader will need to keep building donor momentum, expand revenue generation, and make the case that athletics can be a bigger part of the university’s broader strategy.
There is also the bigger university fundraising picture.
Cal State Fullerton completed its $270 million “It Takes a Titan” campaign in 2023. The campaign included athletics-related projects tied to baseball, softball facilities, and Fullerton Golf.
That creates both opportunity and pressure. Fullerton has already shown it can compete near the top of the Big West in contributions. The next question is whether the department can turn that momentum into a more consistent facilities strategy, especially for programs that have historically carried regional or national brand value.
AD Snapshot
The next athletic director will also be the first AD hire for Cal State Fullerton President Ronald S. Rochon.
Rochon started at Fullerton in May 2024 after previously serving as president at the University of Southern Indiana since 2018. While at USI, Rochon oversaw a university that transitioned to Division I, though he inherited longtime athletic director Jon Mark Hall.
That gives Rochon experience leading a university through a changing Division I environment, but this will be his first opportunity to hire an athletic director who will execute his vision.
For Fullerton, the hire will say a lot about how the university views athletics moving forward.
Is this a department trying to maintain its place in the Big West? Or is this a department trying to take advantage of a reshaped league and push closer to the top?
That may be the central question of the search.
The university has transformed in recent years and has long-term plans to shed its “commuter campus” label over the next 16 years. Cal State Fullerton, the largest school in the Cal State system, has seen steady growth since COVID-19 and reached a record high in Fall 2025 with under 46,000 headcount students.
There is plenty of opportunity for the next regime.
Donovan’s last contract ran from August 2025 to December 2027, with a base salary of $338,460. I’d imagine the next athletic director’s contract will be in that neighborhood. No public timetable has been set, but industry circles say the search will begin sometime in May.
Current Coaches
The new AD will inherit several immediate coaching questions.
In baseball, Jason Dietrich was named head coach in 2021 and originally signed a contract through 2025. He later received a one-year extension through 2026, with a base salary of $256,800.
At press time, Dietrich holds a 99-122 overall record and a 60-60 mark in Big West play. With his contract running through 2026, baseball may become one of the new AD’s first major decisions.
That matters because Titan baseball is not just another program. For decades, Fullerton baseball was a national brand. You can still argue the brand exists, but the results have been inconsistent. The Titans finished third in the Big West in 2025, 10th in 2024, second in 2023, seventh in 2022, and ninth in 2021.
Whether Dietrich gets more time, a new structure, or a reset will likely be one of the most closely watched decisions of the new AD’s first year.
Men’s basketball is another major item.
Dedrique Taylor is entering his 14th season at Fullerton. He is coming off a massive turnaround season, earning Big West Coach of the Year honors after leading the Titans to an 18-16 record, a 12-8 league mark and the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.
Overall, Taylor is 161-205 at Fullerton. Historically, this has been a tough place to win consistently, but his program has often operated on a developmental cycle, building toward stronger seasons every three or four years. The Titans made the NCAA Tournament in 2017-18 and 2021-22.
Taylor’s current contract expires on April 30, and there has been no public announcement of an extension. The pulse around the situation is that he is operating as though an extension for next year is coming, with the school awaiting a new AD hire before making longer-term decisions. Conversations are ongoing, and it would not be a surprise if something short-term is completed soon.
His current base salary is $283,800.
On the women’s basketball side, Fullerton hired John Bonner in 2025. Bonner led the Titans to an 18-14 record and a 13-7 mark in Big West play in his first season, then accepted the Seattle University job on March 19. That move coincided with Donovan announcing a national search for the next women’s basketball head coach. Bonner left with a base salary of $192,000.
Assuming the women’s basketball hire is made before the new AD arrives, that coach will likely be one of the first relationships the next athletic director needs to build.
Softball is in steadier hands.
The Titans have been a regional and, at times, national power for much of the last two decades. Gina Oaks Garcia is in her second season after taking over for Kelly Ford, who won 410 games over 12 seasons and led Fullerton to seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
Oaks Garcia has a winning percentage over 75% across her first two years and is winning more than 85% of her conference games. She is signed through Aug. 14, 2027, with an automatic one-year kicker if the Titans make the NCAA Tournament. Her base salary is $180,000.
What’s Next?
The new athletic director will inherit a department with history, recent success, and a changing conference landscape that could create an opening for Fullerton to climb.
But the job also comes with immediate decisions.
The next AD will need to keep revenue generation moving, maintain donor confidence, and evaluate several key coaching situations. Baseball needs more consistency. Men’s basketball needs clarity after Taylor’s turnaround season. Women’s basketball needs stability after Bonner’s quick exit. Softball is strong, but sustaining that momentum will require continued resources.
The Big West changes matter, too. With several high-resource schools leaving, Fullerton may not need to dramatically outspend the rest of the league to compete. But it will need to be intentional. The Titans have a chance to move from the lower half of the current budget table into a more competitive position in the next version of the Big West.
The next AD does not need to reinvent Cal State Fullerton Athletics. They need to sharpen the department’s identity.
Fullerton has tradition. It has name recognition in key sports. It has shown it can fundraise. It has a president who has seen a Division I transition up close and is now making his first athletic director hire.
The right hire can build on the foundation and push Fullerton into a stronger position.
Cal State Fullerton is on the clock.
