Don't accuse California Maritime Academy of being stagnant. CMA has been anything but, lately.

The Keelhaulers are searching for a new athletic director and have even changed their logo. And starting next fall, CMA will have a women's basketball team taking the court.

The new squad will be just the second women's team in the school's athletic program. School president Bill Eisenhardt said that despite economic issues and the school's ongoing search for a new athletic director, CMA is ready for women's basketball.

"These are tough times, but we decided that this was the right thing to do," he said. "We just wanted to have more opportunities for women athletically on the campus."

The school has fielded a women's club basketball team, but next fall will mark the first year for an official intercollegiate women's basketball squad. The volleyball team is the only other one at the school whose players are all women. The school's water polo, sailing and crew teams are all co-ed.

Alexys Nielsen will be a senior next fall. She has been a forward and center on the club team for the past two years and plans to play on the official team.

"We're really looking forward to having some identity on campus," Nielsen said. "It's a big step for us as far as recruiting and getting more women on campus."

Eisenhardt said the school had "always" been looking at fielding a women's team. After Eisenhardt decided there was enough interest in one, the idea was taken to the school's athletic committee. The committee, in turn, ran it past vice president of academic affairs Jay Christofferson. After Christofferson gave the OK, he recommended it to Eisenhardt.

With the economy being down, many companies across the nation have had to deal with budget problems. CMA has been no exception. But Eisenhardt felt that the school's desire to field the team outweighed any financial problems. He also estimated the cost of the new team for the first year.

"We're still trying to determine (the cost of the team). Obviously, there's coaches salaries and traveling expenses," he said. "It's going to be somewhere between $30,000 to $55,000 for the first start-up."

Eisenhardt said that Jenny Yount, who coached the club team, is the front-runner to be the new team's head coach. But that may change if CMA's new athletic director has someone else in mind, or if Yount doesn't want the job. Yount is also an instructor at the school and is currently on a CMA training ship headed for Russia. She could not be reached for comment. The ship is expected to return to Vallejo next month.

CMA has been searching for a new athletic director since Harry Diavatis retired last year. The school may finally name one by the end of this week.

Like the men's team, the women will play in the California Pacific Athletic Conference. Nielsen said she and five of her club teammates will play. Now it's a matter of finding others to be successful on the court.

"I think we're definitely going to struggle a bit because it's our first year, but we really have nowhere to go but up. In a few years, we'll definitely be a competitive team," Nielsen said. "We want to make the school look good, but we definitely want to have fun."

The schedule for the new team has yet to be announced.