John Savage’s first order of business as the new UCLA
baseball coach was to hire an assistant coach. He chose his
assistant at UC Irvine for the last three years, Pat Shine.
“We feel very fortunate that Pat has decided to join the UCLA
coaching staff,” Savage said. “Pat has worked very hard
to get to where he’s at and he’s now become one of the
top assistants on the West Coast. “His passion for the game
and his players is evident on and off the field.” Savage, who
was hired by UCLA on Thursday, hired Shine on Friday. The two of
them resurrected a UC Irvine program that hadn’t fielded a
team in ten years. In their three years at UCI, the Anteaters went
88-84-1, qualified for the NCAA Regionals last month, and were
ranked as high as No. 7 nationally during the 2004 season. “I
think this is a great opportunity to continue recruiting in
Southern California and to compete in the Pac-10,” Shine
said. “I’m very excited to work for a university with
such a great baseball tradition.” Before coaching at UC
Irvine, Shine was also an assistant coach at New Mexico and a
volunteer assistant coach at California. It could not be confirmed
whether Shine’s hiring means former UCLA coach Gary
Adams’ assistant coaches will be back. The athletic
department was closed Monday, and longtime assistant coach Vince
Beringhele could not be reached at his home. At Thursday’s
press conference, Savage said “there will be guys joining me
from Irvine,” and that he was “open for any
discussion” when asked whether he was keeping the UCLA
assistant coaches. Savage told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that
he hoped UC Irvine assistant coach Jason Gill would be given the
UCI head coaching position.
FUTURE RENOVATIONS?: Savage, UCLA Athletic
Director Dan Guerrero and Ken Weiner, the UCLA associate athletic
director who oversees baseball, all discussed renovations to Jackie
Robinson Stadium, UCLA’s home field, on Thursday. “We
have a wish list,” Weiner said. “We have some donor
strategies, some needs we could attend to. Ideally, we should have
a stadium that can host regionals every year.” The trio
didn’t mention any specifics about what they wanted done at
Jackie Robinson Stadium other than expanding the crowd capacity,
but did joke that a “Blue Monster” in left field would
be a sign that they were finally going to start making renovations.
Despite having some of the best collegiate baseball teams in the
country, only one Southern California college baseball team hosted
an NCAA regional in 2004 ““ Cal State Fullerton. Savage,
Guerrero and Weiner are confident that with an improved facility
and a competitive team, UCLA can and should regularly host an NCAA
regional. “There’s only a few places you could host
regionals in Southern California,” Savage said. “UCLA
should be one of them. We should be on the NCAA’s radar every
year.” Partly to help raise money for improvements, but
mostly to improve the prestige of the program, the trio also hopes
to help improve community support for the UCLA baseball program,
which is much lower than Southern California powerhouses Cal State
Fullerton and USC. “It’s very possible (to increase
community support),” Savage said. “To bring in people
we will have to give them something they want to watch. It’s
all about your team. Winning attracts people.”
GARY ADAMS ENJOYING LIFE: The former longtime
UCLA coach has been enjoying life after 30 years as the head coach
at UCLA. “It’s nice,” Adams said. “I fell
asleep in a chair for the first time in my life last year,”
referring to the recliner several players and their parents bought
Adams as a retirement gift. Adams said he still plans to be
involved with the athletic department in some role, but he
doesn’t know what that will be yet. One thing is for sure in
Adams’ near future ““Â he will meet with Savage
later this week to talk about the returning players on UCLA’s
roster.
RECRUITING UPDATE: Brendan Lafferty has
switched his letter of intent from UCI to UCLA, according to the
Press-Enterprise. Lafferty, a graduate of Riverside Poly,
reportedly switched because of Savage’s move from UCI to
UCLA. UCLA’s incoming recruiting class already knew the
Bruins would have a new coach since Adams announced his retirement
in June 2003.