Dan Guerrero has hired two baseball coaches in his career. He
chose the same guy both times.
The UCLA athletic director ended the baseball coaching search on
Thursday when he named UC Irvine coach John Savage as the
Bruins’ new head coach.
Guerrero, previously the athletic director at UC Irvine, hired
Savage in 2001 to coach at a school that hadn’t fielded a
baseball team since 1992. Now he’s hired Savage to coach a
team coming off of an appearance in the NCAA Regionals.
With both Savage and Guerrero working together, they are
expecting the program to grow.
“Our goal, our vision, is to be a national power year in
and year out,” Savage said. “And to build a foundation
for resources and tradition.”
Savage replaces Gary Adams, who was UCLA’s head coach for
30 years before retiring after the end of the 2004 season. During
his three-year tenure at UC Irvine, Savage went 88-84-1, which was
much more impressive when considering that he had no roster or
baseball field when he began.
“There’s no doubt in my mind at UCI that he was the
right person for the job,” Guerrero said.
In June, the Anteaters qualified for the NCAA Regionals for the
first time in school history, and during the season, were ranked as
high as No. 7 nationally. Three Anteaters were selected in the 2004
MLB Draft, and seven were drafted during Savage’s three years
at UCI.
But Savage ended up leaving UCI to be reunited with Guerrero and
to be a part of a prestigious program like UCLA.
“Dan and UCLA have a huge commitment to get
student-athletes that compete nationally in both academics and
athletics,” Savage said. “I also felt honored to follow
Gary Adams, who made his impact on the program. It’s exciting
to carry on the tradition.”
Savage has a long history of success wherever he has gone. He
was the pitching coach for USC from 1996-2000, a time that saw USC
develop some of the Pac-10’s best pitchers. Two MLB All-Star
pitchers were recruited by Savage (Mark Prior and Barry Zito) and
two more pitchers won Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year (Seth Etherton and
Rik Currier) under Savage at USC. When he was USC’s
recruiting coordinator, USC’s recruiting classes in 1999 and
2000 were named No. 1 in the country by Collegiate Baseball. Savage
was also an assistant coach for the University of Nevada baseball
team from 1992-96 when the Wolf Pack went 177-82.
Savage’s success with developing pitching was what put him
above all the other candidates, according to Guerrero.
“All the candidates we talked to were high-level and
could’ve done a very good job here,” Guerrero said.
“The deciding factor was Savage has shown his teams can pitch
with the best teams in the country. He can develop a pitching
staff.”
The candidates that Savage reportedly beat out included Arizona
coach Andy Lopez, Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton, Los
Angeles Dodgers hitting coach Tim Wallach, UCLA alumnus and current
Kinston Indians (Class-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians)
manager Torey Lovullo and Chico State coach Lindsay Meggs.
Savage signed a three-year contract with a base salary of
$95,000. UCI chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone says his school matched
the offer.
“We are disappointed that coach Savage has not elected to
stay in Irvine to build on his previous successes, but wish him the
best in his new endeavor,” Cicerone said in a statement.
Savage will inherit a team that also made it to the NCAA
Regionals, but will lose several of its key players. Only three of
the Bruins’ regular starters will be back for sure as the
rest were either seniors or were selected in the MLB
Draft.Â
Savage said his first task will be to talk to all of his players
as soon as possible, and “make the players on the roster get
to know me, and let them get comfortable speaking their
mind.”
But what Savage talked about the most at his press conference on
Thursday was his goal to make UCLA a World Series contender every
year.
“It’s about taking this program to the next
level,” he said. “We should have a chance to be in
Omaha every year.”
“With tradition and what they have here already, and with
what I’m looking forward to adding on, UCLA should be in the
upper echelon of the Pac-10 every year.”
“College baseball is in the national spotlight more than
ever,” Savage said. “And UCLA should be a part of the
national scene.”
Savage spoke about being proud to follow in the footsteps of
Adams, and while Adams would’ve rather had Beringhele get the
job, he has only nice things to say about Savage.
“I was disappointed the job wasn’t given to
Beringhele,” Adams said, “But that doesn’t mean I
have anything against Savage ““ he’s a great coach.
It’s just natural to want your assistant to be the next
coach.”
“(Savage) is well-organized, a hard worker, intelligent
and I could see how he’d be a good recruiter,” Adams
said.
While coaching at UCI, Savage went 4-0 against UCLA.