A new era in UCLA baseball began innocently with this
season’s first practice in late September.
That first meeting in the fall had been pretty much the same for
the past 30 seasons. Coach Gary Adams, a man universally beloved,
would regale the team with anecdotes or come up with a comical skit
to prove a point.
This time, however, an unfamiliar face addressed the squad.
In what UCLA hopes will mark a new chapter for the baseball
program, coach John Savage nervously met his team for the first
time.
“It almost felt like a game where you have those pre-game
butterflies,” Savage said. “When you’re taking
over for a coach that’s been there for 30 years and knowing
the relationship he had with the players, you want them to feel
comfortable and that I had their backs.
“It was rewarding to see how much they wanted to learn and
how much they wanted to see what the new coach is going to be
about.”
What the players have learned since that first practice is that
Savage is a very different type of coach than Adams.
“Coach Savage is a real intense guy,” junior first
baseman and co-captain Brett McMillan said. “Coach Adams was
intense, but it was a different approach. It was more like you were
playing for your grandpa. Now it’s a different
feel.”
“Skip is more old school, and coach Savage comes from a
new era,” junior catcher and co-captain Chris Denove said.
“He’s one of the biggest competitors on the team, and
we feed off of that.”
UCLA will need that competitive fire if it wants to rid itself
of the “sleeping giant” label that has lingered around
the program throughout the latter years of the Adams regime. With
its name recognition, prime location and academic reputation, UCLA
is widely considered to have under-performed on the field by
baseball analysts.
Adams always stressed player development, producing an
impressive 38 major leaguers. However, his philosophy may have cost
the Bruins in their still unfulfilled quest for a national
championship ““ UCLA reached the College World Series one time
in his three decades in Westwood.
With Savage, there’s no confusion as to why he was brought
on board ““ to win, and win now.
“There are a lot of attributes that make you say that UCLA
should be one of the elite baseball programs in the country,”
Savage said.
“I want to continue that tradition of producing major
leaguers. But we also want to win on a year-to-year basis and have
the student body and alumni proud of their baseball
program.”
Savage certainly has a track record that indicates a penchant
for success when given large tasks.
Four years ago, Savage resurrected the UC Irvine program, which
had been scrapped in 1992. He spent all of 2001 recruiting and
laying the foundation, and in 2002 led them to a winning record and
then to the NCAA Tournament last season.
Before that, Savage had been the recruiting coordinator and
pitching coach at USC, where he helped develop future major league
stars Barry Zito and Mark Prior. He won Collegiate Baseball’s
Assistant Coach of the Year in 1998, the same year the Trojans won
the national championship. He also scored the nation’s top
recruiting class in 1999-2000.
Savage’s talent as a recruiter has already been apparent
in his short time with the UCLA program. His first recruiting
class, which will arrive in 2006, has been ranked at or near the
top in the country by multiple recruiting services.
His talent as a pitching coach, a job which he will fulfill in
addition to being manager, will likely be the second major
impression.
Adams’ Bruin teams were well known for their explosive
offenses. On the other hand, Adams left pitch-calling to his
catchers, believing that was the best way for the pitchers and
catchers to develop a pro mentality.
Conversely, Savage is hands on, and plans to call every pitch
from the dugout.
“I’ve always been a guy who’s tried to control
the game,” he said. “I will be calling the pitches,
controlling the running game, and directing the defense from the
dugout.
“We don’t want the players to be thinking too much.
We want to make sure that they react to the game. It’s our
job to know about the opponent and know how to get a hitter
out.”
“It’s just two different philosophies,” Denove
said. “I’m used to calling my own game, and I liked
doing that. But I put my trust in him.”
The issue of controlling the game epitomizes the difference
between Savage and Adams, with the latter always harping to let the
players play.
“With every coach you’re going to have an
approach,” McMillan said. “And his is adding attention
to every detail.”
At the same time, Savage doesn’t want a total break from
the Adams era.
“The players had an unbelievable relationship with
Gary,” Savage said. “Alumni call all the time and want
to know how Gary is doing. He was very loyal, very trustworthy, a
guy they knew they could count on. That’s something I want to
take from him.”
Probably the most important thing that Savage wants to emulate
of Adams is his legacy. To spend 30 years at one program and make
it your own is everything any college coach could ever want.
And Savage hopes he can achieve one of the last unfulfilled
goals of Bruin athletics.
“I want this to be my last job,” Savage said.
“I want to be a part of something very special at UCLA. We
want to be able to create a program that year in and year out,
we’re competing for a national championship.”