Dave Serrano said Wednesday he has withdrawn as a candidate for the Oregon job, choosing to stay at UC Irvine and continue to build the Anteaters into a perennial national contender.
In his third season at Irvine, Serrano took the Anteaters to the College World Series and garnered National Coach of the Year honors. Along with the recognition came interest from Oregon, which is looking to resurrect its baseball program after 26 years.
“I want to thank the University of Oregon for their interest,” Serrano said. “And I apologize to both universities for any distraction this has caused.
“I am excited to move on and continue to be the coach of the players who are in our program now.”
Serrano said the decision, reached after long discussions with his wife, came down to family. He said the time and effort to start up a new program would cost him too much time away from his wife, Tracy, and his three young sons.
UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano has taken his name out of the running for Oregon’s vacant head coaching job.
Baseball America’s 2007 Coach of the Year had delayed his scheduled visit to Eugene so he and his wife and staff could make a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate and relive the Anteaters’ College World Series run, and the Ducks allowed him a few more days to think about it before his visit, which he never wound up making. Serrano said he woke up this morning with a decision to remain at Irvine.
“As intriguing and as challenging as the Oregon job would have been–and we would have been up to the task–I hope this shows my commitment to UC Irvine and our team,” Serrano said. “We still have lofty goals here at Irvine. I think this is a good program that can continue to grow and grow as long as I can keep my coaching staff intact, and we can take it to the highest level.”
4 comments
Here’s a couple of names that haven’t come up in the media for the U. of Oregon job:
1. Larry Casian, former major leaguer, currently an assistant coach at U. of Portland. I would be surprised if he hasn’t applied.
2. Rob Vance, coach of NAIA Concordia-Portland. Probably too big a stretch, but he’s certainly proven that he can recruit in this territory.
interesting names…I like Casian’s background for the job but highly doubt that Oregon doesn’t get a current head coach.
My thinking on this is, if Oregon continues to be unsuccessful at bringing in someone high-profile like Serrano or Corbin, it would make sense for them to hire somebody local.
I agree with you about L. Casian’s background. Something that shouldn’t go unnoticed is, he took over a program at Corban (formerly Western Baptist) that was in dismal shape, and turned it around. Didn’t make it a winner, but that’s to be expected; coaches there have very few resources to work with.
Bob always coming through with NAIA information.
Comments are closed.