FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Cal State Northridge baseball head coach Matt Curtis announced the hiring of Shaun Larkin as an assistant coach, effective immediately.
Larkin will work primarily with the infielders and hitters, assist with the team’s strength and conditioning program, and monitor the academic eligibility of his student-athletes.
“I am excited to have Shaun Larkin back in the Matador Baseball program,” stated Curtis. “He brings additional credibility to our staff as someone who has not only won a Big West Championship in the Matador uniform, but also earned his degree at Cal State Northridge.”
“In addition to Shaun’s experience coaching both professionally and internationally, he has been exposed to two of the best baseball coaches in Southern California in Scott Pickler at Cypress College and Dave Demarest at La Quinta High School,” added Curtis.
The Matadors’ starting second baseman on the 2002 Big West Championship team, Larkin started in all but one of his 57 games played and finished the season batting .361 with 16 doubles, 15 home runs, and 49 RBIs. Helping the Matadors finish the season with a 41-17 overall record, he earned All-Big West First Team honors for his role in helping his team advance to the NCAA Regionals that season.
Selected in the ninth round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the Cleveland Indians, Larkin was an integral part of six playoff teams and two championship teams during his six years as a professional. He ultimately advanced to the Triple-A level as a player before the Indians presented Larkin with an opportunity to become an assistant coach.
Once assigned to the Indians’ Double-A affiliate, Larkin assisted both management and his coaching staff with player development and was the team’s first base coach for two seasons.
In addition to his time as an assistant, Larkin also served as both the hitting and third base coach for the Leones de Leon, a professional winter ball team located in Leon, Nicaragua in 2007.
In 2009 Larkin returned to Southern California as an assistant varsity baseball coach at Newport Harbor High School. As the primary hitting instructor and infield coordinator he introduced a program-wide paradigm shift that not only focused on development of his player’s physical skills, talents, and mental acuities.
Larkin held weekly classroom sessions that focused on the evolution and expansion of his team’s leadership skills for use both on and off the diamond. Due to these unique character-building opportunities, the Newport Harbor baseball team reached the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.
An assistant coach at Orange Coast College during the 2010 season, Larkin primarily worked with the infielders and hitters and aided head coach John Altobelli with recruiting in and around Orange County before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach.
“He brings with him a wealth of recruiting contacts from a deep Orange County talent pool, and experience from winning championships at every level that he has been involved with,” stated Curtis. “I feel this makes him the right guy to help instill a championship culture with our student-athletes here at CSUN.”
Larkin currently resides in Northridge, Calif.
