Gillespie anxious to begin

Mike Gillespie said Tuesday he is awaiting approval from the University of California Board of Regents to officially start his term as UC Irvine baseball coach.

But the former USC coach, who guided the Trojans to 15 postseason appearances in his 20 seasons at the helm, said he is anxious to assume the challenge of maintaining the strong positive direction the UCI program took in just six seasons since being revived.

UCI has played in three regionals and last season won regional and super regional titles, en route to a third-place finish in the College World Series. The 2007 Anteaters went 47-17-1, setting a school record for Division I victories.

“This is a great opportunity for me and I was still hungry to coach,” said Gillespie, 67, who retired from USC after the 2006 season and worked last season as a scout and manager for the short-season Class A Staten Island Yankees in the New York Yankees organization.

“I refuse to face the fact that I’m old,” he said. “I’m competitive and I like being on the field. When this opportunity came up, I was really interested in it and I’m happy to have this opportunity.”

Gillespie, who guided the Trojans to the NCAA championship in 1998, when he was named National Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Assn., will share that opportunity with Pat Shine, who will have the title of associate head coach.

Shine, a UCI assistant under John Savage from 2002-04, coached two seasons with Savage at UCLA, before earning Division II West Region Coach of the Year laurels in 2007 as head coach at Cal State Los Angeles.

Gillespie said the idea of bringing Shine on as an heir apparent to eventually take over, came about in discussions with UCI officials during the course of the hiring process.

“I know Pat well, I’m friends with Pat and I know Pat as a coach,” Gillespie said. “The current [UCI] administration has some big fans of Pat. Through a lot of conversation between Pat and I, the situation was resolved and it was up to Pat to make the decision that it was something he wanted to do.”

Gillespie said his immediate priorities include rounding out his coaching staff, adding a pitching coach, a volunteer assistant and other support staff. He also said among his first objectives will be to re-recruit those from the high school class of 2008 who had given verbal commitments to play for former Coach Dave Serrano and then-assistants Greg Bergeron and Sergio Brown. All three former coaches are now at Cal State Fullerton.

“Those [2008] players are all free agents until the signing period in November,” Gillespie said. “We want to try to keep them here. But if any of them are gone, we need to catch up in recruiting.”

There is also a chance that current UCI players may transfer, an opportunity available to them without sitting out, provided they gain their release from UCI.

NCAA rule changes requiring all transfers to sit out a year will not take effect until August, 2008.

Gillespie said he is anxious to meet with current players, who are scheduled to begin practice Oct. 4. But until he is approved by the regents, possibly by Thursday or Friday, such a meeting will not take place.

“I’m chomping at the bit to meet [the players],” Gillespie said. “But I need some kind of approval to do that. I think the [UCI] administration, [specifically Interim Athletic Director Paula Smith and Associate Athletic Director Paul Hope], as well as the kids themselves, have done a good job of keeping this group together. As I speak [Monday, UCI players transferring] is not an issue. I think the kids are determined to stay here.”

Gillespie, whose age raised eyebrows during the hiring process, said he is determined to coach at least three years, maybe more.

“I don’t know what the length of the contract will be,” Gillespie said. “I think it will be three years and I certainly plan to see it through and, perhaps, beyond. I trust health will not be an issue, but I just don’t know.”

Gillespie said he and Shine have no agreement as to how long Shine will wait to take the reins.

Gillespie said he does not intend to radically change the Anteaters’ style of play, a small ball approach under Serrano that emphasized pitching, defense, speed, bunting and situational hitting.

“My beliefs about the game have been shaped, to a great deal, by the network of people from whom George Horton and Dave Serrano came,” Gillespie said. “Those guys all came out of the Cerritos College program with Wally Kincaid as coach. And [former Long Beach State Coach] Dave Snow is another guy I learned from.

“I think the [UCI] players will find that what we’re going to do is not dramatically different from what they’re used to. [Anteater Ballpark] is a big ballpark, so you better be able to pitch, run in the outfield, emphasize pitching and defense, and use speed in the lineup at UCI.

“I like home runs. And I like home runs with the bases loaded. If we hit those, great. But you have to have a philosophy that lends itself to being successful at home.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].