Man of Mettle : They Call Canyons Baseball Coach ‘Iron Mike,’ but Gillespie’s Golden Record May Earn Him Job at USC

If he hadn’t been a football coach at Rolling Hills High, chances are that Mike Gillespie may have never become the baseball coach at College of the Canyons.

In 1971, Canyons was looking for a two-sport coach, somebody who could coach baseball and football. Because he had coached both sports at Rolling Hills with some success, Gillespie acted on a tip from a colleague and made way to Canyons’ Valencia campus, application in hand.

“There weren’t very many people who offered that combination,” Gillespie said. “Beyond that, I don’t think many people applied for the job.”

Lucky for Canyons.

Today, the football team--which failed to generate enough revenue to pay its own way--is gone. But the baseball program has become one of the most successful ever among California junior colleges.

On Thursday, Gillespie was voted the Mountain Valley Conference Coach of the Year for the fourth time in five years. He shared the honor with Valley Coach Scott Muckey. On Saturday, Gillespie takes his Cougars into the state tournament for the 11th time. Ranked No. 1 in the final Southland Poll by sports information directors, Canyons is favored to win the state championship.

Gillespie, 46, has a 422-176 record at Canyons and has led his teams to 11 conference titles and two state championships over the last 16 years--accomplishments that have drawn interest from USC. The Trojans may need a guy like Gillespie, who played at USC, should present Coach Rod Dedeaux decide to step down this season after 45 years. Gillespie dismisses the USC talk as rumor, although it has been frequently reported that he is a top candidate.

His popularity extends beyond his alma mater. Fellow coaches and former players speak highly of the man some call “Iron Mike.” There may be someone out there--a player or coach who doesn’t think this metallic Mike fellow is all he’s cracked up to be--but that someone isn’t about to speak up.

Others, however, have.

Dedeaux, the most successful college coach ever, said: “There’s no doubt. Mike is one of the greats. . . .”

For the past several years, the Valley/Canyons rivalry has been one of the most fierce in the state. Muckey has seen Gillespie at his best.

“I have nothing but a great deal of respect for him,” said Muckey, a four-time loser to Gillespie this season. “He’s one of the best.”

Said West L.A. Coach Art Harris: “It’s a physical thing. You can feel it when you’re on the same field with the guy. He’s the standard that other people try to emulate.”

Gillespie also has the reputation of a battler, a guy who thinks being down by two runs in the ninth means having the opposition right where you want it.

“I think the main thing that he tries to get across is to never say die,” said Len Mohney, Gillespie’s assistant of 10 years and a former Canyons player. “I know that’s an overused phrase, but he really likes to battle. I want that guy next to me when I’m walking down a dark alley. A guy that’s maybe not that talent-great, but boy, he’s going to battle with you.”

Hart High Coach Frank Sanchez may know more than anybody about Gillespie’s rise to the top. He was one of only 11 players on Gillespie’s first Canyons team--back when the Cougars practiced and played on a junior high school field.

Back when Gillespie threw batting practice without a screen to protect himself.

Back when Gillespie once penciled himself into his own lineup during a summer league game and, without his glasses (which he had lost on a ski trip), brushed back chants of “old man” and “you’re blind,” to pitch his team close enough to Pierce that his three-run homer in the ninth proved to be the game-winner.

Back when he had only two pitchers.

Back when high school recruits scoffed at Canyons, which was, most thought, just this side of nowhere.

Back when all you had to do to play for Gillespie was show up. Back when he could have been known as just “Aluminum Mike.”

“Back then, he was just as outstanding,” Sanchez said. “He was knowledgeable, an excellent role model. He kept things in perspective. He was a guy all the players could talk to.

“Those were the ingredients that made every player want to play as hard as they could for him. He earned all of our respect.”

He normally doesn’t have much time to do it. Gillespie’s program, which like most community colleges has almost a 50% turnover rate each season, must change to accommodate the continuing influx of new players. But, he says, the Canyons baseball philosophy remains.

“Basically, we are going to try to be prepared for every eventuality that may come up in a game,” Gillespie said. “For example, if there’s a certain player out there that can be picked off with a certain pick-off play, we hope we have it. We try to have that kind of completeness. I don’t think there’s any mystery about the way we do things. There isn’t any magic formula.

“We believe most games are lost, rather than won. But’s that not revolutionary. I don’t think that the approach we take is significantly different than a variety of other programs.”

Gillespie has high regard for Wally Kincaid, the former Cerritos coach who won six state championships, more than any other coach in California history.

Said Gillespie: “He is the guy who, I think, used the phrase, ‘Throw strikes, play catch, put the ball in play.’ That is a phrase you now hear everywhere, but he is the guy who simplified the game into that statement. That is an over-simplification, but that is what it comes down to.

“We want to be the team that makes the fewest mistakes. These are cliches, but, we want to be the team that doesn’t beat ourself.”

The Cougars rarely do. This season, Canyons is 33-5, the best record in the school’s history. Saturday at 1 p.m., Canyons will play host to Harbor (28-11) in a Southern regional game.

Many, such as Muckey and Harris, believe Gillespie is coaching his finest team ever.

Gillespie says he still feels excitement each time the season starts, but he has little left to accomplish at the junior college level. Dedeaux has mentioned that he may step down before the next season begins.

For several years, Gillespie has heard the rumor that he was among the top candidates to replace Dedeaux. Loyola’s Dave Snow and Oral Roberts’ Pat Harris are also among the candidates. Gillespie said he wouldn’t think twice about taking the USC job but he has yet to be contacted.

Said USC Athletic Director Mike McGee: “Rod is in Hawaii right now. Any decision relevant to baseball will not be made until Rod returns and we have a chance to have a conversation. Other than that, I don’t have anything else to say.”

So, Gillespie will play the waiting game. But while McGee didn’t have much to say about Gillespie, Dedeaux called Gillespie his “prize protege.”

“I’m real high on him,” said Dedeaux, who coached Gillespie on USC’s 1961 national championship team. “He’s the kind of ballplayer that made himself into a great, great coach. That’s one of the earmarks of a great coach, he made himself.