Santa Monica’s Diaz Moves On

Tony Diaz, baseball coach at Santa Monica High School for the past three years, has accepted a full-time teaching and coaching job at Oxnard High for the 1986-87 school year.

Diaz, a Santa Monica graduate before attending Brigham Young University, will teach social studies and coach baseball.

“It’s hard to leave home,” he said. “Santa Monica’s been very good to me.”

But Diaz was not a full-time teacher and did not expect to be soon. The district recently eliminated 18 teaching positions, he said.

“I had to think about my career,” he said.

In his three season as coach, Diaz compiled a 54-25 record and led the Vikings to two runner-up finishes in the Bay League and CIF playoff appearances in 1984 and 1986.

Six of his former players were selected in the major league draft, including Lorenzo Lesky, an infielder selected by the Kansas City Royals in 1984; Kelly Mann, a catcher taken by the Chicago Cubs in 1985, and Tom Peters, a pitcher chosen by the New York Mets last month.

“Oxnard is in a rebuilding era, so it’ll be a challenge for me,” he said. “I hope I have the same success there that I had here.”