Titans Hire Hoover as Assistant : Golden West’s Baseball Coach to Join Cochell

Fred Hoover, the only baseball coach in the history of Golden West College, has left the school to become an assistant at Cal State Fullerton, Fullerton announced Monday.

Hoover, whose teams were 433-281 in 21 seasons, will join long-time friend Larry Cochell, who became the Titan coach Sept. 3, replacing Augie Garrido. Hoover will continue to teach full-time at Golden West and work at Fullerton part-time.

Burt Villarreal, who has been Hoover’s assistant the last three seasons, will take over at Golden West.

“There comes a time when you have to leave,” said Hoover, 56. “You have to look forward. I never planned to die here in the third-base dugout. I would like to see how it is to coach at the major-college level.”

Cochell, who coached at Northwestern last season and Oral Roberts the 10 seasons before that, has had a player from Golden West on his team for each of the past 15 years.

“He’s highly respected among the community college and high school coaches in the area,” Cochell said of Hoover. “I’m very excited about having Fred join our staff. He will be a great addition.”

Hoover’s best season at Golden West was in 1982, when the Rustlers finished 30-8 and won the South Coast Conference championship. Golden West also won 30 games and the conference title in 1977 (30-9).

Under Hoover, the Rustlers won 20 or more games 12 times, won or shared seven conference championships and haven’t had a losing season since 1971.

Three former Golden West players--Jeff Heathcock (Houston), Kevin Elster (New York Mets) and Ray Krawczyk (Chicago White Sox)--are currently playing professionally. Eight Rustlers have played professional baseball and 59 have received scholarships.

Villarreal graduated from Sonora High School in 1980 and played at Golden West in 1981-82. He was the most valuable player at Golden West in 1982. He received a scholarship to Cal Poly Pomona. He started as an assistant at Golden West in 1985.

HOOVER’S RECORD AT GOLDEN WEST

Year Record 1967 8-19 1968 13-18 1969 16-13 1970 13-16 1971 13-16 1972 *21-13 1973 19-13 1974 **25-12 1975 19-13 1976 **26-12 1977 *30-9 1978 24-11 1979 **22-14 1980 **23-14 1981 21-16 1982 30-8* 1983 25-11 1984 26-9 1985 23-11 1986 18-16 1987 18-17 Total 433-281

* Conference champions; ** Conference co-champions