Dominguez Hills Starts Search for Baseball Coach

The search to replace Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball Coach Andy Lopez will begin immediately, even though the school must first choose an athletic director, school officials said Wednesday.

The baseball position and women’s basketball coaching job are expected to be filled about the middle of July, said Sue Carberry, acting vice president of student affairs. A decision on an athletic director is expected next week, she said.

Lopez, 35, resigned Wednesday to become coach at Pepperdine. For a month rumors had mounted that he would become the coach at Cal State Northridge, which is attempting to move up to Division I. Then, when Dave Gorrie resigned at Pepperdine last week, Lopez suddenly surfaced as a prime candidate there.

In six years at Dominguez Hills, Lopez was 168-152. In 1987 he took the Toros to the Division II World Series for the first time in history.

“We have some big shoes to fill,” said acting athletic director Dan Guerrero about replacing Lopez.

Any delay in hiring a replacement will severely hurt recruiting for next year, school officials said. Because of speculation about the future of Lopez, many potential recruits have gone elsewhere, they said.

“It kills you losing a coach this time of year,” Carberry said. “When you lose a coach like this you lose a window of opportunity to build your program.”

To speed the process, President John Brownell has cut the required time for advertising the job to three weeks from five.