CSUN Picks a Ringer for Baseball Job

The monstrous College World Series ring that adorns a finger on Bill Kernen’s right hand symbolizes the national baseball title won by Cal State Fullerton in 1979.

As an assistant under Augie Garrido for six seasons at Fullerton and an associate head coach for one season with Garrido at Illinois, Kernen established a reputation as one of college baseball’s best recruiters--especially in prospect-rich Orange County, where he identified and signed many of the diamonds in the rough that helped make Fullerton a perennial power.

At a press conference Tuesday to announce his selection as head baseball coach at Cal State Northridge, Kernen said that he will stake new claims to an unmined mother lode of talent in the San Fernando Valley that he expects will make Northridge a contender at the Division I level by 1990.

“I always thought this was the most under-recruited area that had legitimate talent year in and year out in California--and certainly in Southern California,” Kernen said. “Geographically, it’s ideal. I think it’s the best place in the country to build a new Division I program.”

Kernen, 39, is the fifth head coach at Northridge. He succeeds Terry Craven, who resigned after last season and compiled a record of 123-103-1 in four seasons.

At Illinois, Kernen was responsible for coaching the pitchers, recruiting and handling the day-to-day operations of the baseball office. He interviewed for the Northridge job last Friday and was selected over former Pepperdine assistant Jim Gattis and former Fullerton assistant Bill Hughes, who works for the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau.

Northridge Athletic Director Bob Hiegert, who coached at Northridge from 1967-84 and won 609 games and two Division II national championships, said Kernen had the best credentials for preparing the program for its move to Division I.

“Under Garrido, he was given responsibilities in all the areas a head coach should have--recruiting, practice planning, academic tracking and fund-raising,” Hiegert said. “As far as networking within Southern California is concerned, he has a great source of reference and a pretty good rapport with high school and junior college coaches. His hiring brings almost instant credibility and productivity.”

Kernen was a pitcher at the University of Redlands and played four seasons (1970-73) in the Baltimore Orioles organization. He was the baseball coach at San Gorgonio High from 1974-76 and worked as an assistant at Orange Coast College in 1976.

Kernen coached at Fullerton from 1977-82 before temporarily retiring to pursue business interests. He rejoined Garrido’s staff in 1986 and moved to Illinois with Garrido last season. Kernen said that although he has worked closely with Garrido, there are differences in their approaches.

“Augie always liked to play the ‘little game’ where you bunt a lot and run a lot of different kinds of baserunning plays and one-run-at-a-time kinds of things,” Kernen said. “He’s a lot more willing to bunt in the early innings and some of those thing than I am. I’m a lot more inclined to use the hit and run as opposed to bunting someone over early in a ballgame.”

Kernen, who is married, will remain in Southern California for the next week to recruit and then take a short trip back to Illinois before returning to look for prospective players and assistant coaches.

“I’ve got some names and I’ve heard some opinions,” Kernen said. “but I’d like to see for myself and form my own opinions about the coaches that are here and the players that are here and take it from there.”

Kernen, however, said he would not delay his search for Division I prospects who will come, almost exclusively, from the high school level.

“I’m going to start recruiting it as if it was a Division I program right now,” Kernen said. “When we hit the reality of it, in three years we’ll be a legitimate, contending Division I team.

“I’m going to base it with high school players so those guys will play together, grow up together and learn together and develop together in the program as freshmen and sophomores. It’ll be the same with the next recruiting class so we’ll be a sophomore-junior-oriented team that third year.”

Kernen said that he will focus his recruiting efforts on pitchers, a catcher and a shortstop. He believes solidifying those positions is the first step Northridge must take to contend with other state schools competing at the Division I level.

“This area could be better than Long Beach, better than Fresno and better than San Diego,” Kernen said. “If we can establish an identity here, this will be the place to go.

“I want players in this area to pay real close attention to what happens here in the next few months and years because this is going to be the place to play Division I baseball.”