THE TIMES 1993 SPRING ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : Woodbridge’s Brown Does the Job Right : Coach of the year: Rebuilding a program was perfect challenge for former Tustin coach.

It wasn’t as if Vince Brown needed to prove anything. But he did.

Brown, The Times Orange County Coach of the Year, rebuilt the Woodbridge baseball program in one year, winning the Sea View League co-championship. He revamped a team that had won one league game in 1992.

All for the challenge.

“I knew these kids, I had coached them in Pony League,” said Brown. “I always thought they had the potential. I’m not saying the previous coaches didn’t do a good job. It just didn’t click.”

It did under Brown, 32, a relentless worker who demands no less from his players.

This was not what he had planned when he resigned as Tustin’s coach last spring. He was planning a different lifestyle than the 12-hour-a-day grind he had fallen into.

There really wasn’t much left to accomplish.

After all, he had a record of 138-53 and won four consecutive Sea View League titles at Tustin. Then he quit, citing burnout.

So what was to be gained by a rather quick comeback? “My whole life revolves around this,” he said this season. “I need the program.” And vice versa.

Brown took over at Woodbridge two months after resigning at Tustin. He inherited a program that was 7-16-1 in 1992 and 6-13 the previous season.

“The kids jumped on the boat and went along with everything,” Brown said. “They got confidence and began to believe in themselves. I was hoping it wasn’t a false front.”

It wasn’t. Woodbridge finished 24-5 and reached the second round of the Division II playoffs.