Herrera Quits Westlake, Cites Personal Reasons : Baseball: He will finish degree and pursue teaching credential. Wade to take over program on an interim basis.

Westlake High baseball Coach Rich Herrera has resigned for personal reasons and will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant Bob Wade, Herrera said Thursday.

Herrera has been pursuing a degree in education at Cal Lutheran, and his class schedule for his final semester this spring would have conflicted with baseball, he said.

“When you’ve got one semester left, your choices are very limited as to when you can (get classes), and the times are in the afternoon,” Herrera said.

Herrera planned to take a one-year leave of absence for similar reasons in 1993, but he changed his mind because Wade, who was to take over the team, had a minor heart attack a few months before the season.

Herrera, a walk-on coach, said he chose not to make this a one-year hiatus because he also wants to earn a teaching credential so he can return to coaching.

“That’s why I want to teach, so I can be one of those guys who can be on campus all the time and have my players turn to me if there is a problem,” Herrera said.

Herrera, 31, was 72-68-1 in six seasons at Westlake. In 1990, the Warriors were 28-2 and ranked first in the nation by USA Today.

Although Herrera said it had no impact on his decision, he has been under scrutiny from a group of parents who accused him of financial improprieties. Dennis Morris, treasurer of the Westlake High baseball booster club, said the school district was auditing the baseball booster club’s finances, as well as those of the school’s associated student body funds and the football boosters’ account--all accounts to which Herrera had access.

Fred Van Leuven, director of secondary education for the Conejo Valley Unified School District, has said that the audits are routine within the system.