Kernen Resigns at CSUN : Baseball: Coach took Matadors to national prominence in his seven seasons.

Bill Kernen, who guided the Cal State Northridge baseball team from Division II to Division I during a mostly successful seven-year tenure, has resigned to attend graduate school in New York and pursue a career as a playwright.

Northridge players, coaches and administrators were shocked by the move, which was announced Friday. Kernen said it is one he has been planning for years, although it was not until last week that he decided now is the time.

He said recent developments in the Northridge athletic department convinced him that the baseball program is not headed in the right direction.

“I think there are some things going on that would lead me to believe that there is going to be a long-term effect as far as the program getting to the next level,” Kernen said from New York City, where he will register for classes at Columbia University on Tuesday.

Mike Batesole, Kernen’s top assistant for the past two seasons, was introduced at a news conference as Northridge’s interim baseball coach. The search for a full-time coach will begin in the spring, said Athletic Director Paul Bubb.

Kernen said he planned to coach 10 years at Northridge. He anticipated by this time in his tenure that the program would be strong enough to challenge annually for a berth in the College World Series.

But Northridge has had two consecutive losing seasons, after making the NCAA Division I tournament two years in a row.

“I’m not going to live with mediocrity,” Kernen said. “I’m not going to and I can’t. I’m the one to blame for it because I’m in charge of it. For whatever reasons, it didn’t go well the last two years. I said last year if I had another one like this one, I would consider leaving.

“I did, so I am.”

Besides the on-field struggles, Kernen was also discouraged when his close friend Bob Hiegert was fired as athletic director in July.

Last week, Western Athletic Conference athletic directors voted to recommend that Northridge not be included in the WAC starting in 1997. At the same time, Northridge is moving toward joining the Big Sky Conference, which does not have a baseball league.

“It was a chain of events and I guess the Hiegert thing was maybe the death blow,” Kernen said. “Then when I heard about the WAC deal I thought, this is a job for someone who is starting out, for someone who wants to start the 10-year deal, not end it.”

Kernen, 47, said he planned to stop coaching when he turned 50 anyway.

“I’m not going to be standing on a baseball field with a rake in my hand and a towel on my head when I’m 70,” he said.

He said his interest in the arts was always more than a passing one. He has been a frequent patron of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and has spent time each summer at his New York apartment, seeing Broadway plays. Kernen also writes poetry.

Kernen was granted an open admission to Columbia several years ago and he decided last week that now is the time to accept it. He will attend graduate school and pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree, with an emphasis in playwriting. He said will try to make a living as a playwright but if that doesn’t work out he will teach college writing courses.

Kernen phoned Bubb and Batesole from New York on Wednesday, giving them the first news of his resignation. Bubb said he tried to persuade Kernen to stay.

“I thought he was a good coach,” Bubb said. “I wanted him to know that he had my support if he stayed.”

Northridge’s 30 players, many of whom were recruited by Batesole, gathered Friday afternoon at the baseball field, where Batesole gave them the news.

Batesole spoke for about 30 minutes. Bubb arrived and spoke to the team for another 15 minutes.

“I’m shocked,” said senior pitcher Rob Crabtree. “I was looking forward to having a good senior year with Kernen.”

Robert Fick, a junior catcher, said: “I personally think he was a good coach. A lot of people had bad things to say about him, but they don’t know him well. . . . Everything he taught us had to do with life.

“There are so many great things about him.”

Hiegert, who coached the Northridge baseball team to two Division II titles and was the athletic director who hired Kernen, said he picked the right man to lead Northridge into Division I.

“Going from Division II to Division I they didn’t lose a beat in that time,” Hiegert said. “That’s a tremendous credit to his vision of where the program had to go and his ability to recruit.”

Bob Lofrano, coach at Pierce College, said: “I thought he really helped Northridge attain that Division I respect that is noted throughout the country.”

Kernen had a 240-154 record at Northridge, his only college head-coaching position. The Matadors remained in Division II in 1989-91, with Kernen taking the team to the NCAA playoffs in 1990 and 1991.

Northridge was 38-16-1 and made the NCAA tournament in 1992, its first season in Division I.

The Matadors made the postseason again in 1993, before slumping the past two seasons.

* INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW COACH: C12

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile: Bill Kernen

Age: 47

Pitching career: San Gorgonio HS (1966 graduate), University of Redlands (1970 graduate), Baltimore Oriole organization (1970-73).

Coaching career: San Gorgonio HS (1974-76); assistant at Orange Coast College (1976-77); assistant at CS Fullerton (1977-82, 1986); assistant at University of Illinois (1987); CS Northridge (1988-95).

Record at CSUN: 240-154-3 (.609), 76-59 (.562) in conference play

Career highlights:

* Selected 1990 West Region coach of the year after leading Northridge to NCAA Division II runner-up spot.

* Led Northridge into postseason play four consecutive seasons, 1990-1993, including the Matadors’ first season in Division I, 1991.

* Finished ranked among top 30 teams from 1991-1993.

* Coached 15 players taken in major league baseball draft.

* As an assistant at Cal State Fullerton, helped the Titans to six Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. championships and a Division I national title in 1979.