Thousand Oaks Coach Sizing Up Newest Job

Bill Sizemore considers himself a sponge, soaking up baseball knowledge wherever he can, then dispensing it to players willing to learn. His mission has taken him to remote places, from Alberta, Canada, to Elmira, N.Y., to Ridgecrest, Calif.

Sizemore, hired last week as baseball coach at Thousand Oaks High, brings experience in the professional, college and high school ranks to his new post.

“I’m anxious to get to work and I’m excited about the season,” said Sizemore, 40, who will resign his teaching position at Sierra Vista Junior High in Santa Clarita next week to devote his full attention to Lancer baseball.

He will make that commitment knowing he is an interim coach. He replaces Jim Hansen, who resigned three weeks ago after 21 seasons. Thousand Oaks officials have said a permanent coach will be hired this summer.

However, Sizemore does not consider himself a short timer.

“I am interested in the long-term situation,” he said. “There has to be a teaching arrangement to make it affordable, but I am not going to coach this season with the idea I am an interim coach.

“I’ve got to implement a program. I wouldn’t know how to do it any other way. If I’m wanted back, I’ve started something already. If not, I’ll have left the program in a good situation.”

Sizemore last summer was the pitching coach for the Florida Marlins’ Class-A affiliate in Elmira, after spending the spring as pitching coach at Cerro Coso College in Ridgecrest, his hometown. He will coach this summer for the Marlins’ New York-Penn League affiliate in Utica, N.Y.

In 1993-94 he was pitching coach for Hart High during the spring and for a Class-A co-op team in Alberta, Canada, during the summer. The two years before that he worked with a Seattle Mariners’ team in the Arizona rookie league.

His affiliation with the Mariners began in 1989 when he was the pitching coach at Saugus High and worked with Roger Salkeld, Seattle’s No. 1 draft choice that season.

Sizemore’s first coaching job after graduating from Cal State Stanislaus was as head coach at Burroughs High in Ridgecrest from 1980-84. Hart Coach Bud Murray met Sizemore at that time and eventually hired him.

“Thousand Oaks High is very lucky,” Murray said. “Bill is an excellent baseball guy who has great rapport with kids. He’ll run a good program.”