Wilder’s History at Westlake High

Dave Wilder has been fired as Westlake High baseball coach for misstating his employment history on his job application, the coach said Thursday.

Wilder, 52, a walk-on in his first season as head coach, was dismissed during practice Thursday by Athletic Director Joseph Pawlick. Junior varsity coach Chuck Berrington was appointed interim varsity coach.

Wilder said Pawlick told him he was being fired for stating that he was head baseball coach at Verdugo Hills in 1992. Wilder was a walk-on assistant to Verdugo Hills Coach John Vera. Vera admitted that he delegated virtually all head-coaching responsibilities to Wilder.

“[Pawlick] walked out and said, ‘You’re gone,’ ” Wilder said. “He said that, on my job application, I stated that I was head coach.”

Wilder acknowledged that he was an assistant at Verdugo Hills but expressed no regret.

“If they asked me to write it down again, I would still put down that I was head coach at Verdugo Hills,” Wilder said. “I ran the team. I ran the practices. They got me on a technicality.

“I told [Pawlick] that you’re a bunch of cowards who let the parents run the baseball program. I said, ‘You’ll never have a program here if you let the parents run it.’ ”

Pawlick could not be reached for comment.

Wilder had come under fire in recent weeks for allegedly misstating his employment history. Last month, the parents of players Tim Carr and Matt Riordan wrote a letter to administrators urging an investigation of Wilder’s work history. They also accused the coach of disorganization and causing low morale among players.

Pawlick last week said he had reviewed Wilder’s coaching record and believed the coach made no attempt to deceive. Pawlick said he wanted Wilder to remain as coach.

Westlake is 7-8, 3-4 in Marmonte League play after losing to Royal and Camarillo this week. The Warriors are four games out of first place with seven games to play.

Berrington, 31, a 1983 graduate of St. Bonaventure High and a former player at Moorpark College, was an assistant to Westlake Coach Bob Wade last season.

Berrington has led Westlake’s junior varsity to a 13-1 record and 7-0 league mark. Berrington also was an assistant at Westlake in 1988, and has been an assistant at Camarillo and Thousand Oaks.

“Right now, I want to settle things down and play baseball and focus on that,” Berrington said.