Accepting Pepperdine Job a No-Brainer for Sanchez

Frank Sanchez knows how to appreciate life’s opportunities.

Two bouts with brain tumors can have that effect on you. The loss of a brother to cancer drives the point home even more.

Those are reasons why Sanchez, 43, is thankful for his new post as Pepperdine’s baseball coach.

Not long ago the former Hart High player and coach didn’t know if he had a future in baseball. Or any future at all.

“When I was younger and athletic, I thought I was invincible,” said Sanchez, who was USC’s pitching coach the past 10 seasons.

That belief took a hard hit in 1985 when Sanchez underwent surgery to remove a benign tumor in his brain. At that time, he was in the fourth of a five-season coaching stint at Hart.

Also that year, his younger brother Paul, a former wrestler at Fresno State and coach at Clovis High in Fresno, died from cancer.

“That was really tough on my parents. [Paul] died and I was going through my problems,” said Sanchez, who has three siblings. “It shows you that life is such a fragile, fragile thing.”

Sanchez underwent a second operation in 1990 and has been healthy since. But his brush with mortality gave him new perspective.

“I’m quite positive that it altered my way of thinking,” he said. “It enhanced my faith and made me a better person.”

Since 1987, Sanchez had been a good soldier at USC.

He worked for Mike Gillespie, his former coach at College of the Canyons, and he established a solid reputation as a coach and recruiting coordinator.

“USC has been a very special place for me,” Sanchez said. “The people who know me know that I wasn’t out there beating the bushes looking and hunting for another job.”

But he wasn’t about to turn his back if something really appealing came up. Something, say, on a beautiful Malibu spread overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Something most coaches would be crazy to turn down.

In reality, it was a no-lose proposition for Sanchez.

On the one hand, he could remain at USC, where his position undoubtedly would be secured as long as Gillespie ran the show.

Or he could pursue the Pepperdine job, left vacant when Pat Harrison left after two seasons to become coach at Mississippi.

“It’s an exciting opportunity, that’s for sure,” Sanchez said. “There are a lot of other good reasons to be [at Pepperdine] beyond being the baseball coach.

“Baseball is very important to me but it’s also very important to me that the [players] grow as people and get their education. [Pepperdine] is a real values-oriented institution. It’s a great environment for my family to be exposed to.”

Sanchez lives in Newhall with his wife, April, and their children--Tanner, 5, and Lacey, 1. Lacey was born during the College World Series last year and Sanchez flew home from Omaha, Neb., before returning to be with the Trojans at the tournament.

Now the Waves, national champions in 1992 under Andy Lopez but absent from Omaha ever since, hope Sanchez can take them back.

The task, however, won’t be easy. Not right away. Pepperdine returns only a handful of proven players, although one is left-handed ace Randy Wolf, the former El Camino Real High star who will pitch for the U.S. Olympic team.

Still, Sanchez wouldn’t think of giving back the job, even if there was any truth to what he jokingly claims is the opinion about him in some quarters.

“Some people accuse me of not having enough brains,” he said.