UCI Hires USC Assistant to Bring Back Baseball

USC assistant John Savage has been hired as baseball coach at UC Irvine.

The university has called a 10:30 a.m. press conference today to introduce Savage, who was in Tucson Tuesday assisting the U.S. national team.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Savage will take a hands-on role in reviving UCI’s baseball program, which returns in 2002 after a 10-year absence. Besides assembling a staff, he’s expected to lead efforts to raise an estimated $6 million for an ambitious plan to build a $9 million campus baseball complex. The first phase of the field is scheduled to be ready for use when the winter baseball season begins in September 2001.

Reached in Tucson Tuesday afternoon, Savage said he was eager to get started.

“I plan on getting to Irvine and getting after it right away,” he said. “I want Irvine to be a winner.”

A respected pitching coach and top recruiter, Savage, who lives in Cypress, emerged as the leading candidate last week after several conversations with Irvine Athletic Director Dan Guerrero during the national team’s swing through the Southland.

“I think John will do a great job for us,” Guerrero said Tuesday. “We’re really happy to have a young coach of his caliber. He’s got a great career ahead of him.”

Irvine’s baseball program was dropped in 1992 during a money crunch that affected the statewide UC system. In May 1999, students voted to increase fees for athletic funding so that baseball and other sports and facilities could be reinstated.

Guerrero had previously said that he wanted to have a coach in place by Aug. 1, so the timing of Savage’s appointment seems ideal.

Among other things, it allows him to begin recruiting players almost immediately during the summer playing season for high school athletes.

Savage said he sought the Irvine job because he felt he was ready for a change.

“The time is right for myself and my family to make the move to the next step,” he said.

A native of Reno, Savage, 34, recently completed his fourth season at USC. He pitched three seasons at Santa Clara and was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 16th round of the 1986 free-agent draft. He spent four seasons in the minor leagues in the Reds’ organization and with several independent teams.

Savage returned home in 1988 and eventually earned a degree in secondary education from the University of Nevada. From 1988-90 he held a part-time job as pitching coach at his alma mater, Reno High.

In 1992 he was hired at Nevada as an assistant coach in charge of the pitching staff, as well as fund-raising and recruiting. He was hired at USC in 1996.

Mickey Seward, a spokesman for U.S. team, said it’s unclear if Savage will remain with the national team or devote his efforts full time at Irvine. But Seward said the national team hopes to retain Savage through the Sydney Olympics.