Gillespie will guide Anteaters

A source confirmed Monday that former USC Coach Mike Gillespie will be hired as UC Irvine baseball coach and former Anteaters’ assistant Pat Shine will join him as an assistant.

The school could make the announcement today.

Gillespie, 67, retired after 20 seasons at USC following the 2006 season. He posted a 763-471-2 record with the Trojans and is one of two people to have played for and coached a national champion.

He was named National Coach of the Year in 1998 by Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Assn. after guiding the Trojans to the NCAA title, the program’s 12th national crown.

He played on the 1961 USC team that captured the national championship.

Gillespie, who managed the Staten Island Yankees, a Class-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, this past season, replaces Dave Serrano, who left to become coach at Cal State Fullerton.

Serrano spent three seasons at the helm, the most recent ending with the Anteaters tying for third place in their first trip to the Division I College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

UCI was 47-17-1 last spring and, should its returning players remain in the program, is expected to contend for a Big West Conference title in 2008.

Gillespie guided USC to 15 postseason appearances, including five trips to the Super Regionals in his last eight seasons. In 2001, he guided USC to its fourth trip to Omaha in a seven-season span, including the school’s first back-to-back CWS visits since 1973-74.

His teams won five Pac-10 titles and he has seen 28 of his former USC players reach the Major Leagues, the two most recent being called up in September.

Gillespie spent the summer of 2000 guiding the U.S. national team, which consisted of college players.

Shine, who spent three seasons on John Savage’s staff at UCI (2002-04), left to become an assistant under Savage at UCLA in 2005 and 2006.

Shine, whose first recruiting class at UCLA was rated No. 5 in the country, became head coach at Cal State Los Angeles last season.

After leading the Golden Eagles to a 47-15-1 mark and an NCAA Division II West Regional championship, he was named Division II West Regiona Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Assn.

Shine was a middle infielder and team captain at Gonzaga in 1995.

Gillespie prevailed in a national search, during which former Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico, Hawaii Coach Mike Trapasso and Indiana State Coach Lindsay Meggs were all interviewed on campus by a committee led by Interim Athletic Director Paula Smith.

Contract details have not been disclosed, but Gillespie’s hire will allow him to oversee the beginning of fall practice, scheduled Oct. 4.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].