The Register-Guard

August 18, 2007

Serrano decides to take a look
By Ron Bellamy
The Register-Guard

The University of Oregon will make another pitch to a high-profile baseball coach next week, as UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano - the Baseball America national college coach of the year - confirmed to The Register-Guard that he will visit Eugene on Monday evening and Tuesday.

"This is a career move that comes along once in a lifetime," Serrano said Friday, emphasizing that he's not using the visit as "a bargaining chip" with UC Irvine, and that he wouldn't be traveling to Oregon if he didn't believe there to be a reasonable chance that he could accept the job.

"I'm not trying to waste their time or delay the process," he said. "I am interested in talking with them and seeing what it's about."

Serrano told Rivals.com that the Ducks had previously offered him a chance to visit Eugene to interview for the position, and that he'd turned down that opportunity.

"Ever since I declined the visit two weeks ago, I haven't been able to get the Oregon job off my mind," he told Rivals.com.

In a phone interview, Serrano said he informed the UC Irvine administration Thursday that he intends to visit Oregon. Earlier in the week, he'd said he would be returning to Irvine for the 2008 season, and he emphasized Friday that he's "in a great position" there.

"When I first met with the Oregon people, I was kind of awestruck a little bit," Serrano said, noting that he "just wasn't ready" to commit to a visit, citing family issues and other concerns.

"I'm not into making hasty decisions," he said.

But the Oregon position, and the opportunity to build a program from the ground up - "that's what's so exciting about it" - remained in his thoughts.

"I haven't been able to let it go," he said.

Last weekend, Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin, the Southeastern Conference coach of the year, visited the Oregon campus, but he announced Tuesday morning that he's staying at Vandy. That led Pat Kilkenny, Oregon's director of athletics, to telephone Serrano and again offer Serrano and his wife, Tracy, a chance to visit Eugene.

"Pat is energetic, aggressive and has great characteristics of a leader," Serrano told Rivals.com. "He has a vision with lofty goals and isn't scared of it. He wants to build a winner."

In just his third season as the head coach at UC Irvine, Serrano led the Anteaters to a 47-17-1 record - the most Division I wins in school history. The season ended with a 7-1 loss to Oregon State, the eventual national champions, in the College World Series.

In 10 years as a Division I assistant prior to becoming the Anteaters' head coach - succeeding UCLA coach John Savage - Serrano was involved in six Big West Conference titles, a Southeast Conference championship, 10 appearances in NCAA regionals, three appearances in Super Regionals, five trips to the College World Series and a national championship, with Cal State-Fullerton in 2004.

Serrano was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Fullerton for eight seasons before moving to UC Irvine. Prior to that, he held a similar position at Tennessee.