UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano has taken his name out of the running for Oregon’s vacant head coaching job.

Baseball America’s 2007 Coach of the Year had delayed his scheduled visit to Eugene so he and his wife and staff could make a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate and relive the Anteaters’ College World Series run, and the Ducks allowed him a few more days to think about it before his visit, which he never wound up making. Serrano said he woke up this morning with a decision to remain at Irvine.

“As intriguing and as challenging as the Oregon job would have been–and we would have been up to the task–I hope this shows my commitment to UC Irvine and our team,” Serrano said. “We still have lofty goals here at Irvine. I think this is a good program that can continue to grow and grow as long as I can keep my coaching staff intact, and we can take it to the highest level.

“(Irvine’s administration has) stepped up big time for me, but they can only step up so much compared to Oregon. I took the money out of it, and it really came down to me being the best husband and father I can be. To start a new program, those two things would have been left in the dust. The program would have been flourishing, but my family would not have been flourishing.”

Serrano undoubtedly walked away from a major financial windfall so he could do the right thing for his family and continue building Irvine into a national power. Whoever does end up taking the Oregon job will be handsomely rewarded, but he’ll also have his hands full starting the program from scratch.