More Coaching Changes

By John Manuel
July 9, 2003

Another winner of Baseball America's Assistant Coach of the Year award is no longer eligible thanks to being named a head coach.

Brian O'Connor, who won the award (co-sponsored by the American Baseball Coaches Association) in 2001 while with Notre Dame, was named Virginia's head coach Tuesday.

Jim Schlossnagle was also an assistant in 2001 and was in the running for the award before getting his first head-coaching job, at Nevada-Las Vegas. After two seasons there when he turned the Rebels program around, Schlossnagle has taken over as Texas Christian's new head coach.

Two other vacancies were filled while UNLV was becoming vacant. Another former big leaguer has joined the college coaching ranks, with Ed Sprague assuming control of Pacific's program. And Maryland-Eastern Shore has named Bobby Rodriguez, with a long pedigree in pro ball as a player and coach, as its new head coach.

A quick rundown of each new coach:

• O'Connor, 32, spent nine years at Notre Dame and was thought to be a candidate as well for the vacancy at Creighton, where he pitched and was a member of the Bluejays' 1991 College World Series team. The Iowa native also was pegged to the Hawkeyes' vacancy, but Virginia jumped ahead of both schools with its new facility, Atlantic Coast Conference affiliation and academic credentials. During his tenure at Notre Dame, O'Connor helped lure the current class of Fighting Irish rising juniors, rated as the nation's top recruiting class in 2001. He also tutored big league pitchers Aaron Heilman (New York Mets) and Brad Lidge (Houston Astros). Notre Dame also reached the College World Series in 2002, its first trip since 1957. Boston Red Sox third-base coach Mike Cubbage withdrew from the search last week, while Virginia Commonwealth coach Paul Keyes also was considered a strong candidate before signing a new long-term contract Monday. O'Connor replaces Dennis Womack, who was forced to resign as coach and took another job in the athletic department.

• Schlossnagle, also 32, led UNLV to a 77-47 record in two seasons, including a sweep of the Mountain West regular-season and tournament championships this year. UNLV lost in a regional final at Arizona State to finish a 47-17 mark. Previously, Schlossnagle had been an assistant at Tulane, helping the Green Wave make its first CWS trip ever in 2001. Schlossnagle replaces Lance Brown, who also was forced into an early retirement. Several other prominent coaches who had been mentioned as candidates included Georgia Tech's Bobby Moranda (who was not a finalist for Virginia's post), Miami of Ohio's Tracy Smith and Texas assistant Tommy Harmon. The TCU job was seen as one of the best available this offseason, thanks to the talent-rich Dallas-Fort Worth area and the program's new, state-of-the-art Lupton Stadium, which opened in 2003. Rice, which has loftier academic credentials, is often pointed to as a model for TCU. However, the program's overall budget (including salaries for the head coach and full-time assistants) were not competitive previously. To lure Schlossnagle, the school figures to be making a greater commitment. As Brown put it to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when he resigned: "I just felt like there were things that needed to be done to bring this program up to the next level, and they just didn't share the same vision I had."

• The Mark Marquess coaching tree expanded as former Stanford player Sprague took over at Pacific, replacing Quincey Noble. Sprague, a career .247-152-558 hitter in 1,203 big league games, played on Stanford's national championship teams in 1987-88, was a member of the 1988 Olympic team and played for the 1992-93 World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays. The 1988 first-round pick of the Blue Jays, Sprague's best season was in 1996, when he hit 36 home runs and had 101 RBIs. He spent the first half of this year as a coach at St. Mary's High in Stockton, Calif. His father, Ed Sprague Sr., also was a big leaguer and had a long career as a Baltimore Orioles scout. "The university has committed to taking the baseball program to the next level," said Sprague. "I feel very fortunate and excited that they have chosen me to help lead the way. I'm excited that our current players are on the ground floor of what I expect to be an exciting period for Pacific baseball, for the Stockton community and the university's alumni." The Marquess coaching tree also includes Santa Clara's Mark O'Brien (a former Stanford assistant) and Sprague's former teammate, California head coach David Esquer.

• Bobby Rodriguez takes over at UMES after spending the last five seasons as an assistant coach in the Baltimore Orioles organization, where he was a hitting coach at Class A Delmarva. Rodriguez also had a long career in his native Mexico, where he played for more than 20 years after making his 1976 debut. "I am so excited about this opportunity," he said. "I have been on the shore for several years now and this area is providing me the opportunity to build on what coach (Kirkland) Hall has started here at UMES. We are going to start a whole new tradition of Hawk Pride and make UMES a team to contend in the Mid-Eastern Athletic."