Updated: Rick Vanderhook expected to be next Cal State Fullerton baseball coach
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Cal State Fullerton’s choice as its next baseball coach appears to be Rick Vanderhook, UCLA’s hitting and outfield coach and a former Titans assistant.
The school has not announced his hiring, but Athletic Director Brian Quinn’s choice was confirmed by two baseball people with knowledge of the situation. Another person close to the Fullerton program said Vanderhook ‘seemed to be the consensus choice.’ The remaining hurdle is that Vanderhook must be approved by university president Milton A. Gordon before his selection becomes official.
This is the second time Quinn has turned to a former George Horton assistant since Horton left the Titans in September 2007 for the University of Oregon.
Quinn hired Dave Serrano away from UC Irvine to replace Horton, choosing the former Titans pitching coach over Vanderhook.
Vanderhook, 50, was a player and coach at Fullerton for 21 years under Augie Garrido and then Horton. He emerged as the choice after Fullerton interviewed him and two other former Titans on Thursday.
Also interviewed were Jason Gill, a former player and coach who is the head coach at Loyola Marymount, and long-ago former Titans assistant Don Sneddon, who as Santa Ana College’s head coach recently became the winningest coach in state community college history. Bill Kernen, another former Fullerton assistant who now leads Cal State Bakersfield’s upstart program, was a finalist but removed himself from consideration.
Vanderhook has won more than 900 games as a college assistant, and he has earned three national championship rings while at Fullerton -- in 1984 as a player and 1995 and 2004 as a coach.
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