May 2, 2001

By Kevin Acee
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO - The grounds crew had been working on the rain-soaked field since dawn.

At various places on Tony Gwynn Stadium's playing surface sat two tractors, three rakes and a water pump, caked with mud.

Still, by 3 p.m. it was obvious the conference opener against Brigham Young would have to be postponed. At half-past four, the grounds crew was still working.

"We tried," said the grounds crew.

The grounds crew was a 62-year-old man with a weathered face and furrowed brow who has been doing this for 30 years and loving most every minute.

The grounds crew was San Diego State baseball coach Jim Dietz.

The scene is telling to those who think that, by virtue of a pristine stadium, the SDSU coach automatically has one of the nation's glamour jobs.

Glamorous it is not. Coveted it is.

Coaches around the nation acknowledged recently the SDSU job is considered a hot commodity, and several said they would be interested if the job came open.

"It will be a dogfight," said one head coach. "There's going to be a lot of guys going after it."

Said another head coach: "It's a gold mine. How could you not win there?"

That is the perception throughout the county and the country. Most importantly, that is the perception that has been voiced by SDSU athletic director Rick Bay, who gave Dietz a one-year contract extension last June heavily laden with performance clauses after another disappointing year. Dietz's status will be evaluated after the season.

The Aztecs were swept in three games at Brigham Young last weekend, trail the Cougars by two games with six Mountain West Conference games to play and may not achieve a single one of the performance clauses.

The Aztecs still must be considered a favorite to win the MWC Tournament at Tony Gwynn Stadium later this month, a prize that would earn them a berth in the NCAA Regionals.

Bay refused to comment recently about Dietz's status, but he has repeatedly pointed out that the contract focuses on the regular season. It would be an interesting quandary for Bay to decide whether to fire a coach who took his team to the Regionals.

A stadium considered among the best college venues anywhere and an annual crop of talent grown in its back yard make SDSU appear to be one of the most underachieving programs in the nation.

It is pertinent to note that those two benefits -- while substantial -- are about the only advantages SDSU has.

Tony Gwynn Stadium, now in its fourth full season of use, was a gift from Padres owner John Moores.

According to Dietz, and not entirely disputed by Bay, the rest of the fiscal circumstances surrounding the baseball program are the same as they ever were when the plot of ground the Aztecs play on was called Charlie Smith Field.

"The budget has not increased over a long period of time," said Dietz, who is 1,181-722-18 in his tenure at SDSU with eight NCAA Regional appearances, the most recent in 1991. "And next year we're going to take a small cut."

Dietz received funding for a second full-time assistant just this year. He canceled an early-season trip to Hawaii because he needed the $37,000 to buy equipment. The program's bat and glove contract covers only equipment and does not provide Dietz with additional money.

Dietz said the profit from camps he and his staff conducted this past summer paid their 2000 budget deficit of almost $90,000. Dietz also raised money and sold advertising this year to produce game programs and an expanded media guide. The tractor used to drag the infield was rebuilt this January by injured player Erick Eigenhuis.

While saying the baseball budget is higher than it has ever been, Bay acknowledges there is no fat and Dietz does have to fund-raise to survive.

Noting that the men's tennis and golf teams have achieved recent success with worse than bare-bones budgets, Bay said, "I think we have things in baseball we don't have in other sports."

Bay pointed out that Dietz's work ethic is admirable. But it is not necessary, the AD said.

"He does more than he has to," Bay said. "We have told him time and time again to leave (some of) the work to the grounds crew . . . I think it's most important he direct his attention to coaching."

Bay has in the past pointed out the success San Jose State achieved in making it to last year's College World Series and said this week that SDSU's baseball budget is comparable to other schools in the California State University system.

"Jim certainly has to do a lot of things, but no more than most of our other coaches," Bay said. "We don't have enough (money) for any of them, but nobody has used that as an excuse to not be competitive."

Dietz insists he's not complaining, just pointing out reality.

The perception that he has fantastic resources so bothers him, however, that he actually uttered the unfathomable recently.

"Looking back, I wish we didn't have the stadium," he said. "It's caused me too many headaches. People think we have everything now."

He shook his head and added: "Whoever follows me is going to have to deal with it."

Said one interested and incredulous coach: "It's more than I have now. Bring it on."

Coaches see the pool of applicants to be Dietz's successor being rich in top-name assistants and midmajor head coaches. They set the possible standard to lure a top assistant at more than $100,000 per season with the promise of solid funding.

Dietz has an annual salary of $94,812, more than some coaches at similar programs but on par with those at Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. What the SDSU head coach does not get that others do is extra money from bat contracts or a radio contract.

"Being that it's San Diego State and the perception," said the head coach of a Top 10 program who has no interest in leaving his current job, "I'm sure they'll have 250 to 300 applicants, even if the budget is not where it needs to be."