May 30, 2001

By Kevin Acee
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO - Rick Bay dreaded sending a local icon to an early and unhappy termination.

Jim Dietz certainly did not want that to happen.

So in a series of events both men denied were intertwined, the San Diego State athletic director announced yesterday that he was giving Dietz a 31st season as baseball coach, and Dietz, 62, said he will retire after next season.

"I wanted to do this my way," Dietz said. "I didn't want someone else calling the shots for me.

"It's time for me to go. It's hard to give up something you love, but you can't keep doing it forever."

Bay said a search for Dietz's successor will begin in the fall.

However, one candidate sure to have support pre-empted that time line.

Padres star Tony Gwynn, after whom SDSU's baseball stadium is named, said last night that he wants to succeed Dietz.

Bay said he had not spoken to Gwynn about the job and noted the California State University system requires him to conduct a formal search. But Bay acknowledged being intrigued.

"His credentials and ability speak for themselves," Bay said. "There's a lot more to college coaching than practices and actually running the club in games. I don't know to what extent anyone who has not coached in college really understands that. But I think it would be a safe bet that a guy like Tony would be familiar with what it takes."

Gwynn, who played for Dietz at SDSU from 1979-81, has not said this will be his final season as a player, though Bay would like to have Dietz's replacement named and in place by next summer.

Bay said earlier in the day he hopes the new coach will either be a current collegiate head coach or someone "from the professional ranks."

Bay said he was wrestling with the decision of whether to keep Dietz another year when the coach told him last week he would retire after the 2002 season.

"It's a good solution to this situation," said Bay, who heard from many Dietz supporters in recent months. "I don't think anyone ever relishes the idea of being part of a situation that makes a community uncomfortable and the university uncomfortable. I feel very good. This was his decision. That makes all the difference."

Dietz has survived four university presidents, four football coaches, seven basketball coaches and seven athletic directors.

"I feel like I went to school here," Dietz, a graduate of Southern Oregon College, said recently. "This school is a part of me."

And he is a part of it. It was Dietz's tireless physical labor and fund raising that kept the baseball program from extinction in the 1980s.

"While it's Charlie Smith Field and Tony Gwynn Stadium, it's Jim Dietz's legacy," Bay said. "Without Jim, we might not even have baseball."

For that reason, more than a belief that Dietz was the man to lead the Aztecs to the success he would like, Bay allowed the old coach a swan song.

"It gives the university the chance to honor Jim in the right way and pay him the respect and dignity he so richly deserves," Bay said.

Dietz had floated the idea of retiring a year ago, but then wavered, prompting Bay to devise a contract laden with "performance expectations."

Indeed, the only odd thing about yesterday's announcement was that Bay kept a coach he had, in essence, devised a plan to get rid of.

While vague, the contract's language and Bay's stated desires indicated that coming close to those goals would be the only thing to keep Dietz employed at SDSU.

The Aztecs, who finished 34-26, second in the Mountain West Conference and nowhere near the nation's Top 25, did not fulfill any of the contract's performance clauses.

"With any luck and fewer injuries, we might have been able to meet all of those expectations," Bay said yesterday.

Still, Bay has stated that he wants the baseball program to be a perennial participant in the NCAA Regionals, which it has not reached since 1991.

Dietz and his staff -- primarily pitching coach Rusty Filter -- have attracted two consecutive nationally ranked recruiting classes. But for the second year in a row the Aztecs were runners-up in a weak conference they were picked to win.

Dietz's teams have just a .556 winning percentage over the past 10 seasons. Meanwhile, other state programs with similar budgets, stadiums and schools have thrived.

While Bay has been displeased with the team's on-field performance, he acknowledges Dietz's contributions to the program and community.

Dietz has strict rules regarding class attendance, grades and alcohol use.

Aztecs players said they were pleased with the outcome -- both because their coach is returning and because there won't be any more questions about it.

"He's been here a long time," said catcher Brian Manfred. "He deserves the honor of deciding when he wants to go out."