It's a homecoming for Dave Serrano. After a stint as a player at Cal State Fullerton and eight years as an assistant to former Titan Head Coach George Horton, Serrano returns to take over the reins at the program he helped guide to four College World Series appearances and the school's fourth national championship in 2004.

Serrano, 43, was hired as the Titans' fourth Division I head coach on Sept. 7, 2007, just six days after his long-time coach, friend and mentor, Horton, resigned to rekindle the University of Oregon's baseball program in Eugene.

Serrano brings with him an impeccable track record that includes continuous Top 20 recruiting classes, 12 postseason bids and six trips to the College World Series in 13 years at the Division I level. He has tutored a long list of professional players, five Big West Conference Pitchers of the Year and a Freshman Pitcher of the Year, has been part of the nurturing of five first-round draft picks and has helped script two Division I no-hitters.

Following apprenticeships at Cerritos College (1988-1994), the University of Tennessee (1995-96) and Cal State Fullerton (1997-2004), Serrano got his shot as a head coach when he was hired by UC Irvine on July 12, 2005, to replace John Savage.

At the helm of an Irvine program that was defunct from 1993-2001, Serrano compiled a 114-66-1 (.633) record over three seasons and guided the Anteaters to postseason appearances in 2006 and 2007 and their first-ever College World Series in 2007.

The Anteaters led the Big West Conference in nearly every offensive category in 2007 and finished with an overall record of 47-17-1, setting the school record for victories in a season. Serrano's Irvine squad marched through the 2007 Regionals and Super Regionals with a 5-0 record, and finished tied for third in the nation with a 2-2 showing in Omaha, helping to solidify his National Coach of the Year honor presented to him by Baseball America (the same publication that also picked him as the nation's top assistant coach in 2004).

The third-year head coach led Irvine to its first-ever Regional title in Round Rock, Texas, with a 13-0 blowout over Wake Forest, then to a sweep of Augie Garrido's Texas Longhorns, 3-1 and 9-6. He then steered the Anteaters to Omaha with a pair of wins over the Shockers in the Super Regional at Wichita State. Prior to 2007, the Anteaters had never had a postseason victory at the Division I level.

After winning 14 of their last 15 games heading into the College World Series, Serrano's Anteaters found themselves on the grand stage in Omaha along with conference partner Cal State Fullerton. There, Irvine dropped its first game to Arizona State, 5-4, setting up the first-ever Big West Conference meeting in Omaha with Fullerton. The Anteaters and Titans locked horns for 13 innings, taking a College World Series record, five hours and 40 minutes, with Serrano's Irvine squad coming out on top, 5-4, eliminating the Titans from the tournament. The Anteaters went on to defeat the Sun Devils, 8-7, in 10 innings in their next game before being eliminated by the eventual National Champion Oregon State Beavers, 7-1.

In his first trip to Omaha as a head coach, Serrano's team played in front of the second and third largest crowds in College World Series history, became the first team to ever win back-to-back extra inning games in Omaha, and set a record with 12 hit batsmen, breaking the mark set by Fullerton in 2003.

In 2006, Serrano led the team to 36 wins, the highest number of wins in 26 years. The Anteater pitching staff posted the nation's 15th-best ERA, and tallied its first Division I no-hitter by Glenn Swanson who also broke the UCI career strikeout record.

In all, Serrano's Irvine program produced 17 major league draft picks (including a school-record eight in 2007), 17 All-Big West Conference honorees, a two-time All-American right-hander Scott Gorgen and the NCAA's all-time saves leader in Blair Erickson.

In eight seasons as Cal State Fullerton's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, Serrano established himself as one of the top assistants in the nation. His recruiting efforts played a large part in the Titans' success, as each of his eight recruiting classes was ranked by Baseball America in its annual Top 20 and two of his classes between 2001 and 2004 ranked No. 2. Collegiate Baseball ranked his 2001 efforts the best in the nation.

During Serrano's watch at Fullerton, 29 pitchers and catchers were drafted and 10 of his pupils (Matt Wise, Mike Lamb, Erasmo Ramirez, Adam Johnson, Kirk Saarloos, Jordan DeJong, Chad Cordero, Wes Littleton, Kurt Suzuki and Jason Windsor) have already reached big leagues. Serrano also tutored a trio of major leaguers in Mike Lincoln, R.A Dickey, and Todd Helton during his run at Tennessee from 1995-96.

Cordero, the All-American closer for the Titans from 2001-2003, was a first-round draft pick that reached the majors just two months after pitching for the Titans in the 2003 College World Series. He has gone on to become one of Major League Baseball's premier closers and was named a National League All-Star while leading all of the major leagues with 47 saves in 2005.

Of the 25 Titans to earn All-American honors during Serrano's term as an assistant, 15 were pitchers. Benito Flores and eventual first-round draft pick Adam Johnson in 1998 started the current string of 10 straight seasons with at least one Titan All-American pitcher, the best streak by any school in the nation. Serrano produced a Fullerton school record four All-American hurlers in both 2001 and 2003, including Saarloos, who was a finalist for virtually every National Pitcher of the Year award and recorded a no-hitter in 2001. Windsor, Serrano's last All-American pitcher at Fullerton, was named the 2004 College World Series Most Valuable Player.

Though he had already moved on to Irvine by 2005, Serrano recruited and was also part of the early development of Ricky Romero, who ended up being the Titans' 10th No. 1 draft pick, an All-American and Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2005.

Before assisting at Fullerton, Serrano spent two seasons (1995-96) serving the same role at Tennessee for former Head Coach Rod Delmonico. There, he helped the Volunteers reach the College World Series for the first time in 44 years in 1995. During his stay in the south, he oversaw the development of two first-rounders in Dickey and Helton, the latter blossoming into one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball after having also pitched for the Vols.

Serrano's first run as a coach at Fullerton was his second as an assistant to Horton. He worked under Horton at Cerritos College for three seasons (1988-90) before Horton moved to Fullerton in 1991 as associate head coach to Augie Garrido. Serrano succeeded Horton as the head coach that year and earned the South Coast Conference's Coach of the Year Award. He reverted back to his assistant coaching post in 1992 and remained there through the 1994 season. In his seven-year tenure, the Falcons won a state championship in 1989, and five conference championships.

Serrano graduated from Cerritos High School in 1982 and played two seasons at Cerritos College. In 1985, he went 12-1 and earned junior college All-American honors while helping the Falcons to a 39-5 record en route to the state championship. Serrano then pitched for Cal State Fullerton in 1986, posting a 3-4 record with one save in 15 appearances.

Serrano holds his bachelor's degree from Trinity College and University (2003), and lives in Irvine with his wife, Tracy, and their sons Kyle (12), Zachary (10) and Parker (4).

Small Bio

Dave Serrano returns to Cal State Fullerton, where he was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for former Titan head coach George Horton and the Titans for the 1997 through 2004 seasons.

He left after the Titans' fourth national championship to become head coach at UC Irvine, where he compiled a 114-66-1 (.633) record over three seasons and took the Anteaters to their first College World Series appearance in 2007. Their 47-17-1 season earned Serrano national coach of the year honors from Baseball America, which had ranked him as the nation's top assistant coach in 2004 with the Titans.

During Serrano's 8-year tenure at Fullerton, the Titans went 356-154-1 (.698) and were in the NCAA Tournament every season. They won six Big West Conference championships, four NCAA Regionals and four NCAA Super Regionals to earn four trips to Omaha.

Every one of Serrano's Fullerton recruiting classes was ranked in the nation's Top 20. He also has nurtured a long list of pitchers who went on to play professinally. He tutored six conference pitchers of the year and of the 25 All-American players at Fullerton during his tenure, 15 were pitchers. He developed three more All-American pitchers at UCI.

Serrano, who pitched for the Titans in 1986, began his coaching career as an assistant to Horton at Cerritos College in 1988. He succeeded Horton for the 1991 season after he left to become associate head coach to Augie Garrido at Cal State Fullerton. Serrano returned to assistant coaching duties for 1992-94 for the Falcons before going to Tennessee, where he served two seasons as pitching coach for Rod Delmonico. The Volunteers went 97-36 and made their first trip to Omaha in 44 years in 1995, when they were twice routed by Fullerton's third national championship team.

Serrano received his bachelors degree from Trinity College and University. He and his wife, Tracy, have three sons: Kyle (12), Zachary (10) and Parker (4).