June 28, 2001
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - First-year Santa Clara University Head Baseball Coach Mark O'Brien has completed the first step in putting his mark on the Bronco baseball program with the hiring of Mike Oakland and Thomas Myers as full-time assistant coaches and the appointment of Scott Kidd as a volunteer coach, it was announced today.
"I am confident we have put together a coaching staff that has the ability to help take Santa Clara University baseball to the next level," said O'Brien, who took over the reigns of the Bronco baseball program on June 18. "Mike, Tom and Scott are all excellent coaches and recruiters and have strong organizational skills. We all share the same high expectations and level of energy that it takes to have a top-level baseball program."
Oakland, a 1996 graduate of Cal Poly, has served the last seven seasons as an assistant at his alma mater and the last four as the Head Assistant Coach under Ritch Price. While at Cal Poly, he served as the hitting coordinator, outfield and first base coach. Oakland also was responsible for a variety of administrative responsibilities, including recruiting, video coordinator, academic liaison, practice organization and scouting.
During the 1998 and 1999 seasons, Oakland served as the Head Coach of the Anchorage (AK) Bucs summer league team. He led the Bucs to a first-place league finish and a fourth-place finish at the NBC World Series. He was an assistant coach for the Bucs for the 1996 and 1997 seasons. Oakland was drafted in the 22nd round by the Colorado Rockies following his senior season of high school and played for the major league ball club during the 1995 strike season.
Myers, a local prep star at Archbishop Mitty High School, is a 1992 graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and earned a master's degree in education from Azusa Pacific last September. He has served the last four seasons as an assistant coach at UCSB after two years of international coaching experience in Belgium and Holland. While at UCSB, he helped lead the Gauchos to an NCAA tournament berth last season and coached two pitchers to all-Big West honors. During his tenure, Myers also helped attract two of the top recruiting classes in the country to the UCSB program.
Myers was an all-Big West Conference pitcher and was selected in the professional draft by the Oakland Athletics in 1990. He played six seasons of professional baseball with the A's, Baltimore Orioles and St. Louis Cardinal organizations and reached the Double-A level.
A 1997 graduate of Cal Poly, Kidd completed a successful collegiate career as an All-America and first-team all-Big West Conference selection for the Mustangs. He began his college career with one season at DeAnza College, where he earned Junior College All-America honors as a freshman in 1993. Kidd played at the University of Arizona and earned all-Pac Six honors before transferring to Cal Poly.
Kidd played four seasons professionally in the New York Yankees organization and was South Atlantic League all-star second baseman in 1999.
