[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
UH’s Green accepts
position at UCLAThe Rainbow baseball assistant
joins new Bruins coach John
Savage's staff at the Pac-10 school
As is often the case with promising young baseball coaches, moving has become a way of life for Brian Green.
Green entered the profession as a student assistant at New Mexico State in 1995 and worked at five other schools before arriving at the University of Hawaii in 2002. Now after two seasons as an assistant with the Rainbows, Green is preparing to take the next step in his career having accepted a similar post at UCLA.
"I've been pretty emotional about the move," Green said. "I know professionally it's a great move, it's something my wife and I had to do. But we were just treated so well at Hawaii, it's going to be hard for me to leave."
Green's addition to the UCLA staff was announced by the school yesterday. He is the second assistant to be hired by new Bruins head coach John Savage.
Savage, formerly the head coach at UC Irvine, replaced Gary Adams, who retired after 30 years at UCLA. Savage's first hire with the Bruins was former UCI assistant Pat Shine.
"Brian is a great addition to the UCLA program," Savage said in a release from UCLA. "His knowledge of infield play, hitting and recruiting will benefit us immediately."
Hawaii will begin the search for a new assistant after head coach Mike Trapasso returns from Taiwan. Trapasso is the pitching coach for the U.S National Team which is playing in the FISU II World University Baseball Championships. The tournament ends Aug. 1.
"I'm very happy for Brian," Trapasso said. "This is a great opportunity for him to go home as a top assistant at a high-profile school. I'm grateful for the contributions he has made to our baseball program over the past few years and wish him the best."
Green, 32, said his role with the Bruins will be similar to his job at UH, where he focused on hitting and baserunning and worked with the infielders. He was also the Rainbows' third-base coach.
The Rainbows hit .253 the year before Green arrived. That number rose to .275 in 2003 and .287 this spring with five Rainbows finishing above .300.
The team's home run total jumped from 18 in 2002 to 33 last year and 34 this past season.
Green said he's spoken to a few of the returning UH players since accepting the UCLA job and plans to get in touch with more when he returns to Honolulu next month to finish packing.
"It's not an easy thing to do," Green said. "You work and you go through the blood and the sweat with these guys and you're up at 6 a.m. with them every morning. Those guys inspire you as coaches and it's hard to leave."
Green's wife, Becki, gave birth to the couple's first child, Emily Rae, in February.
UCLA went 35-29 overall and 14-10 in the Pac-10 in Adams' final year as head coach. The Bruins finished third in the conference and advanced to the NCAA regionals for the first time since 2000.
"They've always had great players, but on a consistent basis it's been USC, Stanford and Arizona State doing the damage in conference," Green said. "It's an exciting challenge to go out there and have an opportunity to win the Pac-10."
