CSUN’s new head baseball coach, Greg Moore, is ready to reinvigorate the Matadors lackluster baseball program. Moore is tasked with turning around a program that finished (31-26, 15-12) in 2013, losing 6 straight games to finish the season.
“We all need to be better. I expect us to compete in the classroom, on the field, and to build and develop our skills each and every day,” Moore said.
During his tenure as pitching coach at the University of San Francisco, Moore posted four of the top five single-season earned run averages in school history. In 2004, he helped USF set a single-season school record for strikeout-walk ratio and tied the single-season record for strikeouts with 389.
In 2005, his staff led the West Coast Conference in earned run average, holding opponents to a negligible .234 batting average.
“It helps to realize that coaching is the same everywhere. You’re trying to bring the best out of people, trying to improve yourself daily so you can help others get better everyday. Our hope as coaches is that we have simple, subtle, and powerful results,” Moore said.
Moore has recently been named as one of the top 10 Assistant Coaches in College Baseball by Baseball America. During his brief stay with the University of Washington in 2009, the baseball program had the highest GPA improvement in the department.
In hopes of integrating the CSUN community with Matador baseball, Moore is planning to launch Diamond University, a leadership program intended for baseball student-athletes, students, and community members, that highlights organization and goal setting skills.
“The first thing we’ll do is meet weekly to talk about the skills, habits, and values, that are important to succeeding in the classroom and off the baseball field. Next, we’ll focus on communicating with friends, administrators, and professors,” Moore said. “We hope that everyone knows they can come to our meetings and learn a little about life skills, and leadership through sports.”
Diamond University is based on “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” by Stephen R. Covey.
The 10-week program will utilize presentations from former student-athletes and community members, in order to demonstrate how success off the field directly correlates to success on the field, and vice-versa.
Moore’s program will also encourage Matador baseball players to reach out to local high school students and members of the community interested in becoming student-athletes, helping them transition into college athletics.
The ultimate goal for Diamond University is to teach players and members of the community life lessons through sports.
“We’re going to open the doors and invite people in, but at the same time, we’ll keep great separation in terms of our practice and our team time,” Moore said. “I want baseball fans on this campus and in this community to know that it’s about executing during the game, but it’s about more than just baseball.”
