After 30 Years at Cal Poly Pomona, Baseball Coach Scolinos to Retire

John Scolinos of Cal Poly Pomona, the winningest baseball coach in NCAA Division II history and the fourth-winningest in all divisions, has announced his retirement, effective Sept. 1.

In 44 years of coaching, the last 30 at Cal Poly Pomona, Scolinos won 1,198 games. Only Rod Dedeaux, who retired as USC’s coach after the 1986 season with 1,332 victories; Clint Gustafson of Texas, with 1,241, and Ron Fraser of Miami, with 1,216, have won more.

Scolinos’ Bronco teams won seven California Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles and the NCAA Division II World Series three times--in 1976, ’80 and ’83. In his 14 years at Pepperdine, the Waves won 376 games and qualified for the NCAA tournament four times.

In 1974, Scolinos was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Assn. of Collegiate Baseball Coaches. He was named NCAA Division II coach of the year three times. In 1983, Collegiate Baseball named him coach of the decade for the 1970s. In 1987, he was honored by the American Baseball Coaches Assn., which presented him with its highest honor, the Lefty Gomez Award.

In 1984, Scolinos was the pitching coach of the U.S. Olympic team, working with such future major leaguers as Bobby Witt, Scott Bankhead, Bill Swift and Don August.

Among the Broncos who played for Scolinos and continued on to the majors are Wayne Gross, Mitchell Page, Alan Fowlkes and Darrell Miller.