SMC California Athletics

Saint Mary's College Baseball is pleased to welcome Bob Hiegert on staff as a Director of Player Development for the upcoming season. Hiegert brings vast knowledge and experience to the coaching staff from a baseball and administrative perspective.
 
"Coach Hiegert is one of the great baseball coaches of all-time," Gaels head coach Greg Moore said about Hiegert. "We learn from him each time he speaks. With impressive detail and depth, Coach can take a month on the calendar and explain team priorities and the psychology of players, all at that particular time of year. Then, he will make you laugh with a story.  It's an honor and opportunity to have him coach the staff." 
 
Hiegert's roots in California run deep. He began his collegiate career in 1959 with San Fernando Valley State College (now Cal State Northridge) and was a four-year varsity starter for the Matadors. His numbers were good enough to earn the Matadors' Athlete of the Year Award in 1963, and after his graduation, he spent parts of two seasons in the then-California Angels system. This short stint led into a transition where he returned to the Matadors as the head baseball coach, and amassed 609 wins across 18 seasons, with NCAA Division II championships in 1970 and 1984, as well as six California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) crowns and five regional berths.
 
His duties at Cal State Northridge branched beyond the baseball field, as he was named the Men's Athletic Director in 1978, a position he held until he was named the Director of Athletics from 1988-95. He remained in the CCAA through 2012 when he was named the conference's first full-time commissioner in 1998, a role he held for 15 years. He has been recognized by Cal State Northridge, the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and the CCAA by being inducted into their Hall of Fames.
 
"Coach Hiegert brings an educator's heart and a seemingly endless wealth of baseball knowledge to our coaching staff," said Riley Goulding, assistant coach for the Gaels. "Coach has seen just about everything there is to see within college baseball. I am excited to continue to learn from him!"
 
All of the coaches on staff speak very highly of Hiegert, who has made an immediate impact with both the players and the coaches. "Coach Hiegert brings a special perspective to the game of baseball that is slowly drifting away," volunteer assistant coach Dylan Tashjian said about Hiegert. "His eyes see the game for what it really is and how it has been played for many years. The experience he has and knowledge he is able to share is priceless to us young coaches who idolize him as well as the style of baseball he values."
 
Specific to his functions at Saint Mary's, he is in more of an observational role where he is "watching practices, taking notes on drills, and observing the coach's influence on athletes."