Bob Milano is an American college baseball coach. He served as the head coach of the California Golden Bears baseball team from 1978 to 1999.

Early life and playing career

Bob Milano grew up in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California and attended

Bishop O'Dowd High School Bishop O'Dowd High School is a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school in Oakland, California, administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and named for the late auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, James ...

, graduating in 1957. Milano went on to play baseball for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

in 1960 and 1961, leading the 1960 team in hitting with a 357 average.California History A Salute to Bob Milano
/ref> Milano played summer baseball for the Lloydminster Meridians in the Western Canada Baseball League in 1960 and 1961. After graduating from Cal, Milano was a varsity assistant for the Cal baseball team, while playing for the Humboldt Crabs in the summers of 1962 and 1963, playing in the National Baseball Congress World Series in 1963.

Coaching career

After 10 years as head coach at

Burlingame High School Burlingame is a name for a couple of high schools in the United States, including: * Burlingame High School (California) * Burlingame High School (Kansas) Burlingame Junior-Senior High School is a fully accredited public high school located in Bu ...

, Milano was an assistant coach at Cal under Jackie Jensen from 1974 to 1977, until he was chosen as the new Cal head coach in 1978. Coach Milano returned to coach the Humboldt Crabs in 1979, with five of his Cal players, including

Rod Booker Roderick Stewart Booker (born September 4, 1958) is an American former professional baseball utility player, who played shortstop, second base, and third base. He spent five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals ...

, finishing with a record of 34-16 and a return trip to the NBC World Series in Wichita. Those five Cal players Coach Milano brought to the Crabs, formed the core of the 1980 Cal team who made the College World Series. He was inducted into the Humboldt Crabs Hall of Fame in 2018. In 22 years at Cal, Coach Milano compiled a record of 688-644-4 (.516). His teams made the postseason six times, making the College World Series in 1980, 1988 and 1992. His Cal teams produced numerous future Major Leaguers including Bob Melvin, Jeff Kent, Lance Blankenship, Darren Lewis, Xavier Nady, and

Head coaching records

Source:2019 Golden Bears Record Book
/ref>

International coaching

*USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Assistant Coach (1985) *USA Baseball Olympic Assistant Coach (

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

) *USA Baseball Head Coach (1997)

References

External links

Cal profile

ABCA Hall of Fame profile

California Athletics Hall of Fame profile

San Mateo County Sports Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milano, Bob California Golden Bears baseball coaches California Golden Bears baseball players Baseball catchers People from Oakland, California University of California, Berkeley alumni