Steve Rodriguez, a member of Pepperdine’s 1992 national championship team, recently completed his sixth season as the Waves’ head baseball coach in 2009.

Hired as the University’s 16th head coach on June 18, 2003, Rodriguez has brought a positive, never-say-die attitude to the program that prevailed during his rookie campaign of 2004 and has continued through his first six years in the position.

Since taking over the reins, Rodriguez has compiled a 217-142 (.604) record, including an 95-48 (.664) mark in West Coast Conference play. He led the Waves to three consecutive WCC titles (2004-06) and his teams have made NCAA Championships appearances in five of the past six years (2004-08).

In addition to carrying on the program’s winning tradition, Rodriguez and his staff of assistants Rick Hirtensteiner and Sean Kenny have worked tirelessly in the area of fundraising. Those efforts have paid off with the installation of new stadium seats prior to the 2004 season, a new, state-of-the-art scoreboard that debuted in 2007 and a new backstop that was installed in 2008.

Pepperdine posted its 32nd straight 30-win season in 2009 with a 31-23 (.574) record, but missed the postseason for the first time since 1998. The Waves won five of their last six conference games to finish the year at 12-9 (.571) and were in contention for the WCC Championship Series until the final day of the regular season.

Rodriguez’ club recorded several program season records, which included a .982 fielding percentage and 477 strikeouts. Pepperdine’s defense, led by WCC Defensive Player of the Year Denny Duron, committed just 36 errors all season as it finished second only to Creighton (.984) for the NCAA’s highest fielding percentage.

The Waves’ pitching staff, which featured Freshman All-American Cole Cook and All-WCC First Team honoree Matt Bywater, averaged a program-best 9.10 strikeouts per nine innings and its overall strikeout total easily surpassed the previous record of 445 set by Pepperdine’s national championship team in 1992.   

The 2008 Waves were a win away from winning the NCAA Stanford Regional and finished the year with a 38-21 record. They went 14-6 in the WCC for second place and advanced to the WCC Championship Series for the fourth time in five years under Rodriguez. Pepperdine ended the year ranked #19 by Rivals.com.

The 2007 season saw the Waves post a winning percentage above .600 for the third consecutive season and the program won at least 30 games for the 30th consecutive season. Pepperdine was ranked as high as #7 nationally at one point. Under Rodriguez’ guidance, the Waves tied a school record with nine players taken in the MLB First-Year Player Draft in June 2007.

In 2006, the Waves hosted their first-ever NCAA Regional and were the No. 1 seed, and ended the season ranked #21 by Baseball America. The 2005 Waves welcomed the nation’s #7 recruiting class, swept the WCC player awards (Player, Pitcher and Freshman) and ended the year ranked #23 by Collegiate Baseball. The Waves’ first season under Rodriguez was highlighted by a WCC championship and victories over #1 seed Arizona State and #2 seed Cal State Fullerton in NCAA Regional play.

Prior to being named head coach, Rodriguez served as a Waves’ assistant coach for four seasons, during which Pepperdine compiled an overall record of 145-98 (.597), including an 88-32 (.733) mark in West Coast Conference (WCC) play. The Waves captured the WCC title in 2001 and made NCAA Tournament appearances in 2001 and 2003.

Rodriguez became only the third former Pepperdine player to assume the head coaching duties for the Waves in the program’s history. Gary Marks earned the distinction of being the first former Pepperdine player to pilot the program when he skippered the Waves from 1963-67. Gail Hopkins, who played at Pepperdine from 1962-64, coached Pepperdine during the 1968 season.

“I am extremely honored and appreciative for the opportunity to serve as Pepperdine’s head baseball coach,” said Rodriguez at his hiring. “As an alumnus of Pepperdine, I have strong feelings for the university and understand what it takes to be a student-athlete at Pepperdine. I am enjoying the challenge of continuing the rich baseball tradition that Pepperdine has achieved over many years and to keep the program a consistent winner that competes on a regular basis for conference titles and is consistently ranked among the top programs in the country.”

Rodriguez, a fifth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1992, played professionally for seven seasons with the Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Montreal Expos organizations. Rodriguez reached the majors with both Boston and Detroit in 1995.

A two-time All-American, he was named WCC Player of the Year in 1992 as the Waves posted a 48-11 mark and captured the College World Series title. Rodriguez was named to the All-CWS team and was part of two memorable plays in Omaha: a grand slam that helped defeat Texas in the semifinal round and a late-inning defensive gem in the Waves’ 3-2 win over Cal State Fullerton in the championship game.

A product of Valley High School in Las Vegas, Nev., Rodriguez helped Pepperdine post a three-year record of 126-51-5 (.706) from 1990-92, including a 72-26 (.735) mark in league play. The Waves won the league title and advanced to the NCAA Championships in both 1991 and 1992.

A first-team All-WCC selection in 1991 and 1992, Rodriguez made a big splash as a sophomore in 1991 when he batted .419, the third-highest single-season average in school history. His 104 base hits that season set a Pepperdine single-season record. He still ranks in the top 10 in five different single-season categories.

Rodriguez’ career batting average of .367 ranks second on the Waves’ all-time list. Despite playing just three seasons of collegiate baseball, Rodriguez is tied for third on the school’s all-time career runs scored chart (187) and is fourth in hits (271). He also ranks in the top 10 in three other career categories.

Rodriguez was a member of the Team USA in both 1991 and 1992. He played in the Pan American Games in 1991 and earned “Player of the Series” honors against Mexico and Cuba. He was also named “Player of the Series” against Korea while a member of Team USA in 1992.

In 2001, Rodriguez was named one of the WCC’s Top 50 athletes of all time, and was selected to the conference’s 40th Anniversary baseball team in 2007.

Following his professional playing career, Rodriguez enrolled in classes at Riverside Community College and Chapman University before returning to Pepperdine, where he received a bachelor’s degree in public relations in December of 2001. He earned a master’s degree in educational technology from Pepperdine in 2003.

In October 2007, he was honored by the City of Malibu with the Jake Kuredjian Award for his service to the community.

Rodriguez and his wife, Kimberlee, have a daughter, Julia, and a son, Nolan, and live in Agoura Hills.