Dave Taylor helped build the Chico State baseball program into a perinneal national contender as the head assistant/pitching coach from 1997-2004. Now he enters his first season as the teams head coach.
Taylor was part of Chico States national championships in 1997 and 1999 and an NCAA runner-up finish in 2002. In all, the Wildcats reached the College World Series in five of Taylors eight seasons at Chico State. His pitching staffs at Chico State led the California Collegiate Athletic Association in ERA in each of his last six seasons, and he mentored a trio of CCAA Pitchers of the Year and eight All-American hurlers.
Im absolutely exstatic to be back in Chico, said Taylor. This is where I want to coach and its where my family and I want to live. I couldnt imagine a better fit for us. Taylor left Chico State to become the head coach at Cal State L.A. in 2005 and immediately turned around a struggling program. The Golden Eagles went 58-39-1 in Taylors two seasons.
In 2006, Taylors squad finished 36-16-1 and reached the NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional final. They lost to Chico State in the final, but the Golden Eagles, who were ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation during the regular season, tied the school record for most conference wins and earned their first CCAA Championship Tournament berth. The teams 30-win season was its first since 1977.
Prior to joining the Chico State coaching staff in 1997, Taylor spent three years at the University of Wyoming (1994-96). He was the programs head coach in 1995 and 1996 and earned Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 1996 after leading the Cowboys to a 36-20 mark in what had already been announced as the final year of the universitys baseball program.
Taylor, a catcher during his playing days, played collegiately at Oxnard Community College from 1983-84 before transferring to the University of Arizona for the 1985-86 seasons. It was there he earned the first of his three national titles (the other two coming as a coach at Chico State) during the 1986 campaign.
Taylor went on to play two seasons of minor league baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He advanced as high as double-A and earned the Brewers Minor League Catcher of the Year award in 1987 before retiring as a player.
Taylor began his coaching career at Cal Lutheran in 1989, and after one year as an assistant at Oxnard Community College, earned his first head coaching job there in 1991. He also made coaching stops at Long Beach City College, Simi Valley High School, and in the Cape Cod League before taking a position at Wyoming.
Taylor earned his bachelors degree in social science from Cal Lutheran in 1989 and his masters degree in physical education from Chico State in 2004.
