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Steve Pearse joins the UCLA baseball program as an assistant coach for his first season in 2008-09. Pearse will serve as the Bruins' infield and base running coach, assist recruiting efforts and work with the hitters along with assistant coach Rick Vanderhook.
Pearse arrives at UCLA with 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, including the last 17 seasons at the Division I level. Pearse spent the last five seasons (2004-08) as an assistant coach at Pacific. With the Tigers, Pearse worked with the infielders and led the team's recruiting efforts. During the 2007 signing period, he helped Pacific land the Sacramento and San Diego area Players of the Year. In 2005, Pacific's defense helped turn the second-most double plays in team history (66) and post a program-best .967 fielding percentage.
Pearse arrived at Pacific after having spent the 2003 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Long Beach State. That season, the 49ers registered a 41-20 overall record and won the Big West Conference title with a 16-5 record before sweeping the Long Beach Regional and advancing to the Palo Alto Super Regional.
The previous 10 seasons (1993-2002), Pearse served as an assistant coach at Fresno State, where he was also a two-year baseball letterwinner (1987-88). As a coach, Pearse helped lead the Bulldogs to four Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Western Division titles (1993-95, 1998) and seven NCAA Regional appearances (1993-97, 2000-01).
Pearse was an assistant coach at California in 1992, guiding the Golden Bears to a 35-28 record and College World Series appearance. In 17 seasons of coaching at the Division I level, Pearse's teams have advanced to nine NCAA Regionals and made one appearance at the College World Series.
From 1989 to 1991, Pearse served as an assistant coach to his father, Tom, at Laney College in Oakland, Calif. Laney advanced to the Junior College playoffs each of his three seasons and won the conference championship in 1989.
A two-year baseball letterwinner at Fresno State, Pearse earned third-team All-America honors in 1988 after hitting at a .381 clip and helping lead the Bulldogs to the College World Series. That year, Fresno State won 45 of 47 games midway through the spring (including a 32-game winning streak) after having opened the season with a 4-4 mark. The Bulldogs also led the nation in attendance that season, totaling 159,205 fans (3,317 average). In 1987, Pearse registered a .338 batting average.
Following the 1988 season, Pearse signed a free-agent contract and played one season in the Montreal Expos' minor league system. In 1994, Pearse was inducted into the Fresno State Baseball Hall of Fame.
Pearse earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from San Francisco State in 1991 and his master's degree from Saint Mary's in health/physical education/recreation in 1993. Pearse and his wife of 15 years, Melissa, have two daughters, Mikayla (11) and Cassandra (7).
