After 18 years of service as head coach of the CSU East Bay men’s baseball team, Dirk Morrison’s contract was not renewed and the baseball program now seeks a replacement for the future.

Morrison attained over 300 wins during his tenure, but with a 41-61-1 record over the past two years, the poor record finally caught up to Morrison.

Athletic director Debby DeAngelis released a statement announcing that Morrison’s contract would not be renewed and that “the decision was made to open the baseball head coaching position this year.”

The exact reasons for the Athletic Department’s decision not to renew Morrison’s contract are confidential and have not been released by the University.

So ends the tenure of one of the most successful baseball coaches in CSUEB history and the baseball program will move forward with a new coach in their first year of full eligibility in Division II.

Current sophomore and pitcher Christopher Tuma discussed the involvement and voice the team was given in the decision making process.

“We had a meeting with the whole team and the athletic director, about how the coach isn’t coming back,” said Tuma. “At the end of the season we all filled out a paper giving comments about what we liked and what we didn’t like about the coaching staff. I remember a lot of the people writing things that they were disappointed with how the year went and how the coaching staff was doing.”

Recent graduate and four year player under Morrison, Johnny Volk, expressed a similar sentiment, but went out of his way to laud the qualities that Morrison brought to the table as coach when asked if he thought the decision not to renew his contract was a good one.

“It’s tough to say, because coach [Morrison] was great for keeping you academically in check and he was good for off the field things,” said Volk. “But we had two rough years since the move to Division II. It’s all on the players, I think the guys we had on the team I don’t think they fit what coach wanted so we had a bit of a clash there. But he’d had success; he had a winning record for many of his years there.”

The Athletic Department has already begun their search for a new head coach with criteria including past coaching experience, collegiate recruiting experience in California and effective communication skills.

With regards to any potential candidates or possible frontrunners for the coaching position De Angelis said that, “all information about the candidates is part of a confidential personnel process.”

Whoever athletics chooses, it is certain that the new head coach will bring a new direction to the program as they continue to try and make a move forward in Division II.

“We expect the baseball team to continue to move up in the CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association),” said DeAngelis. “The selected coach will have a lot of say as to how things proceed within the framework of the Athletic Department.”

The team still has until early 2012 before the start of its regular season.  As the months go by, one can only speculate how well the team will perform getting a new head coach at the beginning of the season.