Deck out as Agoura High's baseball coach

Scott Deck Scott Deck has resigned as head baseball coach at Agoura High.

Deck, who led the Chargers to the CIFSouthern Section Division I championship game last season, has accepted the head coaching position at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Westmont is an NAIA program.

"My dream has always been to be at a small college," Deck, 32, said. "I always wanted to work my way up and end up at a place like Westmont."

After transferring from Fresno City College in 1996, Deck played right field for two seasons at Westmont. He was named to the AllGolden State Athletic Conference team twice and helped lead the team to the NAIA Western Regional in 1997.

"It's an opportunity of a lifetime for me and my wife to go back there," Deck said. "It's one of those things that I didn't know if would happen soon or five years from now. When the opportunity presented itself, it seemed like a good fit."

Westmont has struggled in recent seasons, and Deck knows there is a lot of work to do to get the program back to its winning ways.

"I'm coming into a program that won eight games last year," he said. "The year before I think they won seven. I've got my work cut out for myself."

Deck served as an assistant coach at Westmont from 19992002. He left to coach at Thousand Oaks High, where he won a CIF-SS Division II title with the Lancers in 2003. Soon thereafter, Deck was hired as the head coach at Agoura.

In three seasons at Agoura, Deck's teams improved each year.

In 2004 the Chargers went 1215 and finished in sixth place in the Marmonte League. The following year they posted a 19-7 record and were in second place in league.

At one point last season, the Chargers were ranked No. 1 in the nation by Baseball America. AHS finished with 21 wins and nearly won a CIF title, losing 2-1 to Lakewood High in the championship game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

"One of the highlights for me was to look up in the stands for that (championship) game and to see how much support we had," Deck said. "It was a sea of blue and gold."

Deck said last year's Agoura team wasn't the most talented group he's ever been around, but they made up for it with heart and an insatiable desire to win.

"What we had was a huge work ethic and desire to be there," he said.

Westmont's roster doesn't feature any Marmonte League talent. After watching baseball in the Conejo Valley for several seasons, Deck said he's looking forward to recruiting players from the area.

"I know the area well and hopefully we can start to bring that talent in here," Deck said. "My goal is to reach out to kids I coached against, coached for, and try to build the program up." Deck will continue to teach

special education at Agoura through the remainder of the school year. He said he'll also work with the team as it transitions to a new head coach.

AHS athletic director Jason Rosenthal said the school will accept applications for the head coaching job for the next two weeks and the position should be filled before winter break.

Rosenthal added that Deck did a fantastic job during his three years at the helm.

"He did an outstanding job," Rosenthal said. "He was a role model to those kids and taught them to be winners not only on the field, but outside the field as well."

Deck is the second significant loss for the Chargers this offseason. Robert Stock, a highly touted pitcher and catcher, was accepted to USC following his junior season.