UTPA fires baseball coach Gawlik

EDINBURG - A large brown trash can stood silent watch outside the University of Texas-Pan American baseball offices Friday at Edinburg Baseball Stadium.

Inside were the papers and various other items collected over the last six years, and a clearly emotional Willie Gawlik was adding to its freshly discarded contents as he slowly cleared out his office.

Thus ended Gawlik's tenure as Broncs baseball coach after the university elected Friday morning not to bring him back for a seventh season. His second three-year contract was to expire July 1.

"We elected to not renew his contract," UTPA interim athletic director Ricky Vaughn said. "It's always difficult.

"I don't think we're in any position to comment more than that."

Gawlik also refused comment when approached Friday at the stadium, something several of his players didn't do during the past two seasons as frustrations mounted over the program's lack of success. Gawlik did not have a winning season in six years at UTPA, and he finished with an overall record of 120-206 and a 40-138 road mark.

"It's already been six years since he's been there and he hasn't produced a winning season all six years, so I think it was just a necessary change that had to be made because they gave Coach (Reggie) Tredaway five years after (Al Ogletree)," said Aaron Guerra, who played for Gawlik from 2003 to 2006. "(Tredaway) didn't produce and the same thing happened, and as far as a Division I baseball program is concerned, that's really what matters."

The move - which also included the decision not to renew the contracts of assistant coaches Gene Salazar and Patrick Hon - did not come as a shock to at least one player from last season's squad.

"I'm not surprised by the situation, with all the changes that the administration's making ever since (former athletic director) Scott Street resigned," Roly Gonzalez said. "As soon as the season ended there were already talks about changes that were going to happen, so it didn't really come out of nowhere.

"Do I think it was good? It all depends on whether or not the guy who comes in next improves the program. If the guy who comes in improves the program and takes it to a winning season, then it was the right move.

"If it gets worse, then obviously it wasn't."

Vaughn said a national search for Gawlik's successor will begin immediately, and it's one many former players say was overdue.

After asking for his release in 2007, Josh Wymer - a starting pitcher for Virginia Tech this past season - publicly called for a coaching change. Ruben Shives Jr. and Chris Lozano echoed that call after this past season, saying the players, assistants and Gawlik simply weren't on the same page.

Gonzalez says he heard the talk but tried to stay out of it as he worked toward being drafted earlier this month, something that surprisingly didn't happen. And while he credits Gawlik for green-lighting his way to leading the nation in stolen bases, he also believes Gawlik could have done more to promote him.

"I didn't really notice how the coaches interacted with each other," Gonzalez said. "One of the reasons I was so successful the last two years is because I was focused on my goals and my things, and a lot of people on the team got caught up with that, which kind of hindered their performance, so I don't really know.

"The only thing I was disappointed about, for me, was the fact that I got no help from any of the coaches to get drafted or signed in any way. That's what my focus was on, and we weren't on the same page on that one."

Guerra, on the other hand, says the rift between players and coaches has existed for some time - an assertion supported by the high number of players asking for releases each season under Gawlik - and that it directly affected the Broncs' ability to win.

"That was going on," Guerra said. "We had players coming in from winning programs, junior colleges that won championships, and they just said, just from what they had experienced in the past compared to what they were experiencing at Pan Am, that they were different, and they knew it was different.

"And whenever the team and your head coach don't see eye to eye, you're going to have problems. If the team doesn't believe in what they're doing, then it's going to be hard to win like that."

Gawlik, who was a player on the 1971 team that advanced to the College World Series, has said he believes he's done everything he could for the Broncs.

He raised more than $400,000 for the cash-strapped program during the last six years, even spending much of his own money to pay for postseason awards and recruiting trips this past season, when he earned a base salary of $55,729.

Several of his players rank among the all-time individual leaders in program history, most prominently Louie Alamia, and nearly 20 have signed pro contracts, though none did this season.

"I love what I do," Gawlik said in May. "I have a passion for what I do. I love it here because I played here and went to school here, so I have a special place in my heart for this place. It means so much to me because I was here when all this tradition got started."

But in the end, Gawlik simply didn't do enough to further that tradition by winning games.

"All I can say is that I hope we have a winning season next year," Gonzalez said.

Jason McDaniel covers UTPA athletics for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442.