1975 called and wants its gutty little 49ers back. You could sneak up on anybody and no one dared put a bull’s eye on your back. So with that stage set, let me begin by unfolding a long overdue napkin full of Niner Notes and Quotes.

We have a lot to cover so make sure you buckle up, put down your cell phone and accept most but not all of what you read.

Former Niner and Nipomo High star Jeff McNeil put together his finest collegiate baseball season this year at Long Beach State and yes, he is taking the money and running. Jeff was selected by the New York Mets in the 12th round of Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft (356th overall pick) after a fine season where the lefty hit .348 and started all 56 games as a junior for the Dirtbags. Jeff was the definition of versatile and played nearly every infield position during his time at LBSU but still is too slim for many, 6-foot-1, 165 pounds. He starts at the Mets’ rookie level team in Kingsport, Tenn.

Niner post player Ella Clark wrapped up the first round of group play with the Great Britain National Team today at EuroBasket Women 2013 in France and defeated Serbia and Latvia before falling to host and 2012 Olympic silver medalist France, which took first in group play. Ella did not appear in the team’s second round game which was a win over Croatia.

Now she can focus on helping the Niners try and improve in the Big West and then, who knows, maybe some coaching back in the UK. For example Kristy Curry is the new head coach of the Alabama women’s basketball team where she will earn $400,000 per year. The treat ‘em al well in Bama, Gymnastics coach Sarah Patterson, who has won six national championships at Alabama, is paid a total of $330,000 per year; Softball coach Patrick Murphy, who led the Crimson Tide to the 2012 national championship, is paid a total of $240,000 per year and women’s golf coach Mic Potter, who led Alabama to the 2012 national championship, is paid a total of $145,000. The big dog for women’s sports is the head Husky at Connecticut, Geno Auriemma who is the highest-paid coach in women’s basketball at in excess of 1.6 million per year.

Now if you want junior to play baseball he could learn the ropes and the hit and run in the Dirtbags Summer Baseball Camps which begin June 24-28 at LBSU Campus Field and has five one-week youth sessions for kids ages 6-13.

There are a myriad of camps on campus including the Young Writers camp but if you followed the recent career hiccup of talented sports info whiz Stephanie Sampson, who was dismissed b y the SAR brass after five months, you might not want to go into that line of work.

Baseball is safer. The Elias Sports Bureau says that Yasiel Puig tied MLB record for most RBI in 1st 5 games (10). A mark shared with Jack Merson and former Dirtbag Danny Espinosa.

The gang for Coach John Gonsalves 70th birthday party had 70 candles on the cake and 70 coasters on the bar at Dave’s in Seal Beach. A lot of the lads were from the pre-1989 teams.

The Detroit Tigers selected Vanderbilt left-handed pitcher Kevin Ziomek in the second round of the Draft. That assigned slot value for the 58th pick in the draft is $956,600. We tell you this because there is a LBSU connection to some of those big bucks. His first win this year was a 10-4 snuffing of the 49ers back on February 10! ICYMI, the Beach did contribute to the first Vandy loss of the season in the next game and the 11-0 win over UCLA was the Bruins worst loss of the year.

Richie “no hustle” Pedroza was around Titan land from the time he was 12 years old when his older brother was a freshman. Their web board says. “Its entertaining to read other coaches descriptions of Pedroza over the years.” Ironically the ESPN image of him not running out his last at bat still puzzle the Orange and Blue faithful. A good defender, he ends up with a .316 AVG, 97 BB and .400 OBP in his four-year career and although a mere 5-6 and 150 was picked in the 17th round by St. Louis.

This idea popped up as I watched the Super Regional at Florida State. I flashed back a couple decades to 1993 when an Indiana-like team named Long Beach State came into Tallahassee and swept the lassies and Central Florida, Mississippi State and Notre Dame in four straight wins. They beat UCF 11-6, beat Mississippi State 2-1, Florida State 4-1 and then pounded ND 13-5 to earn the Omaha airfare. The most outstanding player was the Dirtbags bookish John Swanson who has a nice career as a financial advisor.

At the CWS it was a wild ride. The Niners beat LSU 10-8 then had to play the Tigers again and lost 6-5 in a real heart breaker. Now of course, a trip to the post season would seem pretty tasty.
Juniors Taylor Crabb (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Connor Olbright (Orange, Calif.) continued to add to their postseason awards as they were both named NCAA Men’s All-Americans by Volleyball Magazine. Crabb was selected to the first team, while Olbright received second-team recognition.

Crabb recorded double-figure kills in 29 of 32 matches and was the only player in the country to surpass 500 kills on the year (502). The 6-foot outside hitter averaged 4.18 kills per set, which ranked third in the nation, and he was also among the top-10 in points (4.71/set) and hitting percentage (.353). In addition, Crabb posted 209 digs, 72 blocks and a team-high tying 23 aces. Earlier this year, Crabb was named the 2013 AVCA National Player of the Year.

How do you put a value on college education? Within the world of major college sports, you could look at the millions of dollars in bonus money available to coaches and athletics directors based on their teams’ academic performance. For example APR-related provisions are bringing bonuses of $150,000 to Colorado State football coach Jim McElwain and $100,000 to South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier. LSU football coach Les Miles missed out on one of the three ways he can get a $200,000 academic bonus because his team’s APR fell below 960 (it was 944, after four consecutive years of being at least 960); Miles still could get the bonus based on the team’s graduation rate or 50 percent, or a 940 two-year average APR for the 2014-15 postseason. Complete information on the 2013 APR Report can be found on the NCAA website.

Closing up the Napkin here is the breakdown of LBSU’s 2013 APR by Team:

Baseball – 970
Men’s Basketball – 969
Men’s Cross Country – 1000
Men’s Golf – 962
Men’s Indoor Track & Field – 977
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field – 965
Men’s Volleyball – 987
Men’s Water Polo – 961
Softball – 993
Women’s Basketball – 982
Women’s Cross Country – 969
Women’s Golf – 991
Women’s Soccer – 970
Women’s Tennis – 976
Women’s Indoor Track & Field – 966
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – 963
Women’s Volleyball – 970
Women’s Water Polo – 964

Not likely that there are any coaching bonuses at the Beach for passing the APR test. After all, the acronym of LBSU stands for “low budget state university.”—DR DAN