Sept. 6, 2007
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State softball coach Kathy Van Wyk announced Thursday the hiring of Steve Miner as an assistant coach at SDSU. Miner brings 24 years of coaching experience to The Mesa and will begin his duties immediately with the Aztecs.
"We're very excited to have the experience that Steve brings to the program," Van Wyk said. "He'll have an immediate impact by helping out with the infield and working with our (slap-hitters)."
Miner has been a head coach at the collegiate level for four years and has two decades worth of experience at the high school ranks. He coached Alliant International (then U.S. International) in 1983 and was a three-year coach at Southwestern College (1998-2000), where he led the squad to two state regional berths.
Miner's success at the high school level has been even more impressive. Over his 20 seasons as a head coach, Miner's teams have gone 206-84 (.710). During that span, he guided his teams to 11 league championships, three CIF championships and three CIF runner-ups.
Miner, a 1970 San Diego State grad who played freshman basketball (1965-66) and volleyball (1967-69) for the Aztecs, played fast-pitch softball at the national level for 23 years and has been a part of three national runner-up teams (1979, 1991-92), as well as two third-place squads (1991 and 1994).
At the national level, Miner was a four-time All-American (1979, 1988-90), a seven-time Western Softball Congress all-league selection (1975-81) and the 1975 AAA San Diego Player of the Year. In addition, he set the WSC batting average record in 1979 and batted a national tournament record .793 in 1988.
Miner may be best known in the softball world as the first player to try the crossover slap-hitting at the men's national fast-pitch level, a technique that is widely used in the women's game today. In fact, last year's Aztecs had six slap-hitters on the team.
Miner has also had success as a high school football coach with various schools in San Diego County. He led Clairemont High School to five consecutive CIF playoffs and a 1981 CIF championship. As an offensive coordinator at Kearny High School, Miner helped the team win four league championships, five CIF playoff berths and a runner-up finish in the CIF championship game in 1990. Since 2004, Miner has been an assistant coach with Madison High, after leading the school to a 2002 league championship as a head coach.
Miner, who earned his masters at Azusa Pacific in 1978, retired in June after teaching high school math for 35 years.
Miner and his wife, Maureen, have been married for 39 years and have one daughter, Amy.