Gwynn

SAN DIEGO -- Tony Gwynn would like to be the baseball coach at his alma mater, San Diego State, when the job opens next spring.

Gwynn expressed interest in the job Tuesday, the strongest indication yet that this will be his final season in the big leagues after spending 20 years with the San Diego Padres.

If he got the job, he would coach at Tony Gwynn Stadium, and one of his outfielders would be his son, Anthony II, who just finished his freshman year.

"I'm not going to elaborate on my playing career, not right now," said Gwynn, an eight-time batting champion who has 3,124 hits. "Maybe later."

Gwynn spoke with reporters a few hours after San Diego State announced that Jim Dietz will return next season for his 31st season, and then retire.

"From the outside looking in, I think it would be a great opportunity," Gwynn said. "It would be a natural fit, a perfect fit for me."

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if this is Gwynn's last season. He just turned 41, is on the disabled list for the second time this season and is coming off a season when he played a career-low 36 games due to a sixth surgery on his left knee.

Unsure about his knee, the Padres put him through the wringer in negotiations last winter after Gwynn had filed for free agency for the first time. They finally agreed to an incentive-laden contract in which half of his $2 million salary is deferred.

Gwynn played both baseball and basketball at San Diego State, and was drafted by both the Padres and the then-San Diego Clippers on the same day in 1981.

Gwynn said there could be as many as 200 applicants for the job. He knows it would be a difficult switch from the status of being a big leaguer, and that people will wonder why he'd be interested.

"I bring a lot," Gwynn said. "I've been in this town for 25 years now, so I know that program inside and out and know the kids inside and out. I got ideas of my own, too.

"But there's not going to be a lot of coaches who can offer what I can offer, I can tell you that right now. They know it."

If Gwynn got the job, it would probably preclude him from playing next year because he would need to begin focusing on the job once Dietz's final season concluded.

Athletic director Rick Bay said it was "very encouraging for the program to have someone of Tony's prestige and reputation interested. Lord knows that with Tony's background at San Diego State and all he's achieved, he'd be a guy that I'd be very, very interested in talking to."

But Bay, a former president of both the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians, said state law requires a formal search. The job probably won't be posted until after school starts in the fall, after which the Aztecs would accept applications and interview candidates.

Dietz's contract will expire at the end of June 2002, and Bay would like to have his replacement on board before then. Bay would like to hire either a current college head coach or someone from professional baseball.

The job would pay between $80,000 and $100,000.

"People are going to look at it like a joke," Gwynn said. "No one who played the game and had as much success as I had usually goes coaches college or high school.

"So they're going to think, 'Why would you want to coach them?' Because that's what I love to do. I love to teach. That's what I do best. Along with hitting. With that comes a lot of anxiety and a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations. Some kids are going to say, 'Hey, he's going to make me into a contact hitter,' " Gwynn said, laughing. "It's a whole bunch of stuff."

Dietz has been under pressure because he failed to reach certain performance clauses that Bay put in his last contract.

Besides Gwynn, Dietz also coached Mark Grace, Dave Smith and Travis Lee.