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Buck
Taylor
Head
Coach
Begins 10th year at Palomar,
5th as head coach in 2010
A.A., MiraCosta
College, 1992; B.S.,San Francisco State University,
1995, M.A., Azusa Pacific University, 2001
Buck Taylor will be entering his 10th season on the
Palomar baseball staff and his fifth as head coach
during the upcoming season. During the 2009 season,
Taylor guided the Comets to another Pacific Coast
Conference championship, a school-record 36 wins, final
regular-season rankings of No. 1 in Southern California,
No. 1 on the Pacific Coast (California / Oregon /
Washington) and No. 6 in the nation.
Palomar (36-13) advanced to
the championship game of one of two Southern California
community college Super Regional tournaments and
finished the 2009 season ranked No. 11 in the country.
Taylor's Comets have won two
conference titles in his four seasons as head coach. He
was named the American Baseball Coaches Association /
California Community College Athletic Association state
baseball Coach of the Year for 2008. He's also been
honored as Pacific Coast Conference baseball Coach of
the Year in both 2006 and 2009 and was selected as PCC
Coach of the Year for all men's sports for the
2008-09 academic year.
Taylor has a
four-year record of 118-68 as Palomar's head coach, an
average of 29.5 wins per season. He became the first coach in the
history of the Pacific Coast Conference to be named
conference Coach of the Year in his initial season of
2006, and he recorded his 100th victory on March 14 when
the Comets defeated Mt. San Antonio 5-3 at Mt. SAC.
Taylor formerly was
associate head coach on Bob Vetter's staff. During that
time period, the Comets captured three PCC titles and,
in 2005, won the conference title, the Southern
California Super Regionals and advanced to the
California Community College Final Four in Fresno,
finishing as runners-up to Santa Rosa.
Taylor
originally joined the Palomar staff as catching coach
and also has served as pitching coach, was elevated to
associate head coach and ran the offense on Vetter's
staff.
Prior to
coming to Palomar, Taylor was an assistant coach and
later co-head coach at his alma mater, San Francisco
State University, from 1995-2000.
Taylor
played and managed professionally in Vienna,
Austria, for the Vienna Lions, guiding the Lions to a
championship in 1996. He also was an assistant coach for
the Austrian National Team. He played two seasons at San
Francisco State as a catcher and middle infielder. Prior
to that, he played on the community college level at
Rancho Santiago (now Santa Ana College) and for the late
John Seeley at MiraCosta College. He prepped at Carlsbad
High School, helping the Lancers to a CIF-San Diego
Section championship
in 1989.
Taylor
currently is an associate scout for the Baltimore
Orioles and is an adjunct professor in the Department of
Health and Physical Education at Palomar.
He received
his M.A. degree in physical education and sports
administration from Azusa Pacific University,
his B.S. degree in kinesiology from San Francisco State
iand his A. A.. degree from MiraCosta College.
Taylor and
his wife, Natasha, have two daughters, Finley and
Avery, and reside in Temecula. Taylor enjoys surfing
and playing golf.
e-mail:
ctaylor2@palomar.edu
Ben
Adams
Hitting, Infield Coach
6th year at Palomar in 2010
A.A., Big Bend (Wash.)
Community College; B.S., Eastern Oregon
University, 1999; M.A., Western Michigan University
Ben
Adams will be entering his sixth season as an assistant coach for
Palomar baseball. He serves as hitting and infield
coach. While under Adams, the Comets have led the
Pacific Coast Conference in batting average (2005, 2009) and
fielding percentage (2005-06-07-09). This was
highlighted by the 2007 squad which led the state with
a .980 percentage.
Prior
to Palomar, Adams was Assistant Head Coach at NCAA
Division I Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana,
from 2001-2004. Adams also coached in the Division III
ranks at Kalamazoo College (1999-2000).
Adams has worked numerous
baseball camps at Stanford University, the University of
Kansas, and Western Michigan University.
Adams
began his collegiate playing career at Big Bend
Community College in Moses Lake, Washington. from
1994-1996. He moved on to Eastern Oregon University in
LaGrande, Oregon where he played from 1997-1999.
He
holds a B.S. degree in health / physical education from
Eastern Oregon University and an M.A. degree in physical
education from Western Michigan University.
Adams
also serves as an adjunct physical education instructor
at Palomar.
Troy
Afenir
Assistant Coach / Bullpen Coach
1st year on Palomar coaching
staff in 2010
Troy Afenir,
who came out of Palomar to play catcher in the Major Leagues
with the Houston Astros, Oakland A's and Cincinnati Reds,
joined coach Buck Taylor's Palomar coaching staff on Sept.
21, 2009.
Afenir
broke into MLB on Sept. 21, 1987 with the Astros and played
his final Major League game for the Reds on July 10, 1992.
An outstanding defensive catcher, he made only one error in
192 chances in limited action in the Major Leagues and had a
.992 career fielding percentage.
He was
one of four brothers who played baseball for the Comets and
then went on to play either NCAA Division I baseball,
professional baseball or both. Older
brother Steve Afenir, an outfielder for the Comets and now
head coach at Escondido High School, was Troy Afenir's
teammate on Palomar's 1982 team and went on to play for the
University of Wyoming. Younger
brother Ricky Afenir, father of current Palomar freshman
infielder Tye Afenir, played third base for the Comets and
for BYU. Younger
brother Tom Afenir caught for both Palomar and for the
University of Mississippi and later played in the Cleveland
Indians farm system.
Troy
Afenir was the second player taken in the nation in the old
Winter draft (by the Chicago Cubs) in January, 1982, prior to his
freshman season at Palomar. He later was drafted by the
Cubs again and then by the Houston Astros, in
the first round of the June 1983 supplemental draft following his
sophomore season. He turned down a scholarship from Oral
Roberts, his No. 1 four-year college choice, to sign a
professional contract.
Afenir
was a California Community College all-state selection and a
community college All-American under
Hall of Fame coach Bob Vetter for the Comets as a sophomore in 1983. He
still ranks fourth in home runs on Palomar's all-time
single-season list (13 in 1983), is tied for first on the
Palomar list for home runs in conference games (10, also in
1983) and is fifth on Palomar's career home run list (16, in
an injury-shortened freshman season in 1982, and his
sophomore season of 1983).
Afenir is
married to the former Kim Carter, who played softball at
Palomar under coach Mark Eldridge. Their son, Austin, is a
junior catcher at Escondido High. Afenir's nephew Buck
Afenir, the son of older brother Steve, caught for the
University of Kansas and is currently playing in the New
York Yankees farm system.
Rich
Graves
Outfield Coach; First-Base Coach
4th year at Palomar in 2010
A.A.,
College of the
Sequoias; B.S., Fresno State University, 1972; M.A.,
University of LaVerne
Rich Graves
iwill be in his fourth season on the Palomar staff in
2010 after 32 years at
Martin Luther King High School in Riverside and
Riverside Poly High School. winning 426 games as a head
coach and 10 league championships. Under Graves, the M.L.
King Wolves and Riverside Poly Bears made 20
CIF-Southern Section playoff appearances. Graves' 1998
Poly team was Southern Section runner-up. At Poly,
Graves coached Greg Myers, a third-round draft pick of
the Toronto Blue Jays in 1984 who went on to play 19
years in the Major Leagues with the Blue Jays,
California Angels, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, San
Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A's.
Graves, a
San Diego native who began his high school baseball
career at Lincoln High School and later played for Morse
High School, played baseball on the community college
level at College of the Sequoias, served a stint in the
U.S. Air Force and earned an A.A. degree from COS, a
B.A.degree from Fresno State and an M.A. degree from the
University of La Verne. He's been as associate scout for
the Kansas City Royals since 1993 and, prior to that,
was an associate scout for the San Francisco Giants.
Graves and
his wife Barbara live in Oceanside. Son Ryan Graves
played Division I college baseball for Loyola Marymount
University and Oklahoma State and currently is the
pitching coach at the University of Kansas.
Sean Rees
Pitching Coach
1st year returning to Palomar in 2010
Sean Reese, a first-team
All-American pitcher for Arizona State University in
1990, returns for his second stint as the Comets'
pitching coach in 2010. He replaces Tyler Kincaid, who
stepped down as the Palomar pitching coach after the
2009 season to accept a position as the pitching coach
at the University of San Diego.
The left-handed Mission Bay
High School product pitched for the Sundevils during the
1989, 1990 and 1991 seasons and was selected as Pac-10
Player of the Week six times, setting an ASU school
record. In his most memorable performance for the Sun
Devils, he struck out 17 batters against Cal on March 9,
1990.
Reese was selected by the
Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the 1991 draft,
the 137th player taken. He pitched three seasons of
minor league baseball, compiling a 3.18 earned run
average for the San Bernardino Spirit of the California
League in 1991 and winning 10 games for Peninsula of the
Class A Carolina League in 1992.
While at ASU, Rees pitched
for the Alaska Goldpanners in the Alaska Summer League.
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