SAN DIEGO – James Clyde Dietz, San Diego State University’s head baseball coach from 1972 to 2002, died Sunday in Florence, Ore. He was 83.
He died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, his wife Carol told the San Diego Union-Tribune. After coaching the freshman basketball team and the junior varsity baseball team at the University of Oregon, Dietz was appointed as the head basketball coach at Lewis-Clark Normal School, now Lewis-Clark State College, in May 1971, but turned down that offer a week later to take the head baseball coaching position at San Diego State.Under Dietz, the Aztecs went to the NCAA Tournament eight times while winning the Western Athletic Conference five times and the Mountain West twice .
Former baseball player Rock Schloss joined KUSI’s Brandon Stone on “Good Evening San Diego” to discuss the legacy of Dietz.