Rob Dibble is best known for his blazing fastball and larger-than-life personality as one of the Nasty Boys. Now he'll try to cultivate some of that flair in high school athletes after the former Cincinnati Reds World Series winner was named head coach at Calabasas (Calif.) High.
Dibble's head coaching role is the latest step in an evolution that has seen him go from player to color commentator for the Washington Nationals to, now, a hybrid head baseball coach and radio show host. According to Calabasas Patch, Dibble will continue to host the radio show "Fox Sports Tonight" from Monday through Friday each week while he leads the Calabasas baseball program.
"I have lived and breathed baseball for 40 years, and I hope to take the many things I have learned from my dad to my high school coach to the many coaches at the major-league level and give everything I can to the Calabasas baseball program," Dibble said in a statement released to the press. "This next season will be all about the young men who will play here and the experiences we will share on and off the field.
"This had been a dream of mine for a long time, I just wish the season started today."
Luckily for Dibble, the season is still nearly a full year away, giving him plenty of time to prepare for his first job in charge of an entire squad. The former MVP of the 1990 NLCS spent the past two seasons as a coach of the Westlake (Calif.) Oaks Christian High squad.
While most teams would have a period of adaptation to a coach as famous as Dibble, that likely won't be the case at Calabasas. As noted by Calabasas Patch, the school previously had former AL Cy Young winner Bret Saberhagen as an assistant coach in 2006 and 2007.
Naturally, Saberhagen and Dibble were very different characters. Now, Dibble will get a chance to see if his nasty streak can help resuscitate a program that slipped through a rough 8-19 season in 2012. If he can't, it certainly won't be for lack of enthusiasm.
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