Steve Aggers, a former Loyola Marymount University men’s basketball coach, has become the athletic director at West Los Angeles College.
The position has been part-time in the recent past, but the hiring of Aggers on a full-time basis illustrates the commitment West LA President Mark Rocha is making to athletics. Rocha has stated a goal of making the college more visible through athletics in order to increase enrollment from its present 9,000 to 18,000 in five years.
“I have been here for a week and have rolled up my sleeves and gone to work,” said Aggers. “In addition to bringing back baseball in January following a 21-year absence, we’re adding women’s soccer and volleyball next fall.
“We want to build successful athletic programs with integrity that are based on academics first.”
Chris Caminiti, who was WLA’s athletic director in 2006, was also head football coach at St. Monica High in the afternoons.
Aggers became head coach at Loyola in 2000, taking over a team that had won just two games the previous season. Following four years he was given a new two-year contract, but a year later was replaced by Rodney Tention.
Previously, Aggers was an assistant to Tom Asbury at Pepperdine in 1990. When Asbury left to become head coach at Kansas State Aggers went with him. One year later, Aggers became head coach at Eastern Washington and has won more games than any coach in that school’s basketball history.
In another WLA College development, the baseball team has begun practicing at Westchester’s Babe Ruth Field because renovation of West LA’s field is behind schedule.
If the field isn’t ready for the scheduled January 29 opening game the Oilers will play early season road games until it is available.
