Damon Minor Joins Baseball Staff

NORMAN, Okla. -- Head coach Sunny Golloway announced Tuesday that former Sooner and Major Leaguer Damon Minor will join the Oklahoma baseball staff as a volunteer coach for the 2007 season.

“I felt like I was at the end of my playing career and going back to my Alma Mater was a great opportunity,” said Minor. “It is an honor for Coach Golloway, Tadlock and Corral to allow me to come on board and help this program win championships. I am very excited to get started with the athletes and start teaching them everything I learned during my playing days.”

Minor, who played at Oklahoma from 1993-1996, most recently was playing in Japan for the Rakuten Eagles, where he battled injuries.

After helping OU win the 1994 National Championship and make a return trip to the College World Series in 1995, Minor, a 1996 All-America Honorable Mention, was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 1996.

With the Giants, the former Sooner played on the Major League level from 2000-04. He enjoyed his best season in 2002 when San Francisco won the National League Championship and advanced to the World Series. During that season, Minor saw time in 83 games and connected for 10 home runs 24 runs batted in.

“We look forward to the addition of Damon to our coaching staff not only because he played professional baseball, but because he is an OU alum,” said Golloway. “He brings a lot of experience to the table, including the aspect of understanding the professional side of the sport and what it takes to succeed at that level.”

Minor still ranks in the top 10 on several of OU's all-time career lists, including; games played (202), RBI (171), HR (39), extra-base hits (90) and walks (139). In his final two seasons, Minor hit over .340 and hit 24 home runs and drove in 106 runs.

“His ability to work with our hitters on a daily basis will provide a tremendous boost to our offense,” added Golloway. “I coached Damon for three years at Oklahoma and he always provided us with a power bat' in our lineup. We expect him to bring that same aspect of the game to this team as a coach.”

The hiring of Minor fills the void left from former volunteer assistant Andrew McGuire. The Sooner outfielder from 2003-04, was on the OU coaching staff for the past two seasons as a student assistant in 2005 and volunteer assistant in 2006. McGuire left Norman to be an assistant coach at Texas-Pan American.

“The coaches are extremely excited for Andrew to take on the full-time position,” said Golloway. “This is a great opportunity for him to gain valuable experience in Division I baseball on Willie Gawlik's staff.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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