Van Lue Is Likely Choice as El Camino Baseball Coach

Nick Van Lue, who guided Narbonne High to its first L.A. City Section baseball title a month ago, is expected to be approved as the new baseball coach at El Camino College today by the school’s Board of Directors.

Van Lue has already been selected by the El Camino athletic department, according to sources.

Van Lue will replace Glen LeVier, who was not rehired after coaching El Camino to a 27-48-1 record in two seasons. The Warriors were 13-27 overall and 8-16 in the South Coast Conference last season.

Taking over a struggling program is nothing new for Van Lue. Narbonne had one of the South Bay’s poorest baseball programs when he became coach in 1989, but in three seasons he transformed the Gauchos into champions.

Narbonne (22-7) won the City 3-A Division title May 24 with a 5-1 victory over Franklin at Dodger Stadium. It was the school’s first City title in any sport since 1980, when the football team tied Van Nuys in the 3-A final.

Van Lue was named The Times South Bay Coach of the Year.

Before coaching at Narbonne, Van Lue was an assistant at Harbor College, San Pedro High and El Segundo High. He worked with three of the South Bay’s all-time winningest coaches at those schools--Jim O’Brien at Harbor, Jerry Lovarov at San Pedro and John Stevenson at El Segundo.