Central Catholic tabs MJC assistant Ayala to be new head baseball coach

Danny Ayala has more than a little experience dealing with legends.

A 1997 graduate of Beyer High School, Ayala played for Paul Cornwell, who coached the Patriots for nearly 40 years.

And as an assistant coach at Modesto Junior College the past seven seasons, he’s worked closely with Bo Aiello and Jerry Streeter, two former MJC skippers still on the Pirates’ staff with more than 50 combined years of coaching experience in Modesto.

Next season, Ayala will be filling the shoes of yet another legend … former Central Catholic baseball coach Mike Glines, who stepped down after nearly two decades on the job.

“Coach Glines is one of the most well-known coaches in this area,” said Ayala, 36, an adaptive physical education instructor at MJC. “He’s established traditions at Central Catholic that I want to remain the same.”

Most notably, winning.

Under Glines, the Raiders won 11 section championships – 10 in a row from 2000-09 – and won 400 of 483 games. Ayala and Glines have been in contact and there remains the possibility that the former Raiders coach will remain with the program in some capacity.

“He’s got an energy that I think is going to help us out a little bit,” said Central Catholic athletic director Billy Hylla. “He has a demeanor, a quiet confidence, that when he walks into a room he kind of gets your attention.”

In addition to coaching at MJC, where his work focused mainly on dealing with the defense for both infielders and outfielders, Ayala has been instrumental in the success of the NorCal Valley travel baseball program as its general manager. Over the past three years, more than a dozen players from the club have signed to play professionally or with Division I universities.

“He has a lot of experience in this area,” said MJC head coach Zeb Brayton. “He coached seven years with us and when you couple that with his academy stuff, he brings a lot to the table. He knows how to develop young players and get the most out of them, and to me, that’s what it’s all about.”

Hylla declined to divulge how many applicants there were for the job but said the pool was whittled down to three really strong candidates that were interviewed by a hiring committee.

“Whenever we have to make a hire I try to put myself in the kids’ shoes and ask myself, ‘Would I like to play for this coach?’” said Hylla. “Danny has a lot of that. He’s somebody I would’ve enjoyed playing for.”

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Central Catholic tabs MJC assistant Ayala to be new head baseball coach."