Rob Phillips, who guided Grossmont High to an unprecedented four consecutive San Diego Section baseball championships, has been named the 2008 Western United States Coach of the Year by the National High School Baseball Coaches Association.

Phillips is among eight individuals in the running for the organization's national Coach of the Year honor. The winner will be announced in December at the group's convention in Chicago.

Phillips, 48, stepped down in June after 12 years as coach at Grossmont, the only school in the section to win four straight baseball titles.

Winners of the Western BCA award – in its 16th year – include Rancho Bernardo's Sam Blalock (2000) and Mission Bay's Dennis Pugh (1996), now baseball coach at Cal State San Marcos.

Coaching vacancies

Scripps Ranch High is seeking a wrestling coach. Contact Athletic Director Dennis Morrow at (858) 621-8020, ext. 1116.

The next step

Former Mira Mesa High kicker Austin Turner has signed a football national letter of intent with Fayetteville State in North Carolina. Turner, a 2007 graduate of Mira Mesa, attended San Diego Mesa College last fall.