A highly acclaimed coach at the prep and collegiate levels, Mike Grahovac brings an exceptional wealth of baseball experience to the table in his first collegiate head coaching assignment.

In Grahovac's most recent coaching stint (2006-08), he led local prep power Orange Lutheran to a Trinity League title in 2008. Coach Grahovac and the Orange Lutheran program produced a total of five players who were drafted by Major League teams. The most notable draftee was Gerrit Cole, the top pick by the New York Yankees in 2008.

Grahovac had previously served as an assistant coach at Orange Coast Community College from 1992-98 and worked in law enforcement before returning to the diamond in 2006.

While he was on staff at Orange Coast, Grahovac spent the summer of 1996 as an assistant coach for the Alaska Goldpanners of the prestigious summer Alaska League, where he coached future major leaguers Michael Young, Jason Phillips and Jason Lane.

As a player, Grahovac was selected as a catcher in the fourth round of the 1989 draft by the San Francisco Giants, but sustained a career-ending injury in the minor leagues. Before being drafted, Grahovac earned a pair of all-conference honors while playing for Chapman.

Grahovac earned his undergraduate degree in movement and exercise science from Chapman in 1992, and completed his master's degree in education at Azusa Pacific in 1996.

Grahovac and his wife, Najla, live in Orange and have two children, Peyton (10) and Gavin (3).

A former player and coach at NCAA Div. I powerhouse Cal State Fullerton, Joe Turgeon begins his first year as a full-time assistant coach for head coach Mike Grahovac.

Turgeon's main duties are that of pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.

After playing five years (including one as a redshirt) as an outfielder for the Titans, who captured the NCAA national championship title in 2004, Turgeon spent the 2007 and 2008 campaigns as an assistant for head coaches George Horton and Dave Serrano.

Turgeon also spent the summer of 2007 as a pitching coach for the Texas Collegiate League's Duncanville Deputies.

He graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2006 with his bachelor's in kinesiology.

Turgeon is single and lives in Anaheim Hills.

Ryan Hanson begins his first year at Concordia as a graduate assistant coach. 

Hanson will coach first base and serve as head coach Mike Grahovac's catching instructor.

Hanson brings in experience at both the collegiate and independent levels, where he played catcher through the 2007 season in the Frontier League. He earned coaching experience as the first-base coach and catching instructor at Orange Coast College in 2004-05.

A nominee for the Johnny Bench Award at NCAA Div. I University of San Francisco, where he played in 2003-04, Hanson hit .329 with seven doubles and a pair of homeruns in his junior year, earning All-West Coast Conference honorable mention recognition.

Before spending the 2001-02 season at Orange Coast College, where he garnered all-conference honors, Hanson attended NCAA Div. I UNLV in 1999-2001, playing baseball and football and earning All-Mountain West Conference and Academic All-Conference honors on the gridiron.

Hanson prepped at Los Alamitos High School, where he threw for 3,100 yards as a quarterback and hit .407 as a two-year starting catcher.

Hanson is single.

 

 

Dave Bacani starts his first year as an assistant for head coach Mike Grahovac.

Bacani will serve as the infield coach in Grahovac's first year at the Concordia helm.

A standout at NCAA Div. I Cal State Fullerton, Bacani was the only player in Big West Conference history to earn four all-conference first-team selections, and was twice named All-American to go with an All-College World Series selection in 2001.

Bacani then went on to play seven years in the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox organizations, reaching the Triple-A level in the Mets' farm system. He ended a professional career where he was named to four All-Star teams at the Orange County Flyers in 2007-08.

Bacani, who served as an assistant coach at Orange Lutheran High School for Grahovac in 2008, also assisted at the varsity program for JSerra Catholic High School in 2007.

He returned to Cal State Fullerton in the fall of 2007 to finish his bachelor's degree in kinesiology with a focus in sports studies, and plans on earning the degree in May 2009.

Bacani and his wife, Jamie, currently live in Long Beach.

Rick Converse begins his first season as an assistant coach with the Concordia baseball program. Converse will serve as the outfield coach and will also work as a hitting instructor.

Converse spent the 2008 season with current Eagles head coach Mike Grahovac at Trinity League champion Orange Lutheran High School. Prior to the stint at Orange Lutheran, he coached at Villa Park High School and Mater Dei High School.

A veteran of the commercial lighting industry for over 20 years, Converse and his wife, Julie, have two daughters, Jadie (15) and Abbie (11).