USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux; at 91

LOS ANGELES -- Rod Dedeaux, who coached the University of Southern California to a record 11 NCAA baseball championships and turned out a parade of future major leaguers, died Thursday. He was 91.

Mr. Dedeaux, who coached the Trojans for 45 years before retiring in 1986, died in suburban Glendale of complications from a stroke that he had on Dec. 2, the school said.

Nearly 60 USC players Mr. Dedeaux coached went on to major league careers, including Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Tom Seaver, Dave Kingman, Fred Lynn, and Roy Smalley.

Mr. Dedeaux had a record of 1,332-571-11, the most wins in Division 1 history until Cliff Gustafson of the University of Texas at Austin surpassed him in 1994. Mr. Dedeaux's record now ranks seventh among Division 1 coaches. He had a winning percentage of .699.

Mr. Dedeaux had winning seasons in 41 of his 45 years with the Trojans. During one stretch, USC went 37 years without a losing season.

The Trojans's national championships included five in a row from 1970-74 -- no other school has won more than two straight -- and they won 28 conference titles under him. A number of baseball publications named Mr. Dedeaux ''Coach of the Century."

''Rod not only was college baseball's greatest coach, he was the sport's and USC's greatest ambassador," said current USC baseball coach Mike Gillespie, an outfielder on Mr. Dedeaux's 1961 national championship team.