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Murphy Su'a

Murphy Su’a begins his ninth full-time season as head coach of the Toros program, and 14th season overall at CSUDH.

Last season, the Toros said good-bye to a record 15 seniors who ended the season 23-26 overall and 17-23 CCAA. The 2014 squad produced one 1st-Team All-CCAA honor, three 2nd-Team All-CCAA honors and two honorable mention awards.

In 2013 the Toros improve earned one (1) All-America and three (3) All-Region honors.  In addition, two players in Ivory Thomas and Carlos Avila were drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, while Sean Wardour and Dimitri De la Fuente signed free agent contracts with the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively, to give the Toros 14 players drafted and 26 total sign professional contracts under Su'a's tutelage.

Su’a, 57, brings over 30 years of coaching experience and 25 years of field experience to the program.  He walked on and played two seasons at LA Valley College (1976-77) without ever playing baseball in high school. 

He then transferred to Brigham Young University where he was an NCAA Division I First-Team All-America selection in 1979. A First-Team All-Rocky Mountain Region and All-WAC selection, Su’a broke six Cougar single-season records for home runs, runs batted in, runs scored, doubles, total bases and at-bats. He was among the national leaders in home runs (22) and RBI (91) en route to leading BYU to the WAC Championship.
 
Su'a's Year-by-Year
Years ..Overall / CCAA (Finish)
2004* ..............10-37, 8-26
2007  .....15-36-1, 11-25 (8th)
2008  .......21-34, 16-20 (6th)
2009  !......34-23, 23-13 (4th) 
2010  !......41-20, 27-13 (2nd)
2011  .......24-25, 19-21 (7th)
 2012  .......14-34, 10-30 (11th)
 2013  .......24-25, 20-20 (6th)

8 yrs  ..173-197-1, 126-142 CCAA

! Advanced to NCAA West Regionals

* Su'a served as interim
head coach in 2004
 Coaching Honors
(2) CCAA Tournament Appearance
(2) NCAA West Region Appearance
(15) All-Americans
(3) West Region MVP's
(54) All-West Region
(1) CCAA Player of the Year
(1) CCAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year
(2) CCAA Newcomers of the Year
(32) All-CCAA Players
(12) CCAA Players of the Week
(4) CCAA Pitcher of the Week
(4) West Region Golden Glove
(2) National Golden Glove
(14) Players Taken in the MLB Draft
(26) Players Signed Professionally
Invited to try out for the USA National Team, Su’a instead elected to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1979 where he anchored third base for the Pioneer League Champions, Lethbridge Dodgers (Canada). He played for the Class-A Lodi Dodgers in 1980 and was recognized as the Dodgers’ minor league system “Player of the Week” in July 1980.

A hand injury ended a two-year stint with the Dodgers organization, pushing Su’a to sign with the Milwaukee Brewers where he played four more years before retiring. In August he was named the Brewers’ minor league “Player of the Month” and was selected to play on the Midwest All-Star team.

Su’a also brings 11 years international baseball experience where he played in numerous international tournaments including the Olympic trials, World Baseball Challenge, and the NBC World Series.  Su’a earned a gold medal in the BCO Championships and silver medals in the 1999 South Pacific Games and the 2000 Olympic qualifying tournament.

Su’a began his coaching career with the Brewers as a pitching coach for Paintsville in 1983 and was a player/coach/manager for the Brewers’ affiliate in Stockton, CA.  Coach Su’a served as the pitching coach at East Los Angeles CC for two years before taking over the assistant varsity coaching position at West Torrance HS under head coach Harry Jenkins where he helped guide the Warriors to six Bay League Championships and a No. 1 national ranking in 2000 with a record of 30-2.

In addition to his baseball accolades, Su’a was a junior golden gloves boxer, received a music scholarship for gifted musicians to the Californian Institute of Arts, holds a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, was a three-time karate grand champion, is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was the former CEO of Royal Pacific Express, Inc.  Su’a has three children, Justin, Natasha, and Travis, and seven grandchildren, Jarom, Aliitasi, Mya, Eliana, Marlee, Penina and Tevita. 

Son Justin was a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American pitcher at BYU in 2001, while Natasha was as a thrower for the BYU track and field team in 2004-05.  Travis played football and baseball at West Torrance HS, while wife Nina ran a marathon in Alaska and a sprint Ironman in Utah.

The Su'as reside in Torrance.

(August 2014)