Lyle Olsen, head baseball coach at San Diego State College, serves his first year as field manager of the Alaska Goldpanners in 1970 after a four-year tenure under H.A. 'Red' Boucher.

Assisting Olsen will be Jim Dietz of the University of Oregon, who is in his first year with the Goldpanners.  Dietz guided non-professional teams for the past half-dozen years in the Eugene, Ore., area and last summer brought the Pitchford Mack Bulldogs to Fairbanks for a series.

Olsen has served six years as head coach at San Diego State and has compiled a fine 132-110 record with the Aztecs.

Olsen played professional baseball for six years in the Los Angeles Dodger chain and reached St. Paul in the Class AAA American Association and Sacramento and Spokane of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.

Olsen holds a doctorate in physical education from Columbia University.  A native Californian, he did his undergraduate work at Chico State College where he received both his A.B. and M.A. degrees.

Prior to taking the SDS post, Lyle was assistant baseball coach at Queen's College in New York (1960-61) and assistant at Columbia University (1958-60) plus being head coach at Chico High School.

The 40-year-old Olsen, born in Oakland, is married to the former Elizabeth (Betty) Vanden Bosch of Rio Vista, Calif., and has three boys, Erik 17, Nels 14 and Leif 10.

Dietz, 30, has served two years as freshman baseball and basketball coach at Oregon where the two squads have compiled fantastic records.  This past season his cage team was 22-2 and the baseball squad 25-5.

Dietz is a 1960 graduate of Southern Oregon College where he earned three letters in baseball, basketball and track plus two in football.  He was an NAIA All-American in baseball at SOC and later played professional baseball in the Detriot Tigers organization.

He is a 1956 graduate of Eugene High School and holds a Master's Degree from U. of Oregon in counseling.

Jim coached at several high schools in Oregon before moving to the university and had outstanding success at each stop.

The personable coach is married to the former Carol Griffin of Fairbanks and they are expecting their first child later this year.