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Chip Hale didn’t return to the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to advance his career. He didn’t come back to his alma mater to prove he could lead a team. This isn’t a rebound relationship for a former major-league manager looking for another shot.

Hale is one of the all-time great Wildcats — their career leader in games, at-bats, hits, walks and total bases. If you pricked his finger, it likely would bleed red and blue.

Hale wanted to come back so he could give back. As UA catcher Daniel Susac noted, Hale didn’t have to take this job last summer. He already had a major-league gig. He had been a coach at the highest level for 15 straight years and probably could have remained one as long as he so desired.

“That’s something that was a big priority to him,� Susac said, “giving back to his school and his community. He is a Wildcat at heart, and that means a lot.�

On the July day that Hale was reintroduced to the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ community, athletic director Dave Heeke emphasized the importance of being excited and passionate “about being at the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.â€�

“This is a great place, and great things can happen here if people invest in it,� Heeke said. “Taking it for granted as just a place, a quick stop, ‘Hey, if it works, that’d be great,’ we don’t want that.�

Heeke didn’t name names, but the conversation came in the context of Hale succeeding Jay Johnson, who had left ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to become the coach at LSU. No one could question Johnson’s devotion to his job while he was here; he worked tirelessly to make UA baseball the best it could be, and the Wildcats advanced to the College World Series twice in five tries under his stewardship.

But when something he perceived to be better came along, Johnson couldn’t resist the urge to take on the challenge. Which is OK. He was under no obligation to stay, and he left the program in a better state than when he arrived.

Hale has no such ambitions. He turned 57 in December. If all goes well, this job likely will be his last in baseball. He has a simple goal.

“It’s about the program being successful,� Hale said, “and raising it even higher than where it is right now.�

Major, minor adjustments

Just because you played for a school and care deeply about it doesn’t guarantee you’ll succeed as its coach. Even Hale, who said it’s been a “blast� to be back, conceded as much.

“We haven’t played one game yet,� said Hale, whose team opens the season Feb. 18. “So we’ll see how that goes.�

Hale’s appointment was met with a degree of skepticism because he had one hole in his otherwise sterling résumé: no experience as a college coach. No one questioned whether he knew or could teach baseball. But in college, in every sport, it’s as much about recruiting as coaching. You need a game plan for both.

Hale knew he would face a learning curve in that area, so he hired a staff consisting almost entirely of college coaches. And when it came to recruiting, he jumped right in.

“The presumption is that he’s coming from Major League Baseball, so maybe some of the minutiae is going to be lost,� said pitching coach Dave Lawn, the lone holdover from Johnson’s staff. “There’s people, I’m certain, who are saying that on the outside, and what I would say is they’re (wrong).

“It’s been completely the opposite of what somebody might think. He gets the job on a Monday, he’s doing a press conference on Tuesday and then he’s like, ‘OK, where am I going on Wednesday?’�

Lawn’s timeline was slightly off; Hale got the job on a Monday and met the media on a Wednesday. But you get the point.

Another one: Why would coming from the pros be a liability? ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has billed itself as a “MLB training ground.â€� It’s where every player wants to go. Who better to get them there than Hale, who has operated in the player-development space for most of his career?

In the fall, when Hale and his staff began planning practices, his assistants told him what needed to be shown to the players: how to use J-Bands to get loose, how to play catch.

“So it’s just like the lower levels of the minor leagues,� observed Hale, who began his coaching career in the Diamondbacks’ farm system.

The staff confirmed as much.

“Oh, OK,� Hale said. “Sweet.�

Drawn to coaching, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

The biggest challenge for the former major-league manager and coach is carving out enough time. Instructional opportunities are limited by NCAA rules. There are no such restrictions in the pros.

But if anyone appreciates what it means to be a student-athlete, it’s the son of two educators.

Hale’s mother, Yvonne, was a teacher. His father, Walter, was a superintendent of schools.

Yvonne was the only child of a baseball fan, and she passed that fandom on to her son. “Every single day when I was a kid, we had the San Francisco Giants on the radio,� said Hale, who grew up in Moraga, about 15 miles east of Oakland.

Hale’s favorite player was All-Star shortstop Chris Speier, who later would precede him as manager of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Sidewinders. Hale played multiple sports at Campolindo High School and planned to attend the U.S. Naval Academy.

But some big-time schools were recruiting him to play baseball, including USC and ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. The Wildcats had won two College World Series championships under Jerry Kindall. Hale came to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ on a recruiting trip in the spring of 1983. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ was facing UCLA. Thousands of fans packed what was then known as Wildcat Field.

“The energy was unbelievable,� Hale said. “I just fell in love with the place.�

Hale thrived under Kindall and his staff. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ won another national title in 1986. Hale, a left-handed-hitting infielder, was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 1987 amateur draft. He played seven seasons in the majors, batting .277 with a .346 on-base percentage.

Even before his playing career was over, mangers would tell Hale that he should go into coaching. Was that a compliment or an insult?

“They were trying to give me some good advice,� he said.

Hale had a finance degree and considered a post-playing career in real estate.

“But in my heart of hearts,� he said, “I knew that I loved to coach.�

So began the second chapter of Hale’s professional life. He was drawn to coaching, which, at its core, is teaching. He was drawn to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, which he made his offseason home.

Now it’s year-round, all-encompassing, all Wildcats all the time. Hale even attends early-morning weightlifting sessions with the team. Again, it’s not something he has to do; it’s something he wants to do.

Susac said Hale has fostered a sense of unity within the program, which was thrown into limbo following Johnson’s departure — which came just days after ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ was ousted from the CWS.

Johnson took some talented players with him but left behind plenty. The Wildcats are a consensus preseason top-25 team. They will contend for the postseason in 2022.

Only once in the past 60 years have the Cats gone to Omaha in consecutive seasons — the 1985 and ’86 squads featuring Hale. Can he do it again?

Hale never would look at it that way. The question isn’t whether he can. It’s whether they can.

“Jay did a wonderful job,� Hale said. “(He) was very close to winning a national championship and then got back to Omaha this past year.

“We want to continue on with that tradition and win another national championship. It’s very, very important to me that we get those things done.�