San Luis Obispo Blues General Manager announced today the hiring of Dan Marple as the new Blues Head Coach and Director of Baseball Operations.Marple, a California native, began his coaching career at Cuesta College in 1979. He was an assistant coach at Templeton high school for ten years and most recently coached baseball for the North County Indians, a semi-professional baseball team, from 2012 to 2014.Prior to a 26 year career with the California Highway Patrol, where he served Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Templeton, Marple’s baseball career began as a player for Huenemee High School where he was named to 1st team All-CIF as a senior in 1971. Later that year, he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles, but chose to attend Cal Poly on a baseball scholarship instead.After an MVP sophomore season for the Mustangs, Marple was again drafted by the Orioles organization where he spent three years playing professional baseball; reaching as high as AA with O’s. Upon his release, Marple returned to Cal Poly and completed his degree in Journalism.In 2016, the San Luis Obispo Blues saw the mid-season departure of Jamie Clark as Head Coach. The organization decided to move quickly in the pursuit of Marple. “Dan has always been high on our list,” said General Manager Adam Stowe. “He’s local and has ample experience in baseball, but most of all he cares about his players. All of those attributes are extremely important to us,” he added. We’re truly honored to have a gentleman of his caliber leading us into the 2017 campaign.”Marple currently resides in Paso Robles, CA, with his wife, Susan, of twenty-seven years. They have two sons and two daughters. Both sons played collegiate baseball and one went on to play in the Phillies Organization for 6 years in the minor league system.