COACH `COPPER' INVALUABLE TO USC'S GILLESPIE.

Byline: CHRIS COCOLES College Baseball 

Mike Gillespie fears one of these college baseball seasons will be his first in more than two decades without Rob Klein at his side. Not coaching first base, not doing USC's grunt work such as making travel arrangements, not working for Gillespie for a bargain-bin salary of zero dollars per hour.

``He has not made a dime,'' Gillespie said of Klein, whom the 16th-year Trojans head coach calls ``the best friend on earth. He's the best friend of everyone. Because that's what he is in life. He's a friend.''

Gillespie figures Klein, an unpaid USC assistant for 15 years (he was away from the program in 1993 and 1994 when his daughters were born), will give up his coaching gig to spend more time with wife Charleen, daughters Halie, 9, Marlena, 7, and son Wesley, 4. ``I think the clock's ticking. It'll be a good news, bad news deal when it comes,'' Gillespie said. ``But he loves doing this, being here. Certainly he loves USC baseball.''

Klein, who attended Crescenta Valley High of La Crescenta, played for Gillespie-coached College of the Canyons teams (1978-79) and assisted him at COC before being hired by Gillespie as a Trojans volunteer coach in 1988. In between, the former pitcher spent a year in the Angels' organization and became a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officer in 1982.

Klein, now a training sergeant who heads the staff at Men's Central Jail in Downtown L.A. (a short drive from USC), works night and early morning shifts, does overtime in the offseason and takes advantage of saved holidays used throughout the baseball season so he can attend games and travel on trips.

He'll use vacation days this week to accompany the Trojans to Stanford for the NCAA Super Regionals. USC is seeking a third consecutive trip to the College World Series. Klein was there in 1995 when the Trojans lost their opener and then came through the losers' bracket into the championship game. He was in Omaha three years later when USC won its 12th national title.

``I'm sitting in here in the dugout,'' he said Monday following USC's third consecutive NCAA Regional championship-game victory, ``after being here for 16 years. Twenty years ago I'd have said, 'I'm going to be an assistant coach at the University of Southern California for 15-plus years'? Wow.''

Klein was a competent pitcher for the Angels' rookie-level Pioneer League team in Idaho Falls, Idaho, in 1980, his only year as a pro player. He went 4-4 for a bad team and was the opening-night starter in his professional debut. But his turn in the rotation always landed on the day after the team made dreaded 13- to 16-hour bus rides from Idaho Falls to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, Canada. It was one of many factors prompting his retirement.

He traded a baseball career for a job in law enforcement. Coaching baseball was his way of staying in the game, which he can't give up now despite a family and juggling a demanding work schedule.

He spent eight years on patrol duty and endured ``my down times. The incidents we've had over the years'' such as the L.A. riots of 1992-93. But coaching the Trojans has been ``for a long time like a stress relief.''

When not protecting and serving, ``Copper,'' as he's known around Dedeaux Field, performs various duties that don't result in a paycheck but do earn a million-dollar debt of gratitude from his longtime boss and friend.

``I can't imagine who would do what he does,'' Gillespie said. ``It's come to the point now where we take him for granted.''

The Kleins live on five acres in Acton. Besides two dogs, their ``pets'' include five horses (Halie and Marlena participate in acrobatic riding competitions), two goats and a pot-bellied pig. Wesley ``runs the property'' and can usually be found scanning the grounds with a coat hanger digging up snakes like his favorite television show host ``The Crocodile Hunter.''

Charleen is the cleanup hitter in the Klein family. Rob knows her patience is tested between February and June, the length of a USC baseball season.

``It's a grind, but it's a fun grind,'' he said. ``From June to January, there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of `Yes dears.' ''

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There aren't enough hours in the day for Rob Klein, who works full time directing the staff at Men's Central County Jail and volunteers as an assistant to Mike Gillespie with the USC baseball team.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News