Steve Tobias, who has managed the Ventura College athletic department as dean for the past 13 years, announced his retirement Thursday after school President Robin Calote reassigned him from physical education and athletics.

Tobias, 61, has worked in the department as an instructor, coach and dean for the past 37 years. He was scheduled to retire in June 2009.

"It was the only place I've ever worked," Tobias said.

Tobias wrote a letter to The Star to explain his retirement, describing the experience as being "shoved overboard" from the Pirates' ship.

"Based upon President Calote's decision I have decided to retire after 37 years at Ventura College," Tobias wrote. "It has become increasingly clear over the past few months that President Calote has lost confidence in my ability to lead the athletic department and it is certainly within her prerogative as president to reshape her management team in any way she desires."

Coupled with the resignation of co-athletic directors Greg Winslow and Nancy Fredrickson over the past four months, Tobias' reassignment completes the turnover of the department's brain trust seven months after the Ventura County Community College District and the Ventura County District Attorney's Office opened an ongoing investigation of the department.

"When I look back on the many issues that have impacted the athletic department over the past few years, the inability to provide a full-time, independent athletic director after the retirement of Dick James in 2003 significantly contributed to an instability that I could not correct," Tobias said.

Calote said the school would immediately begin the search for his successor.

"He will remain in place until a new dean is on board," Calote said. "We will be advertising the position through our normal district channels."

Tobias helped build stadium

Calote praised Tobias for his work on constructing the school's athletic facilities and for his ability to enlist community support.

The school is scheduled to play its first football game on its Telegraph Road campus this fall in its $8 million Sportsplex. Tobias spent Wednesday night enjoying the stadium's new video board, built with part of the more than $500,000 in corporate funding he raised over the past two years.

Yet Calote's decision to reassign Tobias indicates a willingness to create a new management structure in the department. The primary emphasis of Tobias' successor will be "a more hands-on" supervision of athletics, according to Calote.

"We've got some real issues," Calote said. "If we're going to make any progress, we need to get moving. It's been a very challenging year."

Tobias' new responsibilities would have included working with the school's executive vice president, Ramiro Sanchez, on a series of projects, including assisting with the college's accreditation, working on the college's strategic plan and the training of new managers.

Tobias wanted to stay

Tobias wanted to be part of the athletic department's new structure.

"It is with sadness that I leave the college at this particular time since there is still much to do in so many areas of our athletic and instructional endeavors," Tobias wrote.

"The closing of my life as a Pirate is difficult. I always imagined that I would be able to steer the ship to shore successfully one final time and to leave Ventura College on my own terms.

"To be shoved overboard caught me by surprise, but rest assured, I can swim."

He will meet with the district's retirement counselor today to find a suitable retirement date this summer.

"My hope is that it will be within 60 days," Tobias said.

A 2005 inductee into the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame, Tobias played football and baseball for Ventura College from 1965 to 1967.

After four years at Sacramento State, he returned to the school as a 23-year-old assistant baseball coach in 1971 and never left, winning Western State Conference titles as a head women's track coach and baseball and football assistants.

On the baseball diamond, Tobias coached Gary Anglin and Don Adams, who, at 31 and 29 years, respectively, succeed him as the senior members of the department.

"To me, he has been one of the biggest assets to Ventura College in my years as both a student athlete and an employee," Anglin said. "I certainly hope the school, the athletic department and the community remember the great things he did for Ventura College."