USC parts ways with baseball coach Jason Gill after three seasons
USC has parted ways with baseball coach Jason Gill after three seasons, the school announced Monday morning.
Gill was hired by former athletic director Lynn Swann in June of 2019 after 11 seasons as the head coach at Loyola Marymount. The hope was that his recruiting connections in California and his pedigree -- having played under legendary college baseball coach Augie Garrido at Cal State Fullerton, as well as longtime coach George Horton, who he would later coach under there -- could help rejuvenate a proud but long languishing Trojans programs.
"I promise you that we will win here and we will win big here. That's going to happen. I know it is," Gill told TrojanSports.com a month into the job.
Instead, USC went 60-59 over three seasons with Gill, including a 25-28 record this year, and continued to remain outside the national spotlight, now having made the NCAA tournament just once in the last 17 years (there was no tournament in 2020 due to the pandemic).
"We are thankful to Jason for his three years of service to our university and baseball program," USC athletic director Mike Bohn said in a statement. "Jason's first season at USC was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and that created a difficult environment to navigate in the ensuing two years. We appreciate that Jason led us through those challenging circumstances. However, we ultimately determined it was in our shared best interest to part ways at this time. We wish Jason and his family all the best moving forward."
The official news release also included a quote from Gill: "I enjoyed my time at USC and appreciated the opportunity to lead its baseball program. I am excited to see what the future holds for me and my family, and I wish the players and the program the best."
The USC baseball program has won more national championships -- 12 -- than any other in the country, but the last of those came in 1998 under Mike Gillespie, who succeeded Trojans legend Rod Dedeaux. Since Gillespie's tenure ended in 2006, USC has gone through four coaches with just two winning seasons (plus Gill's 10-5 mark during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign). The Trojans lone NCAA regionals appearance in the last 17 seasons came in 2015.
USC will begin a national search for a new head coach immediately, the news release said.
"We believe in the promise of USC baseball, and our expectation is to compete for national championships," Bohn said. "We are determined to restore the unrivaled winning tradition of our program, and we will make the necessary commitments to ensure we successfully recruit an elite leader for our baseball program."
