LOS ANGELES – Jason Gill, who has College World Series experience as both a player and coach, and most recently guided Loyola Marymount to the brink of a 2019 NCAA Super Regional appearance, has been named USC baseball’s head coach, announced Trojan Athletic Director Lynn Swann today (June 14).
“We are very excited to welcome Jason Gill to the Trojan family as the head coach of USC baseball,” said Swann. “Our desire was to get someone who can elevate USC baseball back into the postseason and help the team once again compete for a College World Series title.
“College baseball has some unique challenges with the roster size and the number of scholarships, and with recruits being drafted out of high school. We wanted someone familiar with those challenges. We also wanted someone with a history of putting together a staff that can consistently prepare players to not only succeed in the college game, but at the next level as well. All of those things led us to Coach Gill and to inviting him to lead our program forward.”
Said Gill: “I would like to thank Lynn Swann and the USC administration for their belief in me as the next head baseball coach at USC. I am looking forward to building on the traditions established by the great players and coaches from the most storied college baseball program in the country. USC’s commitment to winning championships while providing a top tier education is unmatched. I am extremely excited and can’t wait to get started.”
Gill comes to USC after 11 seasons at Loyola Marymount, where he posted a 322-286-1 (.530) overall record. This past year, he led the Lions to a 34-25 record and into the NCAA postseason, with LMU reaching the final of the Los Angeles Regional after wins over Baylor and UCLA, before narrowly falling to the top-seeded Bruins.
Gill’s LMU teams have made the West Coast Conference Tournament (top four teams in the conference) five of the last six years, with the Lions winning the tournament title this past season and a regular season title in 2017.
He has made a total of four trips to Omaha as a player and coach, reaching the College World Series as a player with Cal State Fullerton in 1994 and then returning as an undergraduate assistant under legendary coach Augie Garrido with the Titans’ 1995 National Championship squad. Gill later served under George Horton as an assistant coach at his alma mater, helping to lead the Titans to CWS appearances in 2006 and 2007. In total, Gill has been to the postseason nine times as a coach.
Known as an outstanding recruiter and developer of talent, Gill has seen 31 Lions selected in the MLB Draft during his tenure at LMU and three of them have reached the big leagues, including David Fletcher with the Angels. Over the entirety of his coaching career, both as an assistant and head coach, Gill has worked with 24 players who went on to make it to the majors. Notable names on that list include Khris Davis, Justin Turner, Lyle Overbay, Aaron Rowand, Mike Lamb, Mark Kotsay and Jeremy Giambi.
Gill brought in a pair of Top 25 recruiting classes while at LMU, something that hadn’t been done in 15 years at the school. In total during his time as an assistant, Gill served as a collegiate recruiting coordinator for seven seasons, recording six recruiting classes in the Top 30 and two in the Top 10 over that span to solidify his place as one of the top recruiters in the country. In his 11 years as a head coach at LMU, Gill helped develop 62 All-WCC players, four WCC Defensive Players of the Year, two WCC Pitchers of the Year and five All-Americans.
Prior to his time at LMU, he was the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator under Horton at both Cal State Fullerton and Oregon, bringing in a Top 10 recruiting class in 2007 at Fullerton. He was Horton’s first hire as both men left Cal State Fullerton to begin the reconstruction of the Oregon baseball program in 2007.
Gill spent the three years (2001-04) preceding his time with the Titans at UC Irvine, where he brought in the No. 8 class in the country for the Anteaters in 2002 and had a pair of Top 30 classes following that. At UC Irvine, he helped guide the program back from extinction and worked alongside then UCI head coach John Savage to get the Anteaters back to the postseason in 2004.
Gill was an assistant at LMU in 1999 and 2000, helping to lead the Lions to WCC titles in both seasons, and prior to that worked as an assistant at Nevada (1997-98), helping to lead the Wolfpack to the program’s second ever postseason appearance.
He also comes to the Trojans with Team USA experience, serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. Collegiate National Team in both 2012 and 2016.
Gill takes over a USC program that last made the postseason in 2015, but has since seen 32 players drafted the last four years and has welcomed Top 25 recruiting classes each of the last two seasons. In 2019, the Trojans went 25-29-1 overall.
The Trojans’ tradition in baseball is unparalleled. USC has won a total of 12 National Championships (double that of the next closest NCAA program), made the College World Series 21 times and sent more players to the big leagues than any other school, with a total of 114 major leaguers.
