USC hires Loyola Marymount’s Jason Gill as baseball coach

The USC baseball program has a new leader. It will be Jason Gill‘s job to take the Trojans back to the upper echelon of college baseball.

Gill, the head coach at Loyola Marymount the last 11 seasons and a fixture of four Cal State Fullerton College World Series teams as a player and assistant coach, was announced as the successor to Dan Hubbs at USC on Friday afternoon.

“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,” USC athletic director Lynn Swann said in a statement.

“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.”

Gill posted a 322-286-1 (.530) record at Loyola Marymount. This year, he led the Lions to a 34-25 record, the West Coast Conference tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament. Gill’s squad notched wins over No. 1 overall seed UCLA and Baylor before falling one win short of a trip to the NCAA super regional.

“I am looking forward to building on the traditions established by the great players and coaches from the most storied baseball program in the country,” Gill said in a statement. “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.”

USC made just one trip to the NCAA tournament, in 2015, in seven seasons under Hubbs. The Trojans should have plenty of talent to work with, though, as they’ve brought in back-to-back top-25 recruiting classes.

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Gill has a winning pedigree. He went to the College World Series as a player with Cal State Fullerton in 1994 and was a part of the 1995 national championship team as an undergraduate assistant coach. Gill later served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, helping the Titans to College World Series appearances in 2006 and 2007 before leaving with head coach George Horton for Oregon.