Tag: Andy Stankiewicz

USC baseball hires 2021 Assistant Coach of the Year, Sean Allen

In a very busy week for USC, the baseball program made an important hire.

Earlier this week, USC baseball head coach Andy Stankiewicz announced that the Trojans had hired Sean Allen as the team’s new pitching coach. Allen replaces Seth Ethington, who mutually parted ways with the Trojans two weeks ago. Allen, who received the National Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 2021, joins USC with over 22 seasons of coaching experience as an assistant. During his tenure, his teams have made 14 postseason appearances, including three appearances in the College World Series. Prior to joining USC, Allen spent two seasons at Ohio State and six seasons at Texas, both recruiting and developing top pitchers.  He has produced multiple all-conference selections and Major League draft picks with Ohio State and Texas.

“We are very excited to announce Sean Allen as our new pitching coach,” said Stankiewicz in a press release from the athletic department. “Sean’s reputation in the game is unmatched. First and foremost, he is a baseball coach who knows how to build relationships with student-athletes, staff, administration and recruits. His accolades as a pitching coach are well-documented, and the way he manages and develops a pitching staff is perfect for where we are headed as a program. He knows the national landscape of college baseball and will help us build our brand across the country. Our pitchers, now and in the future, could not be in better hands. It’s a great honor to welcome Sean and his wife Stephanie to the Trojan Family.”

It is clear that USC Athletic director Jen Cohen is making her mark on the athletic department.  She helped Lincoln Riley hire a new defensive coordinator and four coaches. She hired Eric Musselman and an entire new basketball staff. Now Cohen has worked with Stankiewicz to bring in a highly regarded assistant coach who is familiar with the Big Ten and is no stranger to Omaha. USC Athletics continues its run of impressive hires that started in December, which will only dial up expectations in 2024 and 2025.

In a season when the Trojans had their worst start in history, Stankiewicz rallied the Trojans, winning 10 games in a row late in the campaign before coming up short in the final innings of the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament final against Arizona. Allen’s hire might be what USC needs to find success as the Trojans enter the Big Ten.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Andy Stankiewicz revived USC baseball in 2023, has Trojans poised to do bigger things in 2024

Andy Stankiewicz gave USC a real boost this year.

There are many Christmas blessings to note at USC athletics in 2023. We spend so much time covering football and basketball around here (a necessary reflection of the visibility of revenue sports) that we need to recognize one person in particular who has transformed another Trojan program.

Andy Stankiewicz came to USC with a big task: Get USC baseball back to being a nationally relevant program. USC does have 12 national championships, five more than second-place LSU (which won the 2023 College World Series over Florida). This is the ultimate blue-blood college baseball program, but it has fallen on very hard times in the 21st century. USC cried out for a new leader who could bring the magic back to Dedeaux Field.

In Year 1 on the job, Andy Stankiewicz couldn’t have done better under the circumstances. He led USC to the brink of the NCAA Tournament. In the eyes of most experts, USC should have gotten in but was snubbed by the selection committee. At any rate, USC is likely to be better this upcoming season and should be able to make the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Stankiewicz has established a foundation at USC based on pitching and defense. He is building the program the right way and will have a motivated team ready to take the next step in 2024.

Christmas gifts at USC certainly include Andy Stankiewicz, who is doing his best to return a once-elite program to future glories.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.

USC baseball shockingly snubbed by NCAA Tournament selection committee

Andy Stankiewicz did a great job in his first season at #USC, but he and his players were not rewarded. It’s an undeserved gut punch.

The USC baseball brand name is historically associated with excellence. No college baseball program is anywhere close to the Trojans’ 12 national championships. The Trojans are to college baseball what the UCLA Bruins are to college hoops. They’re the only program with double-digit national championships. However, whereas UCLA basketball has been legitimately good in recent years, USC baseball had struggled. The Trojans had not made the NCAA Tournament since 2015.

One would have thought that USC baseball’s brand name would have been enough to get this team into the NCAA Tournament, in much the same way that UCLA basketball has gotten into the field when it had a bubble-licious resume in recent seasons (2021, 2015).

It did not happen.

USC — not viewed as one of the last four teams in the field, and projected to be well inside the cut line for the NCAA Tournament as recently as Saturday morning — was snubbed for the 2023 field of 64. The Trojans weren’t even one of the first four teams out. Arizona State, Kansas State, Kent State, and UC Irvine were all rated higher.

It’s a stunning turn of events and a crushing disappointment for a program which overachieved this season and brought back a winning identity to USC baseball.

Andy Stankiewicz, the first-year head coach hired by former USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn, did great work in his debut season, dramatically improving the Trojans relative to where they were one year ago, when they finished 25-28 and just 8-22 in the Pac-12. This year’s USC team finished 34-23-1, 17-13 in the Pac-12.

USC has come a long way, but Stankiewicz and his players were not rewarded for what they did this year. It’s a real shame.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696090378]

Oregon’s series success at USC might boil down to a battle of the bullpens

With a big Pac-12 series looming in Los Angeles for Oregon and USC, success could be determined by which bullpen comes to play.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team is in contention for a Pac-12 regular season title as they sit in third place and just two games back of Stanford.

Offensively, this team has what it takes to go all the way to Omaha. It’ll come down to a struggling pitching staff that currently has an earned run average of 4.47.

USC is in the same boat. According to Trojans Wire editor Matt Zemek, the Trojans bullpen has let them down so far this season.

That bullpen crushed them in the Washington series and also hurt the Trojans against Oregon State. This has become a very shaky last-three-innings team. Guys need to relish late-game moments and trust their talent.

Garrett Clarke leads USC with six saves and a 1.98 ERA, while Kyle Wisch has four saves with a 2.48 ERA. But over than those late-inning relievers, Oregon’s offense could have a field day.

Neither team has announced the starting pitching matchups for the series, but Oregon will most likely go with the same trio as last week with Jace Stoffal, Logan Mercado and Matthew Grabmann. They’ll be facing a Trojan team that is on the NCAA bubble, a place according to Zemek that is almost miraculous considering where they have been in the recent past.

“This is a natural evolutionary process for a team and a program that have not been accustomed to playing for NCAA Tournament berths and enjoying top-tier success,” Zemek said. “It’s impressive that USC is merely in the NCAA tourney conversation. The program is being built back. It is widely agreed upon in Los Angeles that head coach Andy Stankiewicz was a great hire by AD Mike Bohn and will build the Trojans back to a place of prominence. That has been missing over the past 15 years.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Andy Stankiewicz has revived USC baseball with his singular focus

Andy Stankiewicz has not gently eased into his role as USC baseball coach. He has brought enormous energy to the job.

The USC Trojan baseball team is trying to turn things around with new head coach Andy Stankiewicz on board. Given the mediocrity of Trojans baseball over the past half-decade, Stankiewicz had a tough task ahead of him. His first season has significantly exceeded expectations. He emphasized how fully he is committed to reviving the USC baseball program (h/t Thomas Johnson of The Daily Trojan).

“I’m not sure I got too many hobbies outside of this,” he said. “Probably not a good thing. My life is centered around these young men and this baseball program. And being as good as we can be as quickly as we possibly can be … My hobby is USC baseball.”

USC has begun the season 17-10-1 overall and 9-3 in Pac-12 play, so things are off to a promising start in Southern California.

After a stellar run as the head coach at Grand Canyon, he came to USC, and he is happy to make the transition despite the difficulties that lay ahead:

“To me, [USC] is one of, if not the, historically, most prestigious collegiate baseball programs in the country. And I grew up here in Southern Cal, not too far from campus here. And so I’ve just always believed in the school and believed in this baseball program…[I] certainly knew we got some big challenges in front of us,” Stankiewicz said. “But I just wanted to be a part of helping USC baseball get back to where I think and I believe we need to be.”

The Trojans have 12 national titles in baseball, which is the most of any program in college baseball, so expectations are meant to be high for this program. Stankiewicz is reviving that standard in his first several weeks on the job.

[mm-video type=video id=01gxbnz0v8frjbxxzyvd playlist_id=none player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gxbnz0v8frjbxxzyvd/01gxbnz0v8frjbxxzyvd-3d12bb45d0dcf8f3ad7395393485f749.jpg]

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696091895]

USC baseball rises to sole possession of first place in Pac-12

First-year coach Andy Stankiewicz has significantly improved the #USC program. Let’s see if this will be sustained.

The USC Trojans were not picked to finish first in the Pac-12 baseball standings this season. They weren’t picked to finish anywhere close to first. They weren’t picked to finish in the top half of the 12-team conference. They were picked to finish 10th.

Just over one month into the season, guess where the Trojans are? First place in the Pac-12. Outright. Alone. First-year head coach Andy Stankiewicz is surpassing all expectations, moving the program well ahead of schedule.

USC beat Utah on Saturday, 10-0, to win the weekend series against the Utes and move to 9-2 in the conference. Stanford is at 7-2 and Arizona State is 6-2.

The Trojans have delivered back-to-back shutouts against Utah, having won on Friday by a 4-0 score. Teams can’t bluff their way through baseball seasons without having good pitching. One can only win so many 10-9 games. The Trojans appear to have legitimately restocked their pitching, the central reason for their surge to the top of the conference.

Now we get to find out in April if the Trojans can maintain this run of form under Stankiewicz, who seems to be another home-run hire from athletic director Mike Bohn, who has already hired Lincoln Riley in football and Lindsay Gottlieb in women’s basketball.

[mm-video type=video id=01gx16n1qhchjpk5mdcg playlist_id=none player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gx16n1qhchjpk5mdcg/01gx16n1qhchjpk5mdcg-e5d28c0a3bfc629aaa794669a96fe7bd.jpg]