Report: USC Trojans baseball fires head coach Jason Gill

The USC Trojans baseball team parted ways with their head coach, Jason Gill on Saturday afternoon, per Kendall Rogers–the managing editor of D1Baseball. He spent the last three seasons with the Trojans and posted a record of 25-28 overall this season.

USC baseball posted an awful in-conference record of 8-22 this year, while going 7-13 in their road games. The Trojans’ athletic administration had seen enough, and Gill is done as the headman of the baseball program. In 2021, the program didn’t fare much better, posting a mediocre overall record of 25-26. The Trojans went 13-17 in conference that season under Gill. 2020 was the best season USC had during his tenure there and that one was shortened due to COVID-19. The team posted an overall record of 10-5, before the rest of the season was canceled due to COVID-19.

Gill’s firing was likely expected by many people around the program for quite some time now. The Los Angeles Times reported that there was plenty of discontent surrounding the program in the 2021 season. Per the LA Times, ten players along with three other people close to the program said they thought Gill and his pitching coach Ted Silva mistreated some players and staff in an effort to push them away from the Trojans baseball program.

At the height of its power in the 1960s and 1970s–the USC Trojan baseball program was the king of college baseball. The Trojans’ 12 national titles in college baseball are several more than any other team in the sports history.

Gill has College World Series experience as both a coach and player. He nearly guided Loyola-Marymount to the NCAA Super Regionals in the 2019 season. The Lions had an overall record of 34-25 that season. The former headman for the Trojans has been to Omaha four times as a player and coach. Gill played for the Cal State Fullerton Titans and reached the College World Series while suiting up for them in 1994.

His best regular season record came in 2017 with Loyola Marymount after he guided them to a 38-18 overall record and 20-7 in conference record. The Lions won the West Coast regular season crown that season — one of the few championships that Gill has won during his 14 years as a college baseball head coach. His overall record as a head coach during that time frame is 382-344-1.

Outside of being the head coach for Loyola Marymount and USC, he’s also had a number of stints as an assistant coach for: Oregon (2008), Cal State Fullerton (2005-2007), UC Irvine (2001-2004), Loyola Marymount (1999-2000), Nevada (1997-1998). Gill was also a GA for Cal State Fullerton from 1995-1996.