USC extends Hubbs with multi year deal


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USC baseball coach Dan Hubbs has received a multi year contract extension, the school announced on Tuesday.

Hubbs was elevated from associate head coach and pitching coach just two days before the first game of the 2013 season after former head coach Frank Cruz was fired for an NCAA violation regarding practice hours.

Welcome back · USC head baseball coach Dan Hubbs (left, facing forward) led the Trojans to a 10-20 conference record in 2013, which was good for a tie for eighth-place in the always-difficult Pac-12. - Daily Trojan file photo

Welcome back · USC head baseball coach Dan Hubbs (left, facing forward) led the Trojans to a 10-20 conference record in 2013, which was good for a tie for eighth-place in the always-difficult Pac-12. – Daily Trojan file photo

“I am excited for the opportunity to continue as the head baseball coach at USC. To coach at my alma mater is very special,” Hubbs said in a statement. “I look forward to building upon the rich tradition of USC baseball.”

Hubbs pitched for USC from 1991-93, earning All-American honors in his senior season. He has consistently referred to coaching at USC as his “dream job.”

The Trojans went just 20-36 last season, the 20 wins marking the lowest win total by any USC baseball team since 1957, when the Trojans went 18-4. A youthful squad showed promise, however, and the 2014 team will return six starters in the lineup and the entire starting rotation.

“The culture of this program is changing,” Hubbs said at the end of last season. “Guys are working extra on their own now. The kids have bought into the work ethic. It’s 35 guys invested in winning. And with another year’s experience and comfort, we’re gonna see a difference.”

Those comments echo what many of Hubbs’ players said last year, despite their struggles on the field. USC baseball is one of the most successful collegiate athletic programs of all time, but is mired in a decade-plus stretch of mediocrity.

The Los Angeles Times reported in July that USC offered UCLA head coach John Savage more than $1 million per year to take over the program, but he chose to stay in Westwood. Savage is a former USC assistant who led the Bruins to their first national championship in June.

Current Oregon and former Cal State Fullerton head coach George Horton was also rumored to be interested in the position, but USC chose to stick with Hubbs. Another coaching change would have given the program their fourth head coach in the last five seasons.

 

Follow Nick Burton on Twitter @NickMBurton

1 reply
  1. Steve B.
    Steve B. says:

    I hope Hubbs proves me wrong in the long run, but a multi year contract after last season is shameful . The
    Athletic Dept. was looking hard to oust him with other offers , then turns around to keep him for more than
    one season at a time. He was the top assistant in 2012 with a last place conference finish, and near the
    bottom in 2013 with a .333 winning % getting swept by the ‘ruins for the 2nd consecutive year. Hubbs lost
    five of six highly recruited players to the pros out of high school that doesn’t bode well for the next few years.
    This would not be tolerated in football or even basketball.

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