Frank Cruz

Frank Cruz (born 1959) is an American college baseball coach, who most recently served as the head coach of the USC Trojans baseball team. He held the position from 2011 through 2012.[1] Cruz was relieved of his duties for "knowingly violating NCAA Countable Athletically-Related Activities limitations" just two days prior to the beginning of the 2013 NCAA Division I baseball season.[2]

Frank Cruz
Cruz with LMU in 2007
Biographical details
Born1959 (age 61–62)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materPepperdine (1983)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1993–1996USC (assistant)
1997–2008Loyola Marymount
2009–2010USC (assistant)
2011–2012USC
Head coaching record
Overall377–419–3
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
3x WCC Coach of the Year (1998, 2000, 2004)

Early life

A native of Los Angeles, Cruz graduated from Saint Monica Catholic High School of Santa Monica, California in 1977.[3][4]

Coaching career

Cruz began coaching at University High in Los Angeles, where he also taught health and physical education. His teams claimed a city championship and four league crowns. He then moved to USC, where he was an assistant to Mike Gillespie for four seasons, during which the Trojans appeared in four NCAA Tournaments and reached the 1995 College World Series final.

Loyola Marymount named Cruz head coach in 1997, and he led the Lions to three straight first-place finishes in the West Coast Conference from 1998–2000. Cruz coached several conference honorees and was named Recruiter of the Year in 1997 by Collegiate Baseball, in part for his assembling the nation's 16th ranked recruiting class that year. The class included 2000 Major League Baseball Draft 16th overall pick Billy Traber.

In addition to his duties at LMU, Cruz was head coach of USA Baseball's 2004 national team, winning the program's first gold medal at the FISU World University Championships. He was also an assistant on the 2000 national team.

Following twelve successful years at LMU, Cruz became a volunteer assistant at USC for the 2009 and 2010 seasons under head coach Chad Kreuter.[1]

Cruz was named interim head coach of the Trojans after the 2010 season, and earned the job permanently on May 19, 2011.[5] He was fired for knowingly exceeding the number of hours of scheduled practices after a weeklong investigation by the USC athletic department.[2]

Head coaching record

The following table records Frank Cruz's record as a collegiate head coach.[6][7]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Loyola Marymount Lions (West Coast Conference) (1997–2008)
1997 Loyola Marymount 21–3911–176th
1998 Loyola Marymount 34–23–121–81stRegional
1999 Loyola Marymount 33–2818–121st (Coast)Regional
2000 Loyola Marymount 40–1922–81st (Coast)Regional
2001 Loyola Marymount 21–378–224th (Coast)
2002 Loyola Marymount 22–3415–153rd (West)
2003 Loyola Marymount 26–3013–173rd (West)
2004 Loyola Marymount 32–22–120–71st (Coast)
2005 Loyola Marymount 31–2718–121st (Coast)
2006 Loyola Marymount 24–3211–104th
2007 Loyola Marymount 22–33–19–12T-4th
2008 Loyola Marymount 23–327–147th
Loyola Marymount: 329–356–3173–154
USC Trojans (Pac-12 Conference) (2011–2012)
2011 USC 25–3113–147th
2012 USC 23–328–2210th
USC: 48–6321–36
Total:377–419–3

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References
  1. "Frank Cruz". usctrojans.com. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  2. Shotgun Spratling (February 13, 2013). "USC Fires Head Coach Frank Cruz". collegebaseballdaily.com. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  3. http://www.stmonica.net/document.doc?id=5117 Archived 2013-06-25 at the Wayback Machine page 14
  4. "Frank Cruz". Loyola Marymount University. Archived from the original on October 23, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  5. "Frank Cruz Named USC Baseball Coach On Fulltime Basis". usctrojans.com. May 19, 2011. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  6. 2012 Baseball Record Book (PDF). lmulions.com. pp. 86–89. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  7. 2012 USC Trojans Baseball Media Guide (PDF). usctrojans.com. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
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