Fight on: It's all USC can do to end baseball's long 干ばつ
Twenty-five years have passed since Southern California won its 12th, and most 最近の, 国家の 肩書を与える in baseball.
Once the gold 基準, the Trojans are two １０年間s into a 負かす／撃墜する cycle that has seen the program go through four coaches since マイク Gillespie, the last tie to the glorious 棒 Dedeaux 時代, was 軍隊d out.
Since 2006, USC has made the NCAA Tournament once and has had a winning 記録，記録的な／記録する in Pac-12 play just twice. The Trojans finished last in 2022 and are 選ぶd 10th in coach Andy Stankiewicz's first year.
"It´s been disappointing, to say the least, to see what´s happened," said former major league 星／主役にする Fred Lynn, one of the program's beloved 人物／姿／数字s who won 国家の 肩書を与えるs all three years he was with the Trojans in the 1970s.
"I'm a glass-half-十分な guy and 希望に満ちた things can turn around. I don´t want to look at the standings of wherever we´re playing - the Pac-12, Big Ten - and see us at the 底（に届く）. That's so foreign to me and hard to watch."
Stankiewicz - who appeared in 429 games in seven seasons in the majors with the New York Yankees, Houston, Montreal and Arizona - 推定する／予想するs to have the program on an 上向き trajectory by the time the Trojans and crosstown 競争相手 UCLA begin playing in the Big Ten in two seasons. With their inherent 新採用するing and 天候 advantages, both should challenge for 肩書を与えるs every year in their new 会議／協議会.
The 58-year-old Stankiewicz has a 深い understanding of USC's 伝統的な place in college baseball - the Trojans have twice as many 国家の 肩書を与えるs as any other school - and he appears to be an ideal fit.
He grew up in 郊外の Los Angeles and watched as Dedeaux stacked up the last of his 11 国家の 肩書を与えるs in the 1970s. He had hoped to play for the Trojan s, but it was Pepperdine that 申し込む／申し出d a scholarship.
"I was on the outside looking in and you´re always asking, ´What's it like to play for Coach Dedeaux?''' he said. "Then you´re playing against 示す McGwire and Randy Johnson at Dedeaux Field, this iconic ballpark. You 手配中の，お尋ね者 to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 them because you´re 競争の激しい, but you also knew this place was pretty special."
His only other college 長，率いる coaching 職業 was at Grand Canyon, which he led to five Western 運動競技の 会議／協議会 肩書を与えるs since 2015 and two NCAA Tournaments.
"I loved Grand Canyon - they gave me an 適切な時期 to be a 長，率いる coach - but if ever there was a place intriguing to me as one day かもしれない coaching, it was SC," Stankiewicz said.
The Trojans brought 支援する 19 players, 含むing the 最高の，を越す two starting 投手s and three everyday players. Stankiewicz's 最高の，を越す 優先s were to earn the 信用 of players through the summer and 落ちる practices and ramp up 新採用するing.
He 雇うd an impressive staff, 含むing a 関係 to better times in pitching coach Seth Etherton. He pitched on the 1998 国家の 選手権 team and was that season's 国家の player of the year.
"One thing that has gotten lost over the years was the young men understanding the 遺産／遺物 of the players who put USC on the 地図／計画する, from 棒 Dedeaux to the Fred Lynns," Etherton said. "It´s necessary for me to give these guys a history of USC baseball, have them understand what it means to put this logo on your hat and on your jersey. It´s the greatest program in the history of college baseball, and it´s really not even の近くに compared to anyone else."
The Trojans opened the season with a three-game sweep of Marist before losing a 中央の-week game to UC Irvine.
They 長，率いる to Auburn this 週末 to play a Tigers team that has appear ed in two of the last three College World Series. It will be a 手段ing-stick series for the Trojans.
Why did the Trojans 落ちる so hard?
Andy Lopez, a College Baseball Hall of Fame coach and Pac-12 網状組織 分析家, points to two factors.
First, the start of the 拒絶する／低下する 同時に起こる／一致するd with UCLA's 雇うing of John Savage in 2005. The Bruins 出資するd on the 議論の的になる 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing of Gillespie in 2006 and 設立するd themselves at the 最高の，を越す of the Los Angeles area's college baseball 力／強力にする structure, winning the 2013 国家の 肩書を与える.
Second, the Trojans swung and 行方不明になるd on their 試みる／企てるs to make splash 雇うs and stayed in-house for the first three coaches after Gillespie. Chad Kreuter, Gillespie's son-in-法律, had losing seasons all four of his years. Frank Cruz was elevated from 暫定的な coach and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d after two seasons for 侵害する／違反するing NCAA 支配するs.
Dan Hubbs, Cruz's associate 長，率いる coach, was 促進するd and lasted seven years. USC then went outside to 雇う Jason Gill from Loyola Marymount. Gill's three seasons were marred by the school's 調査s into his 治療 of players and possible NCAA 違反s.
"Good baseball guys," Lopez said, "but probaby not the 権利 雇う at the time when John Savage was at UCLA."
Lopez said he thinks Stankiewicz is the 権利 guy and that the Trojans' 時刻表／予定表 for 改良 could be 加速するd with the move out of the Pac-12.
"It´s going to be the Big Ten and you´re going to be 罰金 there," Lopez said he told him in a phone call after his 雇うing. "You're still going to have John at UCLA, but when you look at that 会議／協議会, you're going to be 承認する."
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