Frank Cruz (born 1959) is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

coach, who most recently served as the head coach of the

USC Trojans baseball The USC Trojans baseball program represents the University of Southern California in college baseball. Established in 1888 in baseball, 1888, the team is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Pac-12 Conference, Big Ten ...

team. He held the position from 2011 through 2012. 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 The 2013 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began on February 15, 2013. The season progressed through the reg ...

Early life

A native of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Cruz graduated from

Saint Monica Catholic High School Saint Monica Preparatory is a parochial, co-educational Catholic school in Santa Monica, California, consisting of students in grades Transitional kindergarten to grade 12. It is located in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and serves the parish o ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

in 1977.

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 The 1995 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1995 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Serie ...

final.

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

named Cruz head coach in 1997, and he led the Lions to three straight first-place finishes in the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

from 1998–2000. Cruz coached several conference honorees and was named Recruiter of the Year in 1997 by

Collegiate Baseball ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') was an American publication based in Arizona that considered itself the "voice of amateur baseball" and was published for over 40 yea ...

, in part for his assembling the nation's 16th ranked recruiting class that year. The class included

2000 Major League Baseball Draft The 2000 Major League Baseball draft, was the annual choosing of high school and college baseball players, held in June 2000. A total of 1,452 players were drafted. First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins ...

16th overall pick

Billy Traber William Henry Traber, Jr. (born September 18, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox. Playing care ...

. In addition to his duties at LMU, Cruz was head coach of

USA Baseball The United States Baseball Federation, doing business as USA Baseball, is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that acts as the national Sports governing body, governing body for baseball in the United States. 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 Chadden Michael Kreuter (; born August 26, 1964) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and former college baseball head coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1988 to 2003 for seven different franchises. H ...

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

Head coaching record

The following table records Frank Cruz's record as a collegiate head coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Frank 1959 births Living people USC Trojans baseball coaches Loyola Marymount Lions baseball coaches Pepperdine University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Sports coaches from Los Angeles