FRANK CRUZ

Frank Cruz is an American college baseball coach, who most recently served as the head coach of the USC Trojans baseball team. 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 season, 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. 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.  Cruz was named interim head coach of the Trojans after the 2010 season, and earned the job officially on May 19, 2011.