Report: Seth Etherton joining USC baseball staff as pitching coaching

USC head baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz is bringing in one of the Trojan’s own to finish off his coaching staff. Seth Etherton, a former USC pitcher who won a national championship in 1998, is returning to Los Angeles as the team’s new pitching coach, per D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers.

SOURCES: @USC_Baseball head coach Andy Stankiewicz is rounding out his full-time coaching staff with pitching coach Seth Etherton. Etherton, who was an All-American and helped the #Trojans to the national title in '98, has spent 6 seasons with the @Reds organization. #FightOn

— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) July 11, 2022

The Trojans are 12-time national champions with Etherton playing a part on the most recent title team in ’98. Etherton played a critical role in a 5-4 win over LSU in the College World Series. The victory helped get the Trojans to the CWS Final where they’d beat Arizona State.

Over four seasons, Etherton threw for a 3.37 ERA and gave up just 156 runs in 358 innings. His career earned him a selection as the 18th overall pick by the Anaheim Angels in the 1998 MLB Draft. He would debut in the majors in May of 2000. Injuries forced him to play in just 23 career major league games. He made stops with the Angels, Reds, Athletics and Royals over his career.

Over the last six seasons, Etherton has remained in the game of baseball as a pitching coach. His only career stop has been with the Reds organization since March of 2016.

USC hired Andy Stankiewicz to take over the program after leading Grand Canyon University. To help get the program back to their historic level, having former players like Seth Etherton on staff is a strong first step to get back on track.

Andy Stankiewicz named USC baseball head coach

The USC Trojans have found their new baseball coach, according to Kendall Rodgers on Twitter. Andy Stankiewicz will lead the Trojans into 2023 after 11 seasons as head coach at Grand Canyon University.

Stankiewicz is a former major leaguer in the 1990’s who went on to coach a minor league team in New York before landing himself at GCU for over a decade. Taking over the program in 2012, Stankiewicz’s Antelopes struggled in his first season before leading them to 40 wins the following year.

The now-former GCU headman led the Antelopes to five WAC regular-season titles (2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022). He won his first WAC tournament championship in 2021, while also leading them to the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance at the D-I level in the same year.

He followed that up by leading GCU to its first at-large selection into the NCAA tournament this past season. For his services, Stankiewicz has been awarded the WAC Coach of the Year award four times (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022) and will look to continue his success in Southern California.