The USC baseball team concluded its season today by getting swept at Arizona this weekend. The Trojans finished 20-36 overall and 10-20 in the Pac-12. They did not make the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight year. So this is not really about the firing of Frank Cruz just before the season started.
It’s more about the athletic dept.’s philosophy toward baseball. Does the sport matter? It really doesn’t if you go by the recent coaching hires since Mike Gillespie was fired.
Baseball is not a money-making sport so USC seems averse to going after a big-name coach. That means the school with the most national titles in the nation makes baseball less of a priority than Oregon, which hired the highly respected George Horton and paid him accordingly.
USC is now at another crossroads. Will it promote Coach Dan Hubbs or go hire a big-name coach? That’s all you need to know to see how important baseball is.