Gillespie heralded

UC Irvine baseball coach Mike Gillespie will be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame Friday at the ABCA Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year banquet in Dallas, Texas.

Gillespie, who took over the reins at UCI in the fall of 2007, has had a storied career. He ranks No. 24 in victories among active coaches at the Division I level with a an 850-504-2 record. He has a .627 winning percentage.

In 2009 Gillespie was named Big West Conference Coach of the Year after the program claimed its first conference title with a 22-2 mark, the second-best winning percentage in conference history at .917.

Gillespie’s Anteaters became the first team in Big West history (dating back to 1985) to go undefeated in league home games with a perfect 12-0 mark at Anteater Ballpark. The ’Eaters were ranked No. 1 during the regular season for the first time, holding the spot for six straight weeks. The program also played host to an NCAA regional for the first time in its history.

In his first season, Gillespie led UCI to its third consecutive postseason appearance, as the team’s 42 wins were the second-highest total in the school’s Division I history. UCI went undefeated in regional action prior to falling in three games in super regional play.

In two seasons at UCI, Gillespie has seen his players collect 16 All-American honors.

Gillespie’s resume includes a 20-year career at USC, where he recorded a 763-471-2 mark and guided the Trojans to 15 postseason appearances, four College World Series trips (1995, 1998, 2000 and 2001) and a national title in 1998.

Gillespie was named National Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and the ABCA in 1998.

USC made four consecutive regional appearances, including winning the conference title in 1991. Beginning in 1993, Gillespie led USC to an impressive 10 consecutive postseason appearances that included back-to-back College World Series visits in 2000 and 2001.

His teams won five Pacific-10 titles with Gillespie garnering Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors four times (1991, 1995, 1996, 2002) and the ABCA West Region Coach of the Year accolades twice (1996 and 1998).

Gillespie, who has produced 28 major league players, is one of two men (Arizona’s Jerry Kindall) to win NCAA titles as a player and head coach. He was the left fielder for USC’s 1961 national championship squad.

Prior to coaching at USC, Gillespie coached at the College of the Canyons, where he built the program from scratch. In his 16 seasons at the community college, Gillespie compiled a 418-165 (.717) record and won 11 Mountain Valley Conference championships, including six consecutive from 1981-86.

He captured three state titles and finished as the California runner-up twice. His teams finished with 20 or more wins in 13 years of his tenure, posting 30-plus wins six times. His final squad won 41 games in 1986, a state record at that time. His term included three California Community College Co-Coach of the Year awards.

Gillespie served as Canyon’s athletic director from 1977-86 and taught English, physical education and health education. He earned his bachelor’s (1962) and master’s (1963) degrees from USC.

— From staff reports