Mike Gillespie, the baseball coach who led USC to its last College World Series title, died Wednesday at the age of 80.
No cause of death was announced.
Gillespie was a player and coach at USC. He played for the Trojans in 1960 and 1961, playing infield and outfield for Rod Dedeaux and winning a national championship in 1961.
It would be Gillespie who would take over for Dedeaux in the 1987 season, after serving as head coach of College of the Canyons for 16 years.
Gillespie was the head coach of the Trojans for 20 years, leading USC to 763 wins in that time. USC made four trips to the College World Series under Gillespie, and three additional trips to the NCAA Super Regional.
USC lost in the 1995 national title game, but redeemed that loss three years later by winning the College World Series in 1998. In the championship game, fourth-seeded USC beat Pac-10 rival Arizona State 21-14 to claim their 12th title.
Gillespie was named the Collegiate Baseball Coach of the Year following the 1998 season. He earned a Pac-10 Coach of the Year award in 2002.
At USC, Gillespie coached players like Mark Prior, Barry Zito, Aaron Boone and Bret Boone, who would go on to play in the major leagues.
He resigned from USC following the 2006 season and spent one year at the helm of the Staten Island Yankees, and then accepted the head coaching position at UC Irvine.
Gillespie spent 11 seasons with the Anteaters. He won Big West Coach of the Year honors in 2009 after winning the conference title, and he led Irvine to its second College World Series appearance in 2014.
He retired after the 2018 season, having amassed a career record of 1,156-720-2 as a college coach. As part of the retirement ceremony, UC Irvine retired his No. 19.
He was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010.
At College of the Canyons (1971-86) he won 420 games, three state titles and 11 conference crowns.
Gillespie graduated from Hawthorne High and started his coaching career at the high school level at Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills.
