San Diego State baseball coach Shaun Cole’s contract will not be renewed, the school announced Thursday, ending Cole’s two-year term as the Aztecs’ head coach.
SDSU said in a release that a national search will be conducted to find a new coach.
“I appreciate Shaun’s commitment and contributions to San Diego State baseball,” SDSU athletic director John David Wicker said. “However, at this time, I believe that a change in leadership is needed in the program. I wish Shaun all the best in his future endeavors.”
Wicker had no additional comments beyond the release. Cole did not immediately return a call for comment.
Cole was promoted from pitching coach to head coach two years ago, when SDSU announced Mark Martinez’s retirement. The Aztecs were 17-37 and 20-39 the past two seasons, posting two of the three worst records in program history.
Coming into the season, Cole said he was encouraged by progress he had made in several areas.
“We’ve enhanced every aspect of this program, from alumni engagement, social media presence, academically our GPA was second highest in the athletic department for male sports,” he said. “All these things have changed in a short period of time. We just need to now show it on the field. And I think we’re going to do that.”
The Aztecs won three of their first five games out of the gate, but then lost 11 of their next 12 games to fall to 4-13 heading into conference play.
SDSU swept a series against Washington State in the final weekend of the regular season and qualify for the conference tournament. The Aztecs defeated UNLV in a play-in game before being eliminated with losses to Nevada and San Jose State.
SDSU went 14-16 in the Mountain West this season. That was an improvement over last year’s 10-20 conference record, but not enough to save Cole’s job.
It remains to be seen what direction SDSU goes with the hire. If the Aztecs decide to hire a new coach with ties to the program, there are several potential candidates. Among them are University of San Diego coach Brock Ungricht, Santa Clara coach Rusty Filter, Utah coach Gary Henderson and Hawaii coach Rich Hill.
Ungricht, 40, has been head coach at USD the past four seasons, guiding the Toreros to a 130-90-1 record while winning a pair of West Coast Conference Tournament championships and making two NCAA Regionals appearances. He was an assistant coach at both Stanford and USD before becoming head coach. Ungricht was a corner infielder and catcher for Tony Gwynn at San Diego State from 2004-06.
Filter, 56, has been head coach at Santa Clara the past eight seasons, compiling a 172-209 record with the Broncos. In 2023, he guided Santa Clara to its first NCAA Regionals appearance in more than 25 years. Filter was an assistant coach at SDSU for 16 seasons before an eight-year run as pitching coach at Stanford. Filter was a pitcher and catcher during his playing career at SDSU from 1987-90.
Filter holds the distinction as the only college pitching coach to have two of his pitchers selected No. 1 overall in the MLB Draft — SDSU’s Stephen Strasburg in 2009 (Nationals) and Stanford’s Mark Appel in the 2013 ( Astros).
Henderson, 64, has been head coach at Utah the past four years during a coaching career that dates back 36 years and includes two stints as a head coach in the SEC. He was head coach at Kentucky from 2009-16 and interim head coach at Mississippi State in 2018. He has an overall record of 442–396–2 as a head coach. Henderson took the Bulldogs on a memorable run to the 2018 College World Series, giving a shoutout to his 1984 Aztecs along the way. He is the only interim head coach to accomplish the feat.
Hill, 62, is among the winningest active coaches in NCAA history with 1,208 career victories across 32 seasons. He has coached at Hawaii the past four seasons following 23 years at USD and five years at the University of San Francisco. Hill guided the Toreros to eight NCAA Regionals appearances.
Henderson, a pitcher, and Hill, an infielder, were teammates at SDSU during the early 1980s.
