Gillespie in ABCA Hall of Fame

UC Irvine head coach Mike Gillespie was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame Friday. Gillespie was honored at the ABCA’s annual convention in Dallas, Texas

Gillespie, who took over the reins of the UC Irvine Baseball program in the fall of 2007, has had a storied career. Ranked 24th in victories among active coaches at the Division I level, Gillespie holds an 850-504-2 record with a .627 winning percentage.

In 2009 Gillespie was named the Big West Coach of the Year after leading UCI to its first-ever conference title with a 22-2 mark to boast the second-best winning percentage in conference history at .917. The team was 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 school history.

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

Gillespie’s coaching fame includes a 20-year career at USC, where he recorded a 763-471-2 (.618) mark and guided the Trojans to 15 postseason appearances, four College World Series appearances (1995, 1998, 2000 and 2001) and a national title in 1998 for which Gillespie was named National Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Congratulations!