Cal State Fullerton announced the hiring of Jason Dietrich, a former pitching coach at Irvine Valley, to be the Titans new head baseball coach earlier this week.
Dietrich was a part of the Laser staff from 2003-06.
The 2005 team won a CCCAA regional playoff series and reached its first ever Super Regional series.
"Though this has taken a bit longer than we had anticipated, Jason's climb to leading one of the nation's most storied programs comes as no surprise," Irvine Valley Athletic Director and Dean Keith Shackleford said. "As an integral part of IVC's staff during the college's first playoff run in 2005, his talent for coaching, recruiting, and leading student-athletes was so readily apparent even as a young coach. We are not only proud of Coach as a distinguished Lasers coaching alum, but excited to see the excellence he will to the entire Orange County baseball community."
Dietrich, the sixth head coach in the program's Division I history, arrived to Cal State Fullerton after spending the last two seasons as the pitching coach at East Carolina where he helped lead the team to the NCAA Super Regionals this year.
"I'm very honored and humbled to get this great opportunity to be the leader of Cal State Fullerton," Dietrich said on the Cal State Fullerton website. "It's very special to myself and to my family."
Dietrich is returning to the Titans program after serving as the pitching coach in 2013-16. He also had stints at UC Irvine (2008-12) and Oregon (2017-19) that resulted in eight NCAA Regionals and one College World Series appearance. During his 14 full seasons at the Division I level, which includes two as director of operations, Dietrich has worked under ABCA Hall of Fame Coach Mike Gillespie as well as George Horton and Rick Vanderhook.
In his four seasons as the pitching coach at Fullerton he led one of the premier pitching staffs in the country. He was a part of a group that won 160 games during a four-year span that included three Big West Championships, four NCAA Regionals, two Super Regionals and a College World Series appearance in 2015. The pitching staff ranked among the nation's best each of Dietrich's four seasons with the Titans.
Cal State Fullerton led college baseball in one of four major pitching categories nine times in Dietrich's four seasons. The Titans had the country's best ERA (2.22) in 2016, while leading the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio three times (2013, 2014 and 2015), WHIP twice (2013 and 2016) and fewest walks per nine innings three times (2013, 2014 and 2015).
In his four seasons at CSF, Dietrich's pitching staff never finished with a team ERA higher than 2.89 or ranked lower than 11th in the country. In addition to the Titans' Division I leading 2.22 ERA in 2016, Dietrich's teams posted ERAs that ranked fourth in the country in 2013 (2.47), third in 2014 (2.24) and 11th in 2015 (2.89).
During the 2020 campaign at East Carolina, where the Pirates posted a 13-4 record before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his staff posted a 3.12 ERA allowing 54 runs in 17 contests. The Pirates stood among the national leaders (top 60) in shutouts (32nd/two), strikeout-to-walk ration (45th/2.85) and ERA (54th).
In three seasons with the Ducks (2016-19), Dietrich mentored a pair of All-Americans, three First-Team All-Pac-12 members and six Major League Baseball draft selections, while leading a pitching staff that ranked among the national leaders in strikeout-to-walk ratio, strikeouts per nine innings, walks allowed per nine innings and WHIP from 2017-19.
Before coaching at Fullerton, Dietrich spent five seasons (2008-12) at UC Irvine where he was the pitching coach during the final two. During his five-year tenure, the Anteaters posted 202 wins and made four NCAA Regionals including a Super Regional appearance in 2008. His club was 17th nationally in both ERA and walks per nine innings in 2011, and were 36th in ERA and 11th in WHIP in 2012.
Dietrich began his coaching career as the pitching coach at Arcadia High School (1999-2001). He became a college pitching coach at Los Angeles City College in 2002 before moving to Irvine Valley College (2003-06) and Cal State Los Angeles (2007). He also spent time as a pitching coach for the Hyannis Mets (2004-05) of the Cape Cod Baseball League and Southern California Fire (2003) of the Western Wood Bat League.
Prior to coaching, he played one year with the New Jersey Jackals of the Northeast Baseball League (1998) and four in the Colorado Rockies organization (1994-98) after being selected in the 19th round of the 1994 MLB Draft out of Pepperdine earning West Coast Conference Honorable Mention accolades. During his professional career, Dietrich posted a 7-2 record with a 2.84 ERA with seven saves in 44 appearances.
From 1991-93, Dietrich played at Santa Ana Community College where he was a team captain, all-conference and all-state selection and helped his club to the California Community College Championship crown in 1993.
