Andrew Neal Stankiewicz (born August 10, 1964), is the
head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...
of the
USC Trojans baseball
The USC Trojans baseball program represents the University of Southern California in college baseball. Established in 1888, the team is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Pac-12 Conference. USC’s home field is Ded ...
team in Los Angeles and is a retired
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
middle-infielder.
Stankiewicz had a seven-year MLB playing career spanning four clubs and 429 appearances. He was drafted by the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
in the
1986 draft and went on to make his MLB debut with the club in 1992. He also played for the
Houston Astros and
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
before closing out his career with the
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
in 1998.
Following his playing career, Stankiewicz worked in the Yankees organization including serving as the manager of the
Staten Island Yankees
The Staten Island Yankees were a minor league baseball team located in the New York City borough of Staten Island from 1999 to 2020. Nicknamed the "Baby Bombers", the Yankees were the Class A Short Season affiliate of the New York Yankees and pla ...
in 2003 and 2005, a roving infield instructor in 2004, and as a
scout in 2006. He led Staten Island, the Yankees' Class A affiliate, to the 2005
NY-Penn League Championship.
He got his first taste of college coaching with a three-year stint as an assistant coach at
Arizona State
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
under
Pat Murphy, making a pair of
College World Series
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...
appearances in 2007 and 2009.
Stankiewicz also served as the
minor league field coordinator for the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
from 2009 to 2012 before taking the head coaching job at Grand Canyon.
In an 11-year stint as the head coach at
Grand Canyon, he inherited an
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
program and guided it through a transition to
Division I where it stood as one of the nation's top
mid-major
Mid-major is a term used in American NCAA Division I college sports, particularly men's basketball, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the "Power Five conferences" (the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC), which are alternativ ...
programs with five
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas.
Due to mos ...
regular-season championships and multiple appearances in the
nation's top-25 rankings.
Stankiewicz went to
St. Paul High School in
Santa Fe Springs, California
Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 16,223 at the 2010 census, down from 17,4 ...
. He is an alumnus of
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...
, where he was a standout for the Waves baseball program and graduated in 1986 with a degree in sociology. He ranks in the top 10 in several Pepperdine career batting categories, and is third on the school's all-time list in stolen bases (101).
Playing career
High school
Stankiewicz was an all-league player and his team's most valuable player in football, basketball and baseball at St. Paul High School. He was "regarded as 'one of the best athletes in the history of the school.' His credentials were impressive, not in one sport, but three."
He hit .438 and was the Swordsmen's everyday shortstop as a senior in 1982.
Stankiewicz also played football where he was a
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
First Team All-Southeast
wide receiver as a senior in 1981, catching 53 passes and returning four kicks for touchdowns. His coach classified him as "the fastest player in the league." He played in the state's Shrine All-Star Football classic at the
Rose Bowl in July 1982. Stankiewicz received football interest from
Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...
.
College
In July 1982, Stankiewicz received a full baseball scholarship to
Pepperdine
Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and ...
. He originally held partial scholarship offers from Pepperdine and
UC Irvine
UC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two
** ''University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme
* Universal Century, one of the t ...
but signed with the Waves when head coach
Dave Gorrie
Dave Gorrie (October 15, 1930 – May 16, 2015) was a college baseball coach. He served as the head coach at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1960 to 1977 and at Pepperdine University from 1979 to 1988. He coached the Pepperdine ...
upped his offer to a full scholarship.
Stankiewicz appeared in 32 games as a freshman in 1983, hitting .208 with five RBIs. He became an everyday starter as a sophomore in 1984, playing all but two games in his final three seasons combined. His loudest offensive numbers came as a sophomore, hitting .306 with a team-leading 11 home runs, a team-best 63 runs scored and 74 hits. He rounded out his career hitting .278 as a junior and .288 as a senior. For his career, he played in 221 games, recorded 215 hits, 20 home runs, 172 runs scored, 96 RBIs and a .285 batting average.
Stankiewicz wore No. 3 as a Wave and earned second-team all-conference honors as a sophomore and a senior.
The Waves qualified for the
NCAA tournament in his junior and senior seasons. In the
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
Stanford Regional, Pepperdine lost its opener to
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
before bouncing back to win three straight games against
Oregon State
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...
, Nebraska and
Stanford. The Waves fell in the winner-take-all regional championship to Stanford. In the
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
Austin Regional, Pepperdine won games against
Texas–Pan American and
Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of the Upland South than the Mi ...
before losing to
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. The Waves staved off elimination by beating host
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
but fell again to Arizona. Stankiewicz finished 6–4 in the NCAA tournament in his Waves career.
Stankiewicz remains in Pepperdine's career top 10 for at bats with 755, runs with 172, walks drawn with 121, stolen bases with 101 and stolen-base percentage at .828.
While at Pepperdine, Stankiewicz played alongside other future MLB players in
Paul Faries
Paul Tyrrell Faries (born February 20, 1965) is an American former professional baseball second baseman, who played during four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. He was drafted by the Padr ...
,
Mike Fetters
Michael Lee Fetters (born December 19, 1964) is an American professional baseball coach. He is currently the bullpen coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for eight teams during his 16-year career as ...
,
Matt Howard
Matt Howard (born January 23, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. Previously, he played college basketball with the Butler Bulldogs. He helped lead the ...
,
Chad Kreuter
Chadden Michael Kreuter (; born August 26, 1964) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and former college baseball head coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1988 to 2003 for seven different franchis ...
and
Doug Simons as well as current Pepperdine head coach
Rick Hirtensteiner.
Alongside his brother, Alan, Stankiewicz played collegiate summer ball in 1985 for the
North Pole Nicks under legendary coach
Mike Gillespie. Both Andy and Alan earned
National Baseball Congress
The National Baseball Congress of Wichita, Kansas is an organization of 17 amateur and semi-professional baseball leagues operating in the United States and Canada. Since its founding in 1935 by Hap Dumont, it has conducted an annual North America ...
All-American honors.
MLB draft
Stankiewicz was selected in three
MLB drafts.
*
1982: 26th round by the
Kansas City Royals out of high school.
*
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
: 18th round by the
Detroit Tigers after junior year of college.
*
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
: 12th round by the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
after senior year of college.
Minor leagues
In 11 seasons in the minor leagues, he played primarily shortstop and second base. In 1987 he hit .307 at Ft. Lauderdale, and in 1989 he stole 41 bases in 498 at bats at Albany.
Major leagues
Stankiewicz played for four different ballclubs during his career: the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
(1992–1993),
Houston Astros (1994–1995),
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
(1996–1997), and
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
(1998).
He made his Major League Baseball debut on April 11, 1992, and played his final game on September 23, 1998.
He was a 27-year-old rookie in 1992, when he hit .268 for the Yankees, and .304 with runners in scoring position, and set what turned out to be career highs in at bats (400), runs (52), home runs (2), RBIs (25), and stolen bases (9).
Coaching career
Following his playing career, he managed the
Staten Island Yankees
The Staten Island Yankees were a minor league baseball team located in the New York City borough of Staten Island from 1999 to 2020. Nicknamed the "Baby Bombers", the Yankees were the Class A Short Season affiliate of the New York Yankees and pla ...
, New York's single-A (short season) affiliate, for two seasons (2004–2005), which culminated with a
New York–Penn League
The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...
title in 2005. In 2006, he worked as a
scout for the New York Yankees. From 2006 to 2009 he was an assistant baseball coach at
Arizona State University. Under his guidance, ASU led the nation in
fielding percentage in 2007, and he coached 29 players who were drafted, including three first rounders.
Grand Canyon
On April 25, 2011, Stankiewicz became the head coach at
Grand Canyon University
Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment, Grand Canyon University was the largest Christian university in the world in 2018, with 20,000 attending students on c ...
.
In his first season, he guided the Antelopes to a 27–23 overall record as the squad finished eighth in the final West Region poll. Stankiewicz also had been selected as an assistant coach for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team during the summer of 2012. The squad traveled to Cuba and The Netherlands to compete in Honkbal-Haarlem Baseball Week, where they won the bronze medal. In just his second season at Grand Canyon, Stankiewicz had the program winning 40 games and advancing to the
NCAA Division II Baseball Championship
The NCAA Division II baseball tournament is an annual college baseball tournament held at the culmination of the spring regular season and which determines the NCAA Division II college baseball champion. The initial rounds of the tournament are ...
.
Stankiewicz continued to lead the Lopes as they transitioned from
Division II to
Division I beginning in
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
. In 2015, under his direction, Grand Canyon won the 2015 regular season WAC title.
Stankiewicz quickly built Grand Canyon into one of the WAC's top two programs, winning regular-season championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018. In 2017 and 2018, the Lopes did not lose a WAC series and posted 19–5 and 20–4 records.
He continued the program's upward trajectory into the 2020s, winning additional WAC regular-season championships in 2021 and 2022. Stankiewicz took the program to its first
NCAA Division I baseball tournament
The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb ...
in 2021 with a
WAC baseball tournament championship. In 2022, the program made its debut in the D1Baseball.com top-25 poll for the first time and remained for three weeks through the end of the regular season. The Lopes earned an at-large bid into the
2022 NCAA Division I baseball tournament as one of the last four teams in.
USC
Stankiewicz was named head baseball coach at the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
on July 3, 2022.
His first season was considered a surprising success, winning 34 games and posting a 26-6 record at home. The Trojans finished fourth in the Pac-12 standings by winning seven of their 10 conference series but were shockingly left out of the
NCAA tournament despite being projected as safely in by many publications.
Head coaching record
Coaching tree
*
Nathan Choate
Nathan Choate (born October 22, 1978) is an American college baseball coach and former pitcher. He is the head baseball coach of Loyola Marymount University. Choate played college baseball at Santa Ana College from 1998 to 1999 before transferring ...
served as GCU's pitching coach (2012–16) before moving to
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
to be its pitching coach (2017–18) and
Loyola Marymount to be its pitching coach (2019) then head coach (2020-present).
* Rich Dorman served as GCU's pitching coach (2017–19) before moving to
Oregon State
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...
to be its pitching coach (2020-present).
* Marc Mumper played at GCU (2016–19) before earning a role on the
Abilene Christian staff (2020–21), moving to
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
(2022) and then the
Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
organization (2022-present).
*
Gregg Wallis was an assistant at GCU (2014–22) before temporarily moving to
Ohio State
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
(2022) and then taking over for Stankiewicz as head coach at Grand Canyon (2022-present).
* Ryan Cisterna was a volunteer assistant at GCU (2012–17) before moving to
CSU Bakersfield
California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Bak ...
(2018–20).
* Joe Perez served as a graduate assistant at GCU (2013–16) before moving to
Central Arizona College
Central Arizona College (CAC) is a public community college near Coolidge, Arizona. CAC serves the population of Pinal County.
History and campus
Since 1969, Central Arizona College has been serving and educating the communities of Pinal Co ...
(2017-present) where he is now the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.
Personal
Stankiewicz married his wife Mari Ana in 1992. The couple has four children: Drew, Marisa, Dane and Mia. Drew played baseball at
Arizona State
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
and was drafted in the 11th round of the
2014 MLB Draft
The 2014 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 5 through June 7, 2014, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first two rounds were conducted on June 5, followed by rounds three through ten on June ...
by the
Philadelphia Phillies. Marisa played softball at
Arizona State
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
, Dane played baseball for Andy at
Grand Canyon, and Mia played softball at
South Mountain Community College
South Mountain Community College is a public community college in Phoenix, Arizona. It is one of the ten colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District.
History
South Mountain Community College was established by the governing boa ...
and
CSUN
California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...
.
He grew up in
Inglewood, California, the son of Al and Hope Stankiewicz. He has an older brother, Alan, and a younger sister, Andrea.
See also
*
List of current NCAA Division I baseball coaches
The following is a list of current NCAA Division I baseball coaches. Currently, 297 programs compete at the Division I level in NCAA college baseball. Each program employs a head coach. The longest-tenured head coach is Tony Rossi, who has been ...
References
External links
Grand Canyon Antelopes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stankiewicz, Andy
1964 births
Living people
Albany-Colonie Yankees players
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
American people of Polish descent
Arizona Diamondbacks players
Arizona League Diamondbacks players
Arizona State Sun Devils baseball coaches
Baseball coaches from California
Baseball players from Inglewood, California
Fort Lauderdale Yankees players
Columbus Clippers players
Grand Canyon Antelopes baseball coaches
Gulf Coast Yankees players
Houston Astros players
Jackson Generals (Texas League) players
Las Vegas 51s players
Major League Baseball second basemen
Major League Baseball shortstops
Minor league baseball managers
Montreal Expos players
New York Yankees players
New York Yankees scouts
Oneonta Yankees players
Pepperdine Waves baseball players
Staten Island Yankees coaches
Tucson Sidewinders players
Tucson Toros players
USC Trojans baseball coaches
St. Paul High School (Santa Fe Springs, California) alumni