UC Santa Barbara announced Wednesday that it has hired one of college baseball's top up-and-coming coaches, Andrew Checketts, as its head coach. Baseball America's John Manuel originally reported the Gauchos hired Checketts on Saturday via Twitter.

Checketts has spent the past three seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon. He is a perfect hire for UCSB because he also won in the Big West when he was the pitching coach/recruiting coordinator at UC Riverside, and he continued to mine Southern California for talent after moving on to Oregon.

“UC Santa Barbara has made a great selection in Andrew Checketts as its new baseball coach,” Oregon head coach George Horton said in a statement. “He is an exceptional coach, recruiter and mentor of student-athletes. The job he has done as an assistant here at the University of Oregon is exemplary. He is one of the top coaches in the country, and has a very bright baseball mind."

Checketts is highly regarded in the coaching and scouting communities for his pitching acumen. His staff ranked third in the nation with a 3.29 ERA in 2010 and 18th in the nation with a 2.99 ERA this year. His staff this spring also produced four pitchers drafted in the top seven rounds, led by first-rounder Tyler Anderson and second-rounder Madison Boer. In his coaching career at UC Riverside and Oregon, Checketts has had 36 pitchers drafted or sign pro contracts and he has coached 12 pitchers who were drafted in the top 10 rounds since 2001. Pitchers get better when they work with Checketts.
 
"Throughout the process, Andrew’s name kept coming up as one of the best recruiters and assistant coaches, not just in the West, but in the country," UCSB director of athletics Mark Massari said. "In only a short time at Oregon, what he and coach George Horton have accomplished has been extremely impressive. Andrew’s future is extremely bright and we’re excited that he decided to make that future at UCSB."