Andrew Checketts was named UC Santa Barbara’s head coach on June 22, 2011, becoming the university’s ninth head baseball coach. Entering his 15th season with the Gauchos in 2026, Checketts has a record of 489-267-5 as Santa Barbara’s skipper, both the best winning percentage and the most total wins as head coach in program history. During his tenure, the Gauchos have won three Big West Championships and appeared in seven NCAA Tournaments, reaching the 2016 College World Series. Checketts himself has been named Big West Coach of the Year on three occasions — 2019, 2022 and 2024. After leading Santa Barbara to their third Big West Championship in five years and hosting an NCAA Regional on campus for the first time ever in 2024, Checketts was named West Region Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Over his time in Blue and Gold, Checketts has established UC Santa Barbara Baseball as a pipeline to the pros, coaching 70 Major League Baseball draftees, the most in The Big West since 2012. Three of Checketts’ players have been selected in the first round: Tyler Bremner second overall by the Angels in 2025, Dillon Tate fourth overall by the Rangers in 2015 and Michael McGreevy 18th overall by the Cardinals in 2021. In the summer of 2024, McGreevy became the eighth Gaucho from the Checketts era to reach Major League Baseball, joining Tate, Eric Yang, Noah Davis, Kyle Nelson, Andrew Vasquez, Greg Mahle and 2020 American League Cy Young Award Winner Shane Bieber.
McGreevy, Yang, Bieber and Tate are among the 12 Gauchos to be named All-Americans under Checketts’ tutelage, with Nelson, Vasquez and Mahle among the 14 Freshman All-Americans that Checketts has coached in Santa Barbara. Yang was also named the 2019 Big West Player of the Year, one of eight Big West Players or Pitchers of the Year coached by Checketts in Santa Barbara.
In just his second year at the helm, Checketts led the Gauchos to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, ending the second-longest postseason drought in history. His 2013 squad went 16-6 over their final 22 regular-season games to finish second in The Big West and reach the Corvallis Regional, where they defeated Texas A&M in the opening game for Checketts’ first postseason win as a head coach.
The Gauchos posted a second consecutive 30-win season in 2014, making Checketts just the second coach in program history to win 30 or more games in consecutive seasons, but that was nothing compared to what Checketts’ Gauchos achieved in 2015. Santa Barbara went 40-17-1, a school record for Division I wins at the time, and were selected as an NCAA Regional Host for the first time ever, earning the No. 16 seed in that year’s tournament. Though the Gauchos did not win their Lake Elsinore Regional, the legacy of the 2015 team still stands — that squad’s team ERA of 2.45 remains the program record.
Santa Barbara’s meteoric rise to national prominence under Checketts continued in 2016, as he led the Gauchos to the College World Series. They won 43 games and swept both the Nashville Regional and the Louisville Super Regional to book the program’s first ever trip to Omaha. At the College World Series, they eliminated No. 3 seed Miami before falling to eventual CWS Runners-Up Arizona. Checketts was named a finalist for the Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year Award that season.
Three years later, Checketts and the Gauchos claimed their first Big West Championship since 1986, setting the current program record for winning percentage with a 45-11 record en route to the 2019 conference title and another NCAA Tournament appearance. Santa Barbara went 13-2 before the 2020 season was cut short, defeating No. 1 UCLA and sweeping a three-game series at No. 25 Oregon State. They were back in the postseason come 2021, pitching their way to a 41-20 record and the Tucson Regional, where they defeated No. 23 Oklahoma State twice to reach the Regional Final against No. 5 seed Arizona. Santa Barbara’s pitching staff set a program record with 619 strikeouts that season, the fifth time that Checketts’ group had broken the program’s single-season K’s benchmark.
The Gauchos dominated all comers in The Big West to win their 2022 conference championship, going 27-3 in conference play and setting a program record for conference winning percentage. Checketts’ Gauchos also set a program record for home runs in 2022, hitting 76 long balls, only to break that mark emphatically the next year. The 2023 Gauchos hit 86 homers, and the 2024 squad was close behind with 84 long balls.
Like the 2022 squad, the 2024 Gauchos won their Big West Championship in dominant fashion. After logistical issues left Santa Barbara without a field to practice or play on until March, the Gauchos went undefeated at home once they finally got their new grass, 25-0 during the regular season at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. They also swept their final seven Big West series, 21 straight conference wins, to end the season. The Gauchos earned the No. 14 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and, with Caesar Uyesaka Stadium updated to meet the requirements for hosting, held their regional on campus for the first time ever.
In 2025, Checketts overtook his predecessor, Bob Brontsema, for the most wins as Santa Barbara's head coach, bringing his career total up to 489 victories in Blue and Gold. It was one of two records that tumbled in 2025, as Checketts' ace on the mound that year, Tyler Bremner, became the Gauchos' all-time leader in career strikeouts, racking up 111 on the year to bring his career total to 295. Bremner became the program's highest-drafted player ever (and Checketts' highest-drafted pupil) in July of 2025 when the Angels selected him second overall.
Prior to arriving in Santa Barbara, Checketts was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon, earning a reputation as one of the top pitching coaches in the country. In 2010, Checketts’ Ducks owned a team ERA of 3.29, third-best in the country. In 2011, they ranked 18th with a team ERA of 2.99, while also ranking 10th in strikeouts per game and 11th in hits allowed per nine innings. At the end of that 2011 season, Tyler Anderson was drafted 20th overall by the Colorado Rockies.
As Oregon’s recruiting coordinator, Checketts consistently brought top talent to Eugene, with the Ducks owning three consecutive Top 25 ranked recruiting classes, with their 2010 class ranking as high as No. 3 in the country.
Checketts began his coaching career in Riverside, first as a pitching coach at Riverside Community College, where the Tigers won back-to-back California Stat Championships and set a school ERA record. From there, he joined UC Riverside as a pitching coach, helping the Highlanders win the 2007 Big West Championship. His Highlander pitchers also broke the school strikeout record during his first season with the team. Along with the 2007 conference championship, Checketts also brought UCR a Top 25 ranked recruiting class in 2007.
A standout pitcher himself, Checketts played one season at Florida before returning home and playing his final three seasons at Oregon State. As a senior in 1998, he posted an 11-1 record and 3.77 ERA in 13 starts, striking out 73 hitters. He was named Pac-10 North Player of the Year, All-West Region Second Team and All-America Second Team. A two-time All-Pac-10 North player, Checketts graduated from Oregon State and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1998.
In high school, Checketts was the 1994 Oregon State Co-Player of the Year at West Linn High School.
