Christian Kirtley returned to UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos' Director of Player Development, Camps & Clinics in the summer of 2025. A former All-Big West First Team player as a student-athlete for Santa Barbara, Kirtley spent two summers playing baseball with the Glacier Range Riders of the MLB-partnered Pioneer League before returning to his alma mater. He briefly worked under David Tillotson before succeeding him as the Director of Player Development, Camps & Clinics in September of 2025.
In his first season as a member of the coaching staff, Kirtley helped UC Santa Barbara to a 40-20 record, The Big West Regular Season Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance, where the Gauchos reached the final of the Austin Regional against No. 6 seed Texas. A total of 10 student-athletes earned All-Big West Honors, and six were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, including Big West Pitcher of the Year and fourth overall draft selection Jackson Flora.
With 32 home runs across his collegiate career, Kirtley ranks seventh in UC Santa Barbara history for long balls, and his 45-game on-base streak from 2022 is the second-longest ever by a Gaucho. He helped Santa Barbara win The Big West in both 2019 and 2022, being named to the all-conference first team in the latter of the two championship campaigns. In 2023, he hit 14 home runs, 11th most in a single season by any Gaucho, and he was named National Player of the Week after hitting four of them in five games in mid-April.
After graduation, he headed to Glacier, where he played 90 games over two seasons for the Range Riders, finishing with a .302 career average and 35 home runs.Â
A native of Highland, California, Kirtley holds a bachelor's degree in Communication from UC Santa Barbara.
