USC Trojans baseball is a college program, so nobody actually owns it the way a billionaire owns an NFL franchise. There is no private owner, no ownership group, and no shares to buy.
The team belongs to the University of Southern California, a private university located in Los Angeles, California. USC governs the baseball program through its Board of Trustees and its athletic department leadership.
Few programs carry the history that USC baseball does. With twelve national championships, it remains the most decorated baseball program in NCAA history.
Under legendary coach Rod Dedeaux, USC built a dynasty that still shapes how the sport is coached today.
So who is really in charge of the Trojans today, who pays the bills, and what does ownership even mean for a college team? Here is the full breakdown.
| Program | USC Trojans Baseball |
| Governing Institution | University of Southern California (private) |
| Athletic Director | Jennifer Cohen |
| Head Coach | Andy Stankiewicz |
| Conference | Big Ten Conference |
| Founded | 1888 |
| Home Stadium | Dedeaux Field |
| Ownership Type | Private University Athletic Department |
Table of Contents
How USC Trojans Baseball Ownership and Governance Works
USC Trojans baseball sits inside a much larger system of governance. It is a department of the university, not a standalone company, so decisions flow downward through several layers of authority.
At the very top sits the USC Board of Trustees, the body that oversees the university as a whole, including its finances, real estate, and academic mission. Athletics is one small piece of that larger picture.
Below the trustees, the university president sets institutional priorities and appoints senior leadership, including the person who runs athletics day to day.
The graphic below shows how authority moves from the boardroom down to the dugout.
Sets institutional priorities
Director of Athletics
Head Baseball Coach
The USC Board of Trustees and the University President
The Board of Trustees is a volunteer body made up of business leaders, philanthropists, and alumni. Members do not draw a salary and do not hold equity in the university or its teams.
Their job is oversight, approving budgets, major hires, and long term strategy, rather than calling plays or picking lineups.
The university president reports to that board and serves as the public face of USC. Athletics falls under the president’s broader authority, though most operational decisions are delegated to the athletic department.
Meet Jennifer Cohen: USC’s Director of Athletics
Jennifer Cohen became USC’s Director of Athletics in 2023, arriving from the University of Washington. She oversees every varsity sport, including baseball, and reports directly to the university president.
Cohen is responsible for hiring and firing head coaches, setting athletic department budgets, and steering USC through the new era of revenue sharing in college sports.
She was named the 2024 to 2025 FBS Athletic Director of the Year by the Sandy Barbour and Nike award program, a sign of how highly her leadership is regarded across the sport.
Who Is The Current USC Baseball Head Coach
Andy Stankiewicz leads the Trojans as head coach heading into the 2026 season. He reports to Jennifer Cohen and is responsible for recruiting, roster building, and on field decisions.
Stankiewicz previously played in the major leagues and built a strong track record coaching at other college programs before taking over at USC.
Like every coach at USC, he does not own the team. His authority is delegated by the athletic department and can be revoked if performance or compliance issues arise.
The Legendary History of USC Trojans Baseball
USC baseball dates back to 1888, making it one of the oldest college programs in the country. Over the decades it grew into the sport’s gold standard.
The Trojans have won twelve NCAA national championships, more than any other program in Division I history. That total includes future major league stars such as Tom Seaver, Randy Johnson, Mark McGwire, and Barry Zito, all of whom wore cardinal and gold at some point.
According to Wikipedia and USC Athletics, the program’s most recent national title came in 1998, closing out a golden era that began decades earlier.
Rod Dedeaux and Dedeaux Field: The Dynasty Years
No single person shaped USC baseball more than Rod Dedeaux. He coached the Trojans for 45 seasons, from 1942 to 1986, and won 11 of the program’s 12 national titles.
Dedeaux led USC to five consecutive championships from 1970 through 1974, a run that remains unmatched in college baseball. His career record stood at 1,332 wins against 571 losses.
The Trojans still play at Dedeaux Field, opened in 1974 and named in his honor. It seats about 2,500 fans and sits on the university’s Los Angeles campus, a short walk from the Coliseum.
USC establishes its baseball program, one of the oldest in the nation.
Dedeaux takes over as head coach, beginning a 45 year tenure.
USC starts a run of five consecutive national championships through 1974.
The Trojans move into their new on campus stadium in Los Angeles.
USC wins its most recent NCAA championship to date.
USC baseball plays its first season as a Big Ten member.
USC’s Move to the Big Ten Conference
USC spent most of its history in the Pac 8 and later the Pac 12 Conference, playing regional rivals up and down the West Coast.
That changed in 2024, when USC and UCLA officially joined the Big Ten Conference, a move driven largely by football media rights and broader financial pressures across college sports.
Baseball followed the same timeline, and the Trojans played their first Big Ten baseball season in the spring of 2025, according to Wikipedia’s coverage of the program.
The switch means longer travel for series against Big Ten opponents such as Michigan, Nebraska, and Rutgers, a real adjustment for a program built on West Coast rivalries.
How NIL and Revenue Sharing Fund USC Baseball Today
Money now moves through college athletics in ways that would have been unrecognizable during the Dedeaux era. Name, image, and likeness deals let players earn income directly.
In 2025, a federal court approved the House versus NCAA settlement, which allows universities to share athletic revenue directly with players for the first time. USC has been widely reported as one of the more aggressive spenders under this new system, largely because of its football and basketball revenue.
Baseball benefits indirectly. As a private university with a large athletic budget, USC can direct part of its overall revenue pool toward Olympic sports like baseball, though football still receives the largest share by far.
None of this changes who owns the program. The university still funds and governs baseball; players and coaches are compensated employees or student athletes, not equity holders.
Is USC Doing A Good Job Running The Trojans Baseball Program: Is The Investment Really Worth It
USC baseball’s modern era looks very different from the Dedeaux dynasty, and it is fair to ask whether the university’s investment matches the results.
On the positive side, USC still has one of the most recognizable brands in college baseball, a strong Los Angeles recruiting base, and a stadium upgrade path funded by a private university with deep resources. Facilities and coaching stability under recent hires have generally trended upward.
On the negative side, USC has not won a national title since 1998, a drought of over two decades that stands in stark contrast to the program’s historic dominance. Several coaching changes during the 2010s and 2020s disrupted continuity, and the program has often missed the NCAA tournament entirely in years when rival programs like Stanford, Oregon State, and Vanderbilt were thriving.
Whether the investment is worth it depends on the measure used. As a brand and recruiting draw, USC baseball still pays off for the athletic department. As a championship contender, the program has clear room to improve, and fans are right to hold leadership accountable for closing that gap.
Could The USC Trojans Baseball Program Leave The Big Ten In 2026
Another realignment is very unlikely in the near term. USC just completed a major, expensive transition into the Big Ten, and conference moves of that scale are not made lightly or reversed quickly.
Big Ten membership also brings USC into a much larger media rights and revenue pool, money that matters even more now that revenue sharing with athletes is standard practice across the sport.
The more realistic story for 2026 is not conference realignment. It is how USC uses its Big Ten revenue and NIL infrastructure to fund baseball, upgrade Dedeaux Field, and compete for recruits against programs with similar budgets.
For fans of the Trojans’ baseball history, the financial shift matters as much as anything happening on the field.
USC’s situation is not unique. Plenty of major sports organizations, from college conferences to professional leagues, are adjusting their governance and revenue models at the same time, as covered in our breakdown of who owns the NFL.
Frequently Asked Questions About USC Trojans Baseball Ownership
Who owns the USC Trojans baseball team?
Nobody privately owns it. The team is governed by the University of Southern California, a private university, through its Board of Trustees and athletic department.
You can read more general context on how private organizations are structured in our guide to who owns the Tampa Bay Rays, a professional franchise with a very different ownership model.
Who is the current USC baseball head coach?
Andy Stankiewicz leads the program heading into the 2026 season. He answers to Director of Athletics Jennifer Cohen and the broader university administration.
How is USC baseball funded?
USC funds baseball through its athletic department budget, ticket revenue, donor support, and a share of overall athletic department income, which now also includes NIL and revenue sharing dollars following the 2025 House versus NCAA settlement, per CBS Sports.
How many national championships has USC baseball won?
USC has won twelve NCAA national championships, the most of any program in college baseball history, with eleven of those coming under coach Rod Dedeaux, according to USC Athletics.
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