Cary, N.C. - USA Baseball today announced that California Polytechnic State University’s Larry Lee will manage the 2023 Collegiate National Team. Lee is entering his 21st season at the helm of the Mustangs and is the winningest head coach in Big West Conference history, amassing 614 wins with Cal Poly and 1,074 overall in his career.
Lee returns to the Team USA coaching staff after serving as an assistant coach in 2017 when the U.S. went 15-5 with friendship series wins over Chinese Taipei, Cuba, and Japan. He will be making his managerial debut with the stars and stripes in 2023.
“Larry has been an extremely successful head baseball coach for over three decades and is a perfect fit to lead our team in 2023,” said USA Baseball General Manager of Collegiate and Professional Teams Eric Campbell. “Over the past twenty years, Larry has turned Cal Poly into one of the west coast’s perennial baseball programs thanks to his tremendous baseball acumen and knowledge. We are confident that he will provide valuable leadership to the young men on our roster, which will feature college baseball’s best once again this year.”
“It’s always an honor to be a part of the Collegiate National Team coaching staff,” said Lee. “I look forward to being surrounded by some of the best coaches and players in college baseball.”
Since taking over as head coach in 2003, Lee has led Cal Poly to eleven 30-win seasons, including a record-setting campaign in 2014 in which the Mustangs broke the program record with 47 wins and won their first Big West Championship. The program has finished in the top four of the conference standings in 17 of Lee’s 20 seasons and recently notched three-consecutive second-place finishes from 2017-19. The Mustangs have won over 35 games in seven different seasons under Lee.
Lee’s program has reached the NCAA Division I Regionals on three different occasions, including its first-ever appearance in 2009. The Mustangs returned to the tournament in 2013 and pushed eventual national champion UCLA to the brink of elimination before falling to the Bruins in the Los Angeles Regional. Cal Poly then capped off its record-breaking season in 2014 by hosting the San Luis Obispo Regional.
Thirty-six Mustangs have been drafted in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft during his tenure. Most recently, Lee’s son, Brooks, was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2022 Draft by the Minnesota Twins. In addition, 2018 MLB All-Star Mitch Haniger played under Lee before being drafted as a first-round compensatory pick in 2012 and is one of 12 players who have gone on to the major leagues after playing for Lee at Cal Poly. In total, 81 of Lee’s players have signed professional baseball contracts.
Five of Lee’s former players–Matt Imhof (2013), Mark Mathias (2014), Nick Meyer (2017), Brooks Lee (2021), and Drew Thorpe (2021)–have previously played for the Collegiate National Team.
Before taking the reins at Cal Poly, Lee spent 16 years as the head coach at Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo, Calif.). There, he guided the program to four California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Final Four appearances and nine Western State Conference titles, including six in a row from 1997-2002. Lee accumulated an overall record of 460-241-3 with the Cougars and was inducted into the California Community College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.
The remaining 2023 Collegiate National Team staff, as well as more information about the 2023 Collegiate National Team schedule, will be announced at a later date.
