Joe Urso

Head Baseball Coach (UT)

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Former Spartan All-American Joe Urso, the most accomplished active head coach in all of college baseball, is in his 24th season as head baseball coach of the University of Tampa. During his tenure, he has won more national championships than any college baseball coach. Reaching the pinnacle of success, his program is widely regarded as a collegiate baseball powerhouse under the leadership of a staff that garners respect from MLB teams for the character and talent within the program.

He has compiled a 1,007-287-1 record as the winningest coach in program history. He has also directed the winningest program among all NCAA ranks in the 2000s, with his teams capturing five national championships since 2006. His success coaching MLB draft selections along with highly publicized wins over the Philadelphia Phillies and the Netherlands National Team make him one of the most respected coaches in all of college baseball.

In his time as Spartan head coach, Urso has led Tampa to 17 Sunshine State Conference titles and 12 NCAA South Regional championships. He also has coached the program to six national championships, coming in 2006, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2024. He also led UT to a second-place finish in the 2003 National Championship Series.

UT’s all-time winningest baseball coach, Urso has led the Spartans to 40-plus victories in 18 of his 24 seasons at the helm. He is also the lone UT coach to guide his team to 50-plus victories in a season, as he did in 2006, 2007, 2014 and 2024. In 2006 and 2014, Tampa won a program-record 54 games under Urso’s leadership.

The program has been recognized on the national level as 74 Spartans have been selected in the Major League Baseball Draft since 2001, including a school-record nine in the 2010 MLB Draft. With nine selections, the Spartans ranked sixth among all colleges in players chosen in 2010.

Urso captured the program's ninth national championship in 2024, marking the sixth of his career at the helm. The 2024 Spartans finished with a 52-8 overall record, also capturing the SSC crown. His team clicked in all areas, hitting 317 as a team and posting a +389 run differential as his Spartans defeated their opponents by an average of 5.3 runs per game. Pitcher Skylar Gonzalez was honored as the National Pitcher of the Year as the team would finish second nationally in team ERA.

After clinching the program’s 23rd SSC regular season title, the Spartans moved into the postseason where standout, Drew Ehrhard, became the University of Tampa and Sunshine State Conference all-time hits leader with 352. The team would conclude the 2023 campaign at the NCAA South Regional Championship finishing with an overall record of 43-11. Several Spartans earned All-SSC and All-South Region recognition including Jordan Lala and E.J. Cumbo, who received ABCA/Rawlings and NCBWA All-American accolades. Cumbo was also named as the SSC Player of the Year alongside Alex Canney, who was selected as the SSC Pitcher of the Year. 

Guiding the program to its eighth national title in 2019, Urso's squad was a perfect 9-0 in postseason play, including extra-inning victories in both the South Regional and Super Regional clinching games over Nova Southeastern and Delta State. The 2019 season also marked the sixth time in his tenure that he was honored as the ABCA National Coach of the Year. His team then used a combination of excellent hitting and shutdown pitching in the NCAA Championship Series in Cary, outscoring its opponents 26-5 in the four games. The magical run concluded with a 3-1 win over top-seed Colorado Mesa to capture Urso's fifth championship at the helm of the Spartans. The 2019 season also included a milestone 800th career win for Urso, becoming the fastest coach in NCAA history to the mark.

His national championship run in 2015 came from the rare underdog tag, as his Spartans entered the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the NCAA South Region. His team would go a perfect 8-0 in tournament action, with a 3-1 victory over Catawba College in the national championship. In 2015, Urso's Spartans also became the fourth NCAA team to defeat a Major League Baseball opponent as UT defeated the Philadelphia Phillies by a 6-2 score in an exhibition game at Brighthouse Field.

Tampa set the NCAA Division II record for regular-season winning percentage in 2014, going 47-2 with a .959 regular-season mark. Additionally, Tampa's .931 winning percentage in 2014 also set an NCAA II record. The Spartans won the SSC and NCAA South Regional titles in 2014, while advancing all the way to the national semifinals. Urso also led UT to 16 straight weeks at the No. 1 spot, marking a new school record for consecutive weeks at the top of the rankings.

Urso returned to Tampa following a four-year stint as coach and manager in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim organization. Most recently, Urso was manager of the Angels' minor league affiliate in Butte, Mont. Prior to that, he was manager of the Angels' Instructional League team and assistant coach with the Lake Elsinore (Calif.) Storm and Boise (Idaho) Hawks since 1997.

 

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