| Andrew Checketts | |
| Current Title: | Head coach |
| Current Team: | UC Santa Barbara |
| Current Conference: | Big West |
| Current Record: | 453–248–3 |
| Birth Date: | 8 October 1975 |
| Alma Mater: | Oregon State '98 |
| Player Years1: | 1995 |
| Player Team1: | Florida |
| Player Years2: | 1996–1998 |
| Player Team2: | Oregon State |
| Player Positions: | Pitcher |
| Coach Years1: | 2001 |
| Coach Team1: | Riverside CC (asst.) |
| Coach Years2: | 2002–2007 |
| Coach Team2: | UC Riverside (asst.) |
| Coach Years3: | 2008–2011 |
| Coach Team3: | Oregon (asst.) |
| Coach Years4: | 2012–present |
| Coach Team4: | UC Santa Barbara |
| Overall Record: | 453–248–3 |
| Tournament Record: | NCAA: 12–13 |
| Championships: | 3x Big West (2019, 2022, 2024) |
| Awards: | 3× Big West Coach of the Year (2019, 2022, 2024) |
Andrew Checketts is an American college baseball coach and former player. He currently is the head coach of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.
Checketts graduated from West Linn High School in West Linn, Oregon and was named 1994 Oregon State High School Player of the Year. He then played one season at Florida before transferring to Oregon State for his remaining three years. In his final year with the Beavers, he posted an 11–1 record, earning conference and national honors and a 21st round selection by the Boston Red Sox in the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft. He played briefly in the Red Sox system at the end of 1998, then played for the Independent Tri-City Posse for one season before turning to coaching.[1]
Checketts began coaching at Riverside Community College in 2001, serving as pitching coach and helping the team to their second state championship. The next season, he moved across town to UC Riverside where he stayed for six seasons as pitching coach and later recruiting coordinator. The Highlanders claimed their first Big West Conference championship in his final season and ranked highly in several national statistical pitching categories. Checketts then moved to Oregon, which re-launched its program in 2008. He served as pitching coach and was also instrumental in several strong recruiting classes for the Ducks. In his time at UC Riverside and Oregon, Checketts had 36 pitchers drafted or sign pro contracts, including nine draft picks in three years at Oregon.[2] [3]
Following the 2011 season, Checketts was named as the ninth head coach in UC Santa Barbara history.[4] The Gauchos were coming off a sixth-place finish in the competitive Big West Conference and had not appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2001.[5] He claimed 28 wins in his first season, most in school history for a first year head coach, and his pitching staff set a school record for strikeouts. UC Santa Barbara also led the league in batting for the first time since 1984.[6] In Checketts' first recruiting class he brought in Dillon Tate, who later became the 4th overall pick in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft.[7]
Below is a table of Checketts's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.[8] [9]