SAN DIEGO – San Diego State baseball head coach Mark Martinez rounded out his coaching staff with the hiring of Sergio Brown as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator. Brown, who has a long association with perennial national power Cal State Fullerton both as a player and coach, arrives on The Mesa after serving as the Titans' associate head coach/recruiting coordinator in 2020 and 2021.
"We're very excited to welcome Sergio to our Aztec family," Martinez said. "He's been a winner at every stop in his coaching career and his vast experience will benefit our program immensely. Sergio's success as a college coach and recruiter are almost unparalleled, and we look forward to continuing the great tradition of San Diego State baseball with him on our staff."
Brown brings a plethora of postseason experience with him to "America's Finest City", having participated in eight NCAA Regionals, six NCAA Super Regionals and four College World Series as a coach and player. In addition, Brown is one of only two coaches in the history of college baseball to go to the College World Series with three different programs – Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Arizona. Throughout his career, Brown has recruited and/or coached 35 players with Major League Baseball experience.
Prior to his most recent stint at Fullerton, Brown spent four years at Arizona from 2016-19, helping the Wildcats to consecutive NCAA Tournament berths in his first two seasons, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the 2016 College World Series. During his tenure in Tucson, five position players garnered multiple All-America honors by an array of national publications, while two student-athletes were named Freshmen All-Americans.
In addition, Brown's work with Arizona hitters helped shape the team's offense that ranked as one of the country's most potent in 2019. That season, the Wildcats ranked second nationally in runs per game (9.8), slugging percentage (.533) and on-base percentage (.432) while occupying the third spot in batting average (.326). Along with impressive team numbers, multiple players also thrived under Brown's tutelage in 2019, including Cameron Cannon, who led the nation with 29 doubles, while Nick Quintana paced the Pac-12 Conference with 77 RBIs during the regular season.
Not to be outdone, Brown made his mark on the recruiting trail at Arizona, with his 2018 signing class receiving a No. 3 national ranking by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, while his 2016 class was rated fourth by the same publication.
Before his move to the desert, Brown spent the 2013 campaign as an assistant at Cal State Northridge following a one-year stint in the same capacity at UC San Diego in 2012. In his lone season at UCSD, the Tritons captured the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) regular-season and tournament championships before securing a berth in the NCAA Division II West Regionals.
Brown served two other tenures at Cal State Fullerton, including a three-year stay as the program's director of baseball operations from 2001-03 before returning to the school for three additional seasons as an assistant coach from 2008-10.
In his second tour of duty at Fullerton, Brown helped develop 11 All-Americans, seven all-conference players, along with numerous student-athletes who went on to log over 1,000 games of MLB experience. With Brown on staff, the Titans led the Big West in batting average, hits, runs, RBIs, on-base percentage and sacrifice bunts in 2009, rolling to a seventh-place finish at the College World series. The Fullerton program also excelled on defense during that stint, as the Titans posted fielding percentages that rank among the top 10 marks in school history.
In addition, Brown served four years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at UC Irvine from 2004-07, helping the Anteaters to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, including a third-place finish at the 2007 College World Series. During his tenure at UCI, the Anteaters' 2007 recruiting class was ranked 14th by Baseball America and 22nd by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
Prior joining the UC Irvine staff, Brown coached at Cypress College from 1996-2001, when he served as the team's recruiting coordinator, helping the Chargers to a state championship in 1997.
Brown was an infielder on Cal State Fullerton's 1995 national championship team after transferring from Cal Poly Pomona, where he competed from 1991-93. While at CPP, he was a member of Bronco squads that captured the CCAA co-championship in 1991 and earned a spot in the 1993 NCAA Division II West Regionals.
Brown graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from Cal State Fullerton in 1995 and received a master's in education from Azusa Pacific in 1998.
Brown and his wife, Olivia, have two sons, Vincent and Cruz.