COSTA MESA -- Vanguard Athletic Director Jeff Bussell is pleased to reveal the next man in charge of VU baseball, as Mitch Holland has been hired as the 24th coach in program history.  Holland lands in Costa Mesa after three seasons at the University of San Diego and brings over five years of NCAA Division I coaching experience.  With other stops at Loyola Marymount and UCI, Holland brings wisdom from nine total years of coaching and recruiting, alongside lessons from award-winning coaches, to his first head role.
 
"Coach Mitch Holland embodies everything we were looking for in the next leader of Vanguard Baseball," said Bussell.  "His championship experience, proven ability to recruit and develop student-athletes, and deep roots in Southern California baseball make him an outstanding fit for our program. Most importantly, Mitch's faith, character, and commitment to transforming the lives of young men align perfectly with the mission of Vanguard University. We believe he is the right person to lead our baseball program as we pursue excellence and develop Christ-centered leaders who will make an impact for the Kingdom of God."
 
"I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the Head Baseball Coach at Vanguard University," relayed Holland.  "I want to sincerely thank Athletic Director Jeff Bussell, Vice President for Advancement Justin McIntee, and President Michael J. Beals for their trust and confidence in me to lead this outstanding program. I also want to thank Coach Brock Ungricht, the staff, and all the players at the University of San Diego for the past three years. We had some of the best times I've had on a baseball field, and I could not have dreamed of working with better people."
 
Holland continued, "Vanguard's commitment to Christ-centered education, competitive excellence, and developing young men of character aligns closely with my personal values and coaching philosophy. My family and I are excited to join the Vanguard family and get to work alongside our student-athletes as they pursue excellence in the classroom, on the field, and in their faith.  I look forward to honoring the rich tradition of Vanguard Baseball while building a program that competes for championships and develops servant leaders."
 
Holland completed his third season at USD under Coach Ungricht in 2026, where he was tasked with managing the infield,  instructing hitters, and coaching third base.  The Toreros accumulated an 89-75-1 overall record during that span and a 51-23-1 conference mark.  During those three years, Holland assisted in developing 22 All-West Coast Conference players, six All-WCC Honorable Mentions, and seven selections to the All-Freshman Team.  Included in that is the 2024 West Coast Conference Player of the Year, Jakob Christian, who went on to be an American Baseball Coaches Association First Team All-American, the second person in program history to reach that height, who is currently in the San Francisco Giants system.  Other laurels from the past three campaigns for the Toreros include Ungricht being named the WCC Coach of the Year in 2024 and 2025, six major WCC award winners, and seven players drafted from USD between 2024 and 2025, with the 2026 draft still to come. 

Holland's first year at USD was the peak for the Toreros of those three seasons, as San Diego went 41-15, 20-4 in 2024, winning both the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships.  With a win over a ranked Texas team during the year, the Toreros beat Fresno State at the Santa Barbara Regional but fell to UCSB in the next elimination game to end 1-2 in the big dance.  USD started the 2025 season 3-17 but rewrote their own story the rest of the season, going 25-13 after that low spell to conclude with a 28-30, 19-5 record.  With an upset over UCLA and an 18-2 mark to close the conference slate, USD won the WCC regular-season title again.  The squad lost the first game of the WCC Tournament, but in poetic symmetry to the regular season, the Toreros won the next three games, including a 16-13, 14-inning thriller against Saint Mary's to force a rematch for the title.  Although the Toreros lost the second tilt 9-8 to place second, the turnaround remains one of the biggest second-half surges in USD program history.  In 2026, USD went 20-30-1, 12-14-1, and completed the campaign in eighth in the WCC standings. 

The WCC history has another layer for Holland, who spent the 2022-23 school year at Loyola Marymount, helping another Coach of the Year nab a title.  LMU went 29-24 overall and 21-6 in WCC action to take the regular season trophy, while Coach Nathan Choate was named the COTY.  Three players took home major WCC awards, and three players were drafted from that team.  Prior to his string of service to LMU and USD, Holland worked at Saddleback CC as the recruiting coordinator and the hitting and infield coach, which ended with a 21-18 overall record.  He had a role as the assistant coach at JSerra High School the year before, teaching economics as well.  His first coaching gig after graduating was with the Rochester Ridgemen, a summer-league team where Holland also worked with Athletes in Action.

The rest of Holland's resume comes from his time at UCI as a player and as a coach.  He played at Irvine from 2014-16 under Mike Gillespie, the current record holder at UCI for most wins as a head coach.  Holland hit .312 in 404 at-bats in his career, notching seven home runs, 67 RBI, and posting an OBP of .375 across 107 games.  He was named to the All-Big West Second Team in 2015 and was awarded an Honorable Mention nod in 2016.  He was named a Big West Player of the Week in 2015, had the third-best batting average on the team, and had the second-most RBI, while the team went 33-23, 15-9.  He was third on the team in hits and RBI in 2016, as the squad finished with a 31-25, 11-13 line.  He then joined Coach Gillespie as a graduate assistant coach for the 2016-17 school year, when UCI went 22-31, 7-13. 

After the jaunts to JSerra and Saddleback, Holland returned to UCI and new coach Ben Orloff, with Holland helping as the catching and assisting hitting coach from 2020-2022.  Over the next three seasons, Holland aided UCI to winning seasons and a 2021 Big West Conference title.  The Anteaters went 83-49 overall during those three seasons and 48-22 in league play, which does include the mostly lost 2020 season.  The 2021 title-winning team went 3-2 at the NCAA Regional in Stanford, had three All-Americans, two major Big West award winners, including the Player of the Year in Mike Peabody, eight All-Big West selections, and Coach Orloff was named the Coach of the Year.  The three All-Americans were drafted to MLB teams, with Nathan Church as the standout of that trio, as he is currently playing with the St. Louis Cardinals.  The 2022 side had five All-Big West honorees and one All-Region player.

Holland graduated from UCI in 2016 with a Bachelor of Political Science, and he followed that with a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Sports Business from Grand Canyon University in 2018.