CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball today announced the 2021 Collegiate National Team coaching staff. Joining Elliot Avent (Manager; NC State) on staff is Bobby Austin (Mississippi State), Dan Hartleb (Illinois), Kevin O’Sullivan (Florida), Kobe Phillips (NC Central), Josh Pike (NC State), Alex Sogard (Wright State), Troy Tulowitzki (Texas), and Jerry Weinstein (Colorado Rockies).

Florida Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan will serve as Team USA’s pitching coach and assisting him as the pitching coach technician will be Josh Pike of North Carolina State.

The Stars coaching staff will be led by Wright State Head Coach Alex Sogard, who will work alongside Illinois Head Coach Dan Hartleb (assistant coach) and Bobby Austin (bullpen coach).

American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Jerry Weinstein will manage the Stripes with University of Texas assistant Troy Tulowitzki serving as the team’s assistant coach and Kobe Phillips as the bullpen coach.

This year’s Collegiate team will feature 48 of the top non-draft-eligible collegiate players in the country on two 24-man rosters, the Stars and Stripes, for an 11-game tour of intrasquad games. Team USA will play its Fourth of July game at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, and the remaining schedule will take place in the cities of the Appalachian League. The Appalachian League is in its first year as a summer collegiate league as part of Major League Baseball and USA Baseball’s Prospect Development Pipeline, and a national team identification opportunity for future Collegiate and Professional National Teams.

“We are honored to welcome eight tremendous coaches to assist the Collegiate National Team this summer,” said USA Baseball General Manager of National Teams Eric Campbell. “This year will be unique for the Collegiate program as we welcome in forty-eight athletes to represent Team USA. As we constructed this season for the athletes, the need for an experienced and versatile coaching staff became a priority to heighten the overall development experience, and we are confident that we have done just that. These coaches bring a wealth of knowledge that will impact every single athlete who will wear the red, white, and blue in a positive way now and for many years to come.”

O’Sullivan will make his Team USA coaching debut this summer after recently completing his 14th season as the head coach at Florida. The bench boss has led the school to seven NCAA College World Series appearances, a program-record 13-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and won a national championship with the Gators in 2017. The Goshen, New York, native was named the National Coach of the Year in 2017 and has earned SEC Coach of the Year accolades three times (2010, 2014, 2018). He has also led the Gators to five SEC Championships and two SEC Tournament Championships, en route to becoming the winningest coach in school history.

During his tenure in Gainesville, O’Sullivan has coached 88 MLB Draft selections, including a nation-leading 10 first-round picks since 2012. He has also coached 12 players who have participated on the Collegiate National Team, including Nolan Fontana (2010, 2011), Brian Johnson (2010, 2011), Jonathon Crawford (2012), A.J. Puk (2015), Alex Faedo (2016), and Tommy Mace (2019).

Fresh off a stint as the bench coach for the Professional National Team, which recently clinched a berth in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, Weinstein will be wearing the Team USA uniform for the sixth time in his career as the manager of the Stripes this summer. Weinstein began his coaching career in 1966 and took over as the Sacramento City College manager in 1974, where he led the program to a National Community College Championship in 1998, 16 league championships, two state titles (1988 & 1998), and compiled an 831-208 record in 23 years at the helm.

He then moved to the professional ranks where he managed teams in the Washington Expos and Chicago Cubs organizations before serving as the Director of Player Development for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2000-2001 and working as an assistant coach at Cal Poly from 2001-2005. In 2007, Weinstein joined the Colorado Rockies organization and served in many roles at various levels of the organization until 2018, including catching coach and offensive coordinator for the major league club from 2012-2014, as well as manager of the Modesto Nuts (2007-2011) and the Hartford Yard Goats (2017).

He earned the Baseball America Tony Gwynn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and currently serves as the Rockies’ Special Assistant for Scouting and Player Development. No stranger to USA Baseball, the ABCA Hall of Famer has been on five previous Team USA coaching staffs throughout his career, including four stints with the Collegiate National Team (1987, 1992, 1995, 1996).

Joining Weinstein in the Stripes dugout will be Tulowitzki, currently a University of Texas assistant coach following a successful Major League playing career. A two-time All-American at Long Beach State, the California native brings with him the knowledge of playing for Team USA, having helped lead the Collegiate National Team to the gold medal at the 2004 FISU World University Championships in Tainan, Taiwan.

Tulowitzki spent 13 seasons in the big leagues where he was a five-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove award winner, and two-time Silver Slugger. A career .290 hitter, he finished in the top-10 in MVP voting three times in his career and helped lead the Colorado Rockies to the first World Series in franchise history in 2007.

He began his coaching career at Texas in 2019, where he works with infielders and hitters. This season, he has helped guide the Longhorns to a Big 12 regular-season title, the No. 2 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, and a berth­­ in the College World Series.

Phillips rounds out the Stripes staff as the team’s bullpen coach. He joins the Collegiate National Team staff after a four-year playing career between Spartanburg Methodist College and North Carolina Central University. He appeared in 28 games behind the dish in his final season for the Eagles and graduated with a degree in behavioral and social science.

On the other side of the diamond this summer, the Stars dugout will be led by Sogard, who recently completed his third season at the helm of the Wright State program, leading the Raiders to a Horizon League Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. 

Sogard spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Raiders under current Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer before taking over the program in 2019. In his first season at Wright State, the Phoenix, Arizona, native led the program to a 42-17 record, the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history.

Under Sogard, the Raiders beat three ranked teams in 2019 and took down top-ranked Louisville in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. As a player, he spent two seasons at Oregon State, which won the national championship both years (2006, 2007), before transferring to North Carolina State to play his final three seasons under Avent. He then played at the professional level for six years, reaching as high as Triple-A in the Houston Astros organization. Sogard’s brother, Eric, currently plays for the Chicago Cubs.

Hartleb will serve as the assistant coach for the Stars, joining the Team USA staff for the summer after completing his 16th season as the head coach at Illinois. He ranks among the winningest coaches in school history, having led the Illini to a pair of Big Ten titles, four appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and the program’s first Super Regional appearance in 2015. 

The 2015 Big Ten Coach of the Year sports a career record of 476-349-1 (.576). Hartleb has spent a total of 31 seasons in an Illinois uniform, including 15 as an assistant, and was named the Big Ten Coach of the Decade for the 2010s. This will be the third USA Baseball assignment for Hartleb, who previously served on the staff of the 14U and 17U National Team Development Programs in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Additionally, he is currently a member of the Appalachian League Steering Committee.

Austin joins the Collegiate National Team staff as the Stars’ bullpen coach after working with USA Baseball in several roles, including as a coordinator for the 18U National Team in 2018. He also spent time working with the Mississippi State baseball program while getting his master’s at the school and served as a team manager and bullpen catcher at NC State under Avent during his undergraduate years.

Pike completes this summer’s Collegiate National Team staff as the pitching coach technician after serving as a student coach under Avent at NC State this past season. Before becoming a coach, Pike was a right-handed pitcher for the Wolfpack, making just one appearance as a freshman before being sidelined by injury. The Summerfield, North Carolina, native played at Northern Guilford High School, helping the team win a 3-A state championship as a senior when he went 5-0 with a 0.97 ERA in eight appearances.

Team USA will kick-off its 11-game tour on Friday, July 2, in Danville, Virginia, followed by a game in Burlington, North Carolina, on Saturday, July 3. USA Baseball will host the July 4 game at its National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, before hitting the road again to finish its season.

Greeneville, Tennessee, will host the U.S. on Tuesday, July 6, followed by Johnson City, Tennessee; Bristol, Virginia; Elizabethton, Tennessee; and Kingsport, Tennessee, in four consecutive nights.

The 11-game tour will conclude with a trio of games in Pulaski, Virginia; Princeton, West Virginia; and Bluefield, West Virginia, from July 13-15, respectively.

For more information on the 2021 Collegiate National Team, follow along on Twitter @USABaseball and @USABaseballCNT.