Mitch Holland joined San Diego baseball in July of 2023 as an assistant coach. He is set to begin his third season with the Toreros in 2026.
Holland coaches third base, works with the Toreros’ infielders, and assists with the program’s hitting instruction.
In 2025, he helped head coach Brock Ungricht steer San Diego through what was perhaps the most challenging, thrilling, and unique season in program history.
After beginning their schedule with a 6-24 record while navigating a formidable non-conference slate that ultimately included nine road games against 2025 College World Series qualifiers and 22 total matchups with 2025 NCAA Tournament participants, the Toreros won 19 of their final 24 contests to clinch the 2025 WCC Regular-Season Championship. USD hoisted the WCC trophy for a second consecutive year and the third time in the last four years by going 19-5 in league games, and brought the championship celebration back to San Diego with a dominant run-rule victory over Pacific at Fowler Park to secure the title.
All told, USD swept four of its eight WCC series in 2025 and outscored conference opponents 204-106.
With Holland's assistance, the Toreros’ resurgent conference campaign earned them the top seed and a first-round BYE in the 2025 WCC Tournament at Las Vegas Ballpark, in which they won three straight games after a second-round loss to open the event. A walk-off homer from Aden Howard propelled San Diego to the Tournament Championship Final, where it fell just one run short of punching its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
The stunning midseason turnaround earned the Toreros a flurry of end-of-year awards, including a WCC Defensive Player of the Year nod for catcher Jayden Lobliner. Four Toreros were named to the 2025 All-WCC First Team, three were selected to the 2025 All-WCC Second Team, two earned 2025 All-WCC Honorable Mentions, and three picked up 2025 All-WCC Freshman Team nods.
Under Holland and Ungricht's direction the Toreros were far and away the top offense in the WCC in 2024, leading the league in batting average, walks, hits, on-base percentage, runs, and scoring average while placing second in home runs, doubles, and slugging percentage. USD also paced the conference in fielding percentage as it won both the 2024 WCC Regular Season Championship and 2024 WCC Tournament Championship to secure an automatic berth to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, where it defeated Fresno State in an elimination game at Cesar Uyesaka Stadium.
In 2024 Holland helped mentor four All-WCC First Team selections, four All-WCC Second Team selections, two All-WCC Honorable Mentions, and one All-WCC Freshman Team selection. Ariel Armas was named a semifinalist for the 2024 Buster Posey Award, Austin Smith and Jakob Christian were named 2024 Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalists, and Smith was named a finalist for the 2024 John Olerud Two-Way Player of The Year Award.
He joined USD from Loyola Marymount, where he spent the 2023 season as an assistant coach and helped the Lions win the West Coast Conference regular season title. Prior to joining LMU, Holland served as a volunteer assistant at UC Irvine. There, he oversaw catchers and assisted with instructing the program’s hitters. The Anteaters won the Big West Conference in 2021 and were runners-up at the Stanford Regional in the same year. That marked his second stint with UC Irvine, where he had served as a graduate assistant for the 2017 season.
Before his time with UC Irvine, Holland served as a the recruiting coordinator for Saddleback Community College. He has also spent time in the summer league coaching ranks, managing the Rochester Ridgemen, members of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Holland began his coaching career in 2018 at JSerra Catholic High School, where he taught economics alongside his baseball duties.
Holland played for Saddleback Community College, where he was awarded the 2014 Saddleback College Male Scholar Athlete of the Year Award before transferring to UC Irvine. There, he captained the Anteaters for two seasons while also receiving back-to-back All-Big West selections in 2015 and 2016. Holland shined on both sides of the ball at UC Irvine, hitting .300 and fielding .996 in his final season.
A native of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, Holland earned a bachelors of science in political science from UC Irvine in 2016 before completing a masters of business administration in 2018 from Grand Canyon University.
Holland is joined in San Diego by his wife, Kaylin.
