Former Nogales High School and Pima Community College standout pitcher Keith Zuniga is being hired by USC as its next pitching coach after he held that position and associate head coach at Hawai’i according to a report by Shotgun Spratling of 247Sports.com.
Former Tucson Toro player and Grand Canyon coach Andy Stankiewicz is hiring Zuniga to take over for Sean Allen, who was hired as the head coach at Lamar last week.
Zuniga led Hawaii’s pitching staff to be one of four teams, along with North Carolina, Oregon State and UC Santa Barbara, ranked in the top 20 nationally in ERA each of the last three years.
Zuniga, also essential in Hawaii’s recruiting efforts, coached a pitching staff this year that finished third in the nation in ERA at 3.45, fifth with 7.37 hits allowed per nine innings and sixth in WHIP at 1.21. The Rainbow Warriors finished in the top 25 nationally in all three categories last year after leading the nation in ERA and being third in WHIP in Zuniga’s first year.
Zuniga helped develop junior Isaiah Magdaleno inton one of the top pitchers in the nation this season. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound prospect finished the year 7-5 with a 2.36 ERA, striking out 116 batters in 95.1 innings.
Zuniga has completed 12 seasons as a coach, spending the last three years at Hawai’i after three years at New Mexico State. He eventually became the interim head coach at New Mexico State because of a coaching change during the 2023 season. Under Zuniga’s tutelage, six New Mexico State pitchers were drafted or signed after the 2022 season.
Prior to New Mexico State, Zuniga spent six seasons on the staff at his alma mater, Bethune-Cookman. He was first director of operations before being named an assistant in 2018 and becoming the pitching coach in 2019 and 2020. He played an important part in bringing in the highest-ranked recruiting class in Bethune-Cookman history in 2019.
He also has a background of working with USA Baseball as a pitching coach of the 16U/17U national team development program.
As a player, Zuniga went 15-9 with a 2.85 ERA during his two seasons at Bethune-Cookman after beginning his collegiate career with two years at Pima. He was drafted in the 35th round by the Miami Marlins in 2014 but elected to return to Bethune Cookman his senior year.
He played at Nogales under legendary coach OJ Favela and was a two-time team captain before graduating in 2010.
Zuniga went 7-3 with a 2.40 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 63 innings as a senior. He earned honors for Kino Region Player of the Year, first-team All-Kino Region and first-team All-Southern Arizona as a senior.
As a junior, he was 9-1 with a 1.42 ERA, striking out 71 in 65 innings. He earned first-team All-Kino Region honors.
He also lettered in football for three seasons as the starting quarterback, earning first-team All-Conference and All-Southern Arizona selections. He led Southern Arizona in passing with 2,246 yards as a senior, throwing 27 touchdown passes and only six interceptions. He passed for 2,230 yards and 28 touchdowns as a junior, earning second-team All-Conference honors.
As a freshman at Pima in 2011 under another legend, coach Jason Hisey, he appeared in 16 games, pitching 87 innings with a 7-4 record and 3.00 ERA and striking out 67. He earned second-team All-ACCAC honors.
He transferred to Washington in 2011-12 but did not see action and redshirted.
He returned to Pima in 2013 and was a team captain. Zuniga went 5-5 with a team-leading 1.80 ERA, pitching 85 innings in 15 appearances. He led the conference in shutouts (four), was second in complete games (six) and tallied 54 strikeouts.
He had a stretch of 21 scoreless innings and allowed just one run in 29 innings. He was named to the All-ACCAC second team and All-Region 1 second team.
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