Bio

Coach Curran took over the head coaching job Ohlone College (Fremont, CA) in July of 2013.  The 2024 season will be his 11th at the helm.  In just ten seasons, his record at Ohlone is 310-88 (.779), while his teams have captured 7 Conference Championships, 5 Regional Championships, 4 Super Regional Championships, 2 Sectional Championships, and have made 2 Final Four appearances.  Additionally, Ohlone finished 2020 ranked #1 in the CCCAA (88 teams) at the end of the coronavirus-shortened season.

At Ohlone College, Coach Curran inherited a 16-20 squad before his arrival, and immediately helped lead the Renegades to a 25-11 records in 2014 and '16 and a 29-12 finish in 2015.  The 2014 team set a school record for best start in school history (18-2).  The 2015 team set a school record for best start in history without a loss (11-0) and won the Coast Conference Championship, CCCAA Regional Championship, and finished their season at the CCCAA Super Regionals. 

However, it was the 2017 season in which his program hit its stride.  The Renegades finished 42-7 on the season with a #17 National Ranking from Perfect Game.  The OC won its Coast Conference Championship with a 17-1 mark and then went on to capture the CCCAA Regional Championship, Super Regional Championship, and Sectional Championship en route to a trip to the CCCAA Final Four.  Coach Curran's team had 12 All-Conference players, 12 Academic All-State selections, and 12 NCAA / NAIA signees, including three NCAA Division I signees: Ryan Ruley (LMU), Thad Phillips (UConn) and Isaac Cruz (Utah).  The 42 wins was the most in the state (88 teams) and most in Ohlone College history.  The 2018 (39-8, 18-0) and '19 (37-12, 15-3) seasons were equally impressive, as Ohlone won Conference, Regional, and Super Regional crowns again.  The 2020 season, "May have been the best team we've had here," according to Coach Curran.  "We could hit, pitch, and field -- but the coronavirus had other plans."  The 2020 squad finished 19-2 and ranked #1 in the entire state in the final JBB.net poll.  Most recently, Ohlone finished another historic season with a 45-6 record, en route to the longest winning streak in the nation (at any level of college baseball) of 36 games, a Final Four appearance, and #7 in the nation National ranking.

Overall, the Renegade program has been one of the best in the state and country since 2017, and has had unparalleled success.  From 2017 - '23, the Renegades have accomplished the following in these past seven seasons:

• 21 Pre-season All-Americans 
• 85 All-Conference Selections
• 04 Conference Player of the Year Selections (Ryan Ruley, AJ Curtis, Zach Patterson, Jeter Ybarra)
• 04 Conference Pitcher of the Year Selections (Ethan Skuija, Ryan Robinson, Tyler Stutlz, Sean Fekete)
• 19 All-State / All-NorCal Selections
• 03 State Player of the Year Selections (Ryan Ruley, Zach Patterson, Jeter Ybarra)
• 18 All-Region Selections
• 02 All-Region NorCal Player of the Year Selections (AJ Curtis, Jeter Ybarra)
• 10 All-Americans (Ryan Ruley, Thad Phillips, AJ Curtis, Ethan Skuija, Zach Patterson, Ryan Robinson, Tyler Stultz, Jeter Ybarra, Damian Stone)
• 01 NorCal Big Stick Award Winner (AJ Curtis)
• 04 Gold Glove Selection (Luke O'Brien, Jarred Mazzaferro, Jaden Sheppard, Damian Stone)
• 37 NCAA Division I transfers, including to Long Beach State, Washington, Utah, UConn, Irvine, Fullerton, Pitt, UCSD, USD, CSUN, LMU, Rutgers, and more
• National rankings '17, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23 in the Perfect Game JUCO National Rankings
• ABCA Academic Excellence Award for a team GPA above 3.0 in '16, '17, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23
• CCCAA Team Scholar Award, for highest team GPA of all 88 Cali JUCO teams in '19
• Overall Record of 231-54
• Conference Record of 101-13

Prior to Ohlone, Coach Curran was the head coach at West Hills College in Coalinga, CA.  While there, some remarkable accomplishments occurred considering the past history of the program.  After inheriting a team that went 7-28 in 2011, WHC increased their win totals to 14-22 (2012) and 15-21 (2013).  Additionally, they had their best conference start in the school's long history (7-2) in 2013, had 6 All-State All-Academic Team members (most in the state for the 2012-13 seasons), had a team GPA over 3.0, and moved over 10 players on to 4-year universities.

Prior to West Hills, he coached the 2011 season as an assistant coach at Fresno State University.  He worked for two-time NCAA Coach of the Year and 2008 National Champion coach Mike Batesole.  While at FSU, the Bulldogs went 40-16, captured the WAC Championship, the WAC Tournament Championship, were ranked as high as #8 in the nation, and had an incredible 10 players taken in MLB's annual June draft.  Coach Curran had the opportunity to coach one of the best players in Majore League Baseball while at Fresno State -- 2017 MLB Rookie of the Year an current New York Yankee Aaron Judge.

Prior to Fresno State, Coach Curran spent 2010 scouting for the Toronto Blue Jays as an associate scout, working Area Scout Blake Crosby.  

Before his time with the Blue Jays, he was the head coach at Washington Union High School in Fresno, CA.  He helped turn a school with several former NBA players from a "basketball school" to a "baseball school."   Back-to-back CIF-CS Valley Championships (2009 and ’10), a State Championship (2009), and back-to-back-to-back seasons of setting the 118-year old school’s record for wins in a season, highlighted the Panther's incredible run.  In addition to the back-to-back CIF-CS Valley titles and the State Championship, Washington Union capped off his six years at the helm with a 109-25 record in his last four seasons there (highlighted by the 2009 teams' 32-3 record, the most wins of any team in all of California that year). 

While at WUHS, he started a quickly growing, elite summer program, the Central California Blaze Baseball Club, which became one of the top summer programs on the West Coast.  From 2005-18, the Blaze captured 33 tournaments championships, 25 MLB draft picks, and saw over 215 players move on to collegiate baseball.  Blaze players have earned scholarships to Clemson, Arizona, Fullerton, Fresno State, Washington State, Cal, Santa Clara, Vanderbilt, UC Davis, USD, UConn, and more.  Jordan Luplow, current outfielder for the Cleveland Indians, played 3 consecutive summers for the Blaze.  He was orginally a 3rd round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2014.  Blake Quinn (9th Round, Phillies, 2016), Tyler Ferguson (6th Round, Rangers, 2015), Jacob Gatewood (1st Round, Brewers, 2014), Aaron Blair (1st Round, Diamondbacks, 2013), Carlos Salazar (3rd Round, Braves, 2013), Nick Vander Tuig (6th Round, Giants, 2013), and Jameson Smith (3rd Round, Marlins, 2007) were all early round picks who played at different times for the program.

Coach Curran graduated from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks in 1996.  While earning his undergraduate degree there, he played four years for the Kingsmen baseball program.  The dominating performances put up by the Kingsmen in those four years began a great baseball tradition at the school that still lives today.  From 1992-95, Coach Curran played on teams that went a combined 129-39 while winning three conference championships.  Additionally, the Kingsmen made four straight trips to the NCAA Playoffs, held the nation’s #1 ranking in ’92 and ’93 and went the NCAA College World Series both years.  The 1992 team finished with a record of 43-6 and came within two outs of winning the national championship.  Although a Division III school, the Kingsmen knocked off Division I foes San Diego State, Cal-State Northridge, and Cal Poly-SLO during the run.

After his playing career, he was immediately hired at CLU as the team’s hitting instructor and recruiting coordinator.  Coach Curran’s recruiting classes from 1996-99 included five NCAA All-Americans, 29 All-SCIAC selections, two SCIAC Player of the Year awardees, and seven players who signed professional contracts.  The team went to the NCAA College World Series three times in his four years as the recruiting coordinator and hitting instructor (’96, ’98, ’99).  

Other coaching accomplishments include the 2004 season.  As an assistant coach for St. John’s College High School in Washington, DC, theteam went 22-5, played for the DC City Championship, and once held Baseball America’s #24 national ranking.  In the summer of 2005, he was an assistant coach for a team of NCAA Division I, II, and III all-stars who traveled to a prestigious tournament in the Netherlands.  In the summer of 2006, Coach Curran worked for Major League Baseball (MLB) as an Envoy coach—he traveled to Poland for five weeks to work with the Polish National Team and various club teams throughout the country.
                                  
Although coaching is his passion, Coach Curran also has a love for academia.  He received his Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from California Lutheran University in 1999.  Additionally, he returned back to the West Coast from Washington, DC in June of 2004 after a four-year stint at The Catholic University of America and Washington Theological Union.  It was the latter that he earned a Masters Degree in Theological Studies.  He has been a full-time faculty member at Moorpark HS (English), St. John's College HS in Washington DC (Theology), Washington Union HS (English), West Hills College (English) and now Ohlone College (Kinesiology).

Coach Curran is married and currently resides in the Bay Area with his wife, Stephanie.  The couple has three sons, Michael (18), and Matthew (16), and Maximilian (12), and a daughter, Mena (6).

Updated 12/25/2023