California Golden Bears head baseball coach Mike Neu announced that Anthony Gilich has joined the program as an assistant coach. Gilich comes to Cal after serving as an assistant coach at Washington in 2025 and Arizona State in 2024, following a long tenure at Central Arizona College where he led the team to two NJCAA national championships.
At Cal, Gilich will take on responsibilities including coaching third base, working with infielders, and assisting with offense, catchers, and recruiting.
“We are thrilled to add Anthony to our coaching staff,” Neu said. “Anthony has a strong resume with a long history of coaching winning baseball and developing players who get the most out of their ability and move on to the professional ranks. He will be a tremendous asset to our program and the individual players in it.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the Cal baseball family,” Gilich said. “I look forward to working with coach Neu and the rest of the staff. This is a tremendous opportunity for me and my family to be part of such a great program.”
While at Washington, Gilich served as defensive coordinator. Under his guidance, the Huskies allowed the second-fewest runs in Big Ten conference games and finished fifth overall in conference standings with a .977 fielding percentage, ranking 30th nationally.
In his season at Arizona State in 2024, where he worked alongside current Cal hitting coach Brett Wallace, the Sun Devils led the Pac-12 Conference in batting average (.313), runs (482), hits (652), doubles (143), among other offensive categories. The team also improved its national rankings for batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage compared to previous years. Five Sun Devils earned All-Pac-12 honors that year; four were selected within the first ten rounds of recent MLB Drafts.
Before moving into Division I roles, Gilich spent 16 seasons at Central Arizona College—nine as head coach—where he achieved a record of 395-132 (.749). He guided teams to national titles in 2019 and 2022; his teams set school records for wins and winning percentage during his tenure. The program produced five future Major League Baseball players under his leadership.
Gilich received multiple awards during his time at Central Arizona College: twice named ABCA Junior College Coach of the Year after championship seasons; four-time ACCAC Coach of the Year; three-time Western District Coach of the Year; while mentoring numerous award-winning players.
He also contributed as a scout for USA Baseball from 2015 through 2017.
Earlier in his career, Gilich held positions as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Puget Sound from 2004-07.
As a player himself, Gilich was recognized as an all-state shortstop leading Gig Harbor High School to a state title before playing collegiately at Tacoma Community College and Santa Barbara City College. He graduated cum laude from Central Washington University with degrees in speech communications and sociology.
Gilich is married with one son.
