With over three decades of experience as a student-athlete and member of the coaching staff at UC Davis, the 2021 season was Matt Vaughn's 10th as head coach and 29th overall with the program.
During the 2019-20 campaign, one that was cut short due to COVID-19, the Aggies defeated LMU, 4-3, in a 24-inning marathon that now stands as the longest in Big West Conference history (and one inning shy of the NCAA's all-time mark), and another Aggie was selected in Major League Baseball's five-round Draft.
In addition to the team's strong start to the season (which ended after 16 games due to COVID-19) , shortstop
Tanner Murray became the 54th draftee in school history, since 1970, when he was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays 125th overall in the fourth round of the 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Named to his post as the 10th head coach in the history of the club in August of 2011, Vaughn wrapped-up his 26th season on the diamond at UC Davis, and has been an integral part of the program's success at both the Division II and Division I levels. After helping lead the Aggies to a postseason appearance during his sophomore year as a student-athlete, his tenure on the coaching staff has included two trips to the NCAA Division II College World Series (1995 and 2003), four NCAA Division II West Regional berths, and an appearance in the NCAA Division I regional at Stanford in the program's first year of eligibility.
Vaughn collected his 100th career victory as a head coach on Feb. 21, 2016, in a 4-3 win over Portland, and posted wins over nationally ranked foes Michigan and UC Santa Barbara -- UC Davis took two-of-three from the Gauchos, a squad that reached the College World Series.
Led by an experienced, senior-laden lineup in 2015, Vaughn guided the Aggies to a 30-26-1 overall record and a 9-15 mark in the always-difficult Big West Conference, posting the second 30-win season in the program's Division I Era and the most league wins since his 2012 squad finished 12-12 in conference play.
Focusing his efforts mainly on the development of the UC Davis pitching staff since joining the staff in 1993, Vaughn has coached a total of 45 players who have gone on to sign professional contracts -- 23 of those during the program's Division I Era -- including 22 hurlers. Three of his former players: Daniel Descalso, who won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, Joe Biagini, and Ty Kelly, have also appeared in the Major Leagues, with the latter two making their debuts during the 2016 season with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets, respectively.
Eleven Aggies have earned a total of 13 All-America honors and three have been named West Region Pitchers of the Year. In 2004, one of his protegés - Michael Potter - captured California Collegiate Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year honors. In Vaughn’s tenure as pitching coach, six of his pitchers have been selected as conference pitcher of the year, while 51 players have gone on to earn first team all-conference honors -- including six All-Big West first-team selections and one Big West Player of the Year (Jake Jefferies, 2008).
Vaughn has coached some of the best pitchers in UC Davis history. Under his guidance, two-time All-American Justin Reid posted a 1.82 ERA as a sophomore - the program’s lowest in 26 years - then struck out a school record 125 batters his junior year. Reid was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame in June of 2010. Reid joins Dave McKae, Justin Fitzgerald, and Andy Suiter as one of several Vaughn protegés whose names are scattered throughout the UC Davis record books.
In 1997, in a national setting, Vaughn was one of six coaches named to the USA Baseball support staff for its 1997 National Team Trials in Tampa, Fla., where he assisted in player evaluation and development. Internationally, Vaughn spent two summers working for Major League Baseball International in Europe. In the summer of 1992, he served as a baseball envoy to Czechoslovakia and Poland. Then in 1994, he was the pitching coach for the Great Britain National Team as they played in the European “B” Pool Championships.
Vaughn began his Aggie career as a four-year letter winner from 1989-92, winning nine games on the mound while starting 26 and relieving in 11 others. He was an honorable mention All-NCAC selection his senior year and won his last four decisions as an Aggie, including his final three starts.
Vaughn graduated from UC Davis in 1992 with a degree in biological sciences. He received his master’s degree in management from National University in 1999. He and his wife, Dana, were married on New Year’s Eve, 1998. They have a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Casey.
