Courtesy of South Florida Athletics
TAMPA, July 15, 2015 – University of South Florida Head Softball Coach Ken Eriksen today announced the addition of Tommy Santiago to his staff as an assistant coach.
Santiago will take the place of Monica Triner, longtime Bulls’ assistant coach and two-time All-American at USF, who will continue coaching privately.
“We have had some fantastic people that have coached at USF over the last 19 years. People that have established excellence in recruiting, excellence in enhancing graduation rates, excellence in teaching life skills and excellence in player development. After going through an extensive search for someone that I feel will continue the tradition set forth by the previous people in our assistant coach positions, Tommy Santiago emerged as that choice,” Eriksen said.
Santiago brings seven years of Division I coaching experience with stops at Maryland, St. John’s and Florida State after starting his college coaching career as an assistant at South Suburban Junior College.
“Tommy’s experience at the Division I level has been nothing but successful everywhere he has been,” Eriksen said. “His teaching and recruiting skills at the last three places he has been at has turned programs into national players. Having him join a traditionally strong program will help keep our level going forward.”
Santiago joins the Bulls’ staff after spending the 2015 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Maryland, where he helped lead the Terrapins to 27 wins, a 16-win improvement from 2014. Santiago was also tasked with handling recruiting efforts and developed a format for camps while at Maryland.
Prior to joining the staff at Maryland, Santiago was an assistant coach at St. John’s for three seasons. While at St. John’s, he was in charge of defense and helped the Red Storm reach the BIG EAST Championship game in 2014 for only the second time in program history.
Under Santiago, St. John’s improved its fielding percentage each season, including a .961 clip in 2014 while turning 27 double-plays, good for seventh in the country. During the 2012 season, Santiago’s first with the Red Storm, the team enjoyed a jump of 20 points in team fielding percentage over its 2011 totals and nine different players posted improvements in their individual fielding percentages, including three players with at least 25 point jumps.
Santiago also spent three seasons at ACC power Florida State from 2009-11, helping lead the Seminoles to three straight NCAA tournament appearances and a conference title in 2011. In his role as assistant coach, Santiago served as a camp director, worked with the infield and outfield, prepared scouting reports and set up the defensive alignments for the Seminoles.
Santiago began his collegiate coaching career in 2008 as an assistant coach at South Suburban Junior College in Illinois after spending two years as tournament director for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic Tournament in Las Vegas.
Before moving to the colligate softball ranks, Santiago spent four years as the head baseball coach for Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Ill.
Santiago played a year of professional baseball for the River City Rascals of the Frontier League after a successful college career. He was a second-team all-conference selection at Parkland College before transferring to Campbellsville University, where he also gained second-team all-conference recognition and earned his degree in exercise science in 2003.
