John Anderson (May 16, 1955 – July 26, 2026) was an American baseball pitcher and college baseball coach. He was the head baseball coach at the University of Minnesota from 1982 to 2024. Anderson played college baseball at the University of Minnesota from 1974 to 1975, until injuries ended his career. In 38 seasons (as of the end of the 2019 season), Anderson led the Golden Gophers to a record of 1,317 wins, 887 losses, and three ties. In the Big Ten, he led Golden Gophers to a record of 592 wins and 351 losses in that same span.
Playing career Anderson graduated from Nashwauk-Keewatin High School in Nashwauk, Minnesota, in 1973. Anderson then enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where he walked on to the Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team. After pitching for two years, an arm injury forced Anderson to quit playing. He remained as a student-coach for the next two years, and was even voted as MVP of the 1977 team.
Coaching career Following his graduation in 1977, longtime Gophers coach Dick Siebert named him a graduate assistant. Siebert died in the winter of 1978, and successor as head coach George Thomas named Anderson a full-time assistant. Thomas resigned in 1981, and Anderson became head coach at the age of 26–at the time, the youngest head baseball coach in Big Ten history. He spent his entire adult life at the University of Minnesota as a player, assistant coach or head coach.
His most successful team was the 2018 unit, which reached the super regional round–the Gophers' deepest tournament run since their last College World Series appearance in 1977.
Anderson announced in December 2023 that 2024 would be his last season coaching. He had spent the first half-century of his adult life at Minnesota as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
Head coaching record Below is a table of Anderson's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.
Awards and honors Big Ten Coach of the Year (1982, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2018) ABCA Hall of Fame Inductee
Personal life and death Anderson graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1977 with a B.S. in Education. Anderson and his wife Jan are the parents of daughter Erin Elizabeth.
On July 24, 2026, it was reported that Anderson had suffered a heart attack and was in a coma in an intensive-care unit of a Minnesota hospital. He died two days later, on July 26, at the age of 71.
See also List of college baseball career coaching wins leaders
References
External links Gophersports.com Bio