With the decision made yesterday by Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini that head baseball coach Willie Bloomquist will return for a fifth season, the Sun Devil skipper will be entering the final year of the five-year contract he signed in 2021. Bloomquist will look to carry forward the momentum from what was, by far, his most successful season in charge.
The announcement comes just two days after ASU’s postseason run came to an end in Los Angeles, with the Sun Devils going 1–2 in regional play. It was the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021 and the first under Bloomquist, who now owns a 126–105 record through four seasons. In 2025, the Sun Devils finished 36–24 overall and 18–12 in Big 12 play—their best win total during his tenure.
“I still in my heart think it's a little too early for us to be done,” Bloomquist said after the loss Sunday. “We just didn't execute how we needed to today. (We) came up short.”
“Obviously, we wanted to keep going. We had aspirations to keep going. I think we had a team that was capable of continuing to move beyond this… but hopefully, it's a mark that the program's not where we want it to be, but it's trending in the right direction. That we continue to make progress each of the last four years, and hopefully, we're on the right pathway to getting this thing right.”
ASU was in position to contend for the Big 12 title with one weekend left, needing a sweep of Oklahoma State to clinch it. Instead, a four-game skid—including a first-round exit in the conference tournament—dropped them to fifth in the Big 12 and left them hanging on as a ‘last four in’ NCAA Tournament bid. They bounced back with an impressive regional-opening win over UC Irvine, briefly flashing their early-season form. Still, the late slide cast a shadow over a season filled with highs and postseason potential.
Bloomquist enters a make-or-break fifth season with just one year to prove he’s the coach who can return this storied program to where it belongs—Omaha. ASU baseball has won five College World Series titles, finished runner-up five times, and made 22 total trips to Omaha. With 42 NCAA Tournament appearances overall, one appearance in four years isn’t enough to impress longtime supporters. In fact, ASU’s recent postseason drought was its longest since the program became a varsity sport in 1959.
Still, Bloomquist believes this season was a meaningful step forward—and there’s reason to agree. Under his leadership, ASU made major strides on the mound, as pitching coach Jeremy Accardo transformed a staff that posted a 6.53 ERA (last in the Pac-12) into one with a 5.38 ERA, thanks in part to his innovative “pitching lab.” Offensively, the Sun Devils remained among the nation’s best, finishing 24th in runs scored.
Yet ASU’s regional losses to UCLA and UC Irvine underscored a harsh truth: regular-season success means little if your program isn’t as fully invested—financially and structurally—as the nation’s elite. That’s something athletic director Graham Rossini has pledged to change, increasing ASU’s scholarship allotment from 11.7 to the full 34 allowed under new NCAA legislation—giving Bloomquist more resources than ever to build a roster that can contend deep into June.
“When you throw in the fact that Graham Rossini has done a great job, and Dr. Crow, our president, has really gotten behind athletics at Arizona State and poured [in] the scholarship amount that we're going to get to be able to utilize moving forward with the full allotment of scholarships,” Bloomquist said. “I can't help but think the trajectory is on the right path. That we're going to get the resources to hopefully continue trending in the right direction.”
When discussing the 2025 ASU baseball team, Bloomquist described it as “a very talented team on a limited budget,” highlighting how the program developed postseason-caliber players without the financial backing many competitors enjoy. With limited scholarships and NIL opportunities, ASU could offer recruits little beyond the chance to compete.
He pointed to walk-ons like senior infielder Jacob Tobias and junior outfielder Kien Vu—key starters and memorable Sun Devils—who joined without early financial guarantees. Now, with expanded resources, Bloomquist believes he won’t have to rebuild from scratch every time he loses key contributors—a crucial shift ahead of a pivotal offseason with major roster holes to fill.
With the added resources come increased expectations for Bloomquist—much like ASU men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley, who faced intense scrutiny after his well-funded team finished second to last in the Big 12. For Bloomquist, making the right moves could be the difference between earning an extension after 2026 or not.
ASU is expected to lose most of its infield, with longtime standout Jacob Tobias and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Matt King set to move on from college baseball. Meanwhile, key contributors like Kien Vu and junior outfielder Isaiah Jackson are likely to explore the MLB Draft after boosting their stock this season.
“We got a lot of big shoes to fill,” Bloomquist said. “... most of our starting lineup is going to be departing, either aging out or being drafted… tribute to the program for continuing to develop those guys. But we have needs we have to fill, so we can't afford to wait. We're going to be hitting the portal extremely hard, looking for the right kind of players… that want to come to Arizona State.”
Last offseason, ASU lost two players about as close to irreplaceable as you can get in a single year—Nick McLain and Ryan Campos. Still, Bloomquist successfully retooled those spots and built a more complete team. With greater resources and roster flexibility this time around, he’ll have his best opportunity yet to reload and raise the program’s ceiling.
“Having that full allotment of scholarships is definitely going to help us reload instead of rebuild… We’ll get home tomorrow and pretty rapidly get back to work on the next steps… I’m sure we'll see an extreme influx of names when this thing opens up, and we'll be open for business.”
Bloomquist will also need to focus on retaining the young talent he recruited with limited financial backing—now emerging and drawing national attention. Breakout players like freshman outfielder Landon Hairston and sophomore left-hander Cole Carlon are likely to attract interest from programs with deeper NIL pockets, making retention a critical challenge.
It’s far from the first time ASU has lost a key player to a deeper-pocketed rival—infielder Ethan Mendoza transferred to Texas last offseason and went on to hit .333 as a sophomore for the national runner-up. Bloomquist is keenly aware of the talent that’s slipped through the cracks before, and with the program’s newfound resources, he’s determined to keep more stars in Tempe.
"You have your poachers out there," Bloomquist said. "They know who they are, and I know they are. They've taken players from us in the past, and I imagine they're around in the sky, waiting for any kind of food so they can go get our players. And again, they know who they are, and I know who they are. The day, you hope you build a program that, hopefully, young men understand the value of staying here. They understand what the value is when they come here, that ultimately this program is going to prepare them not only for life but hopefully in baseball beyond Arizona State.”
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!
