John Joseph Savage (born February 27, 1965) is an American college baseball coach and former pitcher, who currently serves as the head baseball coach for the UCLA Bruins. He played college baseball at Santa Clara for coaches Jerry McClain and John Oldham from 1984 to 1986 before playing in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) for three seasons (1986-1988). After serving as an assistant coach with Nevada and USC in the 1990s, he became the head coach for the UC Irvine Anteaters (2002–04). Savage became UCLA's head baseball coach in July 2004 and has guided the Bruins in that role for the past 22 seasons.
Savage is one of two head coaches in college baseball history, alongside Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin, to have guided his team to a College World Series title, produced the No. 1 overall MLB Draft selection (twice, in 2011 and 2026), coached a Golden Spikes Award winner, and had a former player win the Cy Young Award in Major League Baseball (twice, in 2020 and 2023).
He is one of six coaches all-time with to have led his college program to the College World Series title and produced a No. 1 MLB Draft pick and at least one Golden Spikes Award winner, joining a group of current and former head coaches in Corbin, Skip Bertman (LSU), Jim Brock (Arizona State), Augie Garrido (Cal State Fullerton, Texas) and Jim Morris (Miami).
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Early career
Before becoming a college baseball coach, Savage played two years with the Cincinnati Reds organization, after three years playing at Santa Clara University. In 1987, he helped the Salt Lake City Trappers set a professional baseball record of 29 consecutive victories.
In 1991, Savage received his bachelor's degree in secondary education from the University of Nevada.
Savage's coaching career started at his alma mater Reno (NV) High School as a pitching coach in 1988. Between 1992 and 2000, Savage served as an assistant coach at Nevada and USC. During this period, his teams won one national championship, played in five regionals and advanced to two NCAA Super Regionals.
Head coaching career
UC Irvine
Savage served as head coach for the UC Irvine Anteaters baseball program from 2002 to 2004. Under him, UC Irvine compiled a record of 88-84-1 (32-34 conference) through three seasons and participated in the South Bend Regional in 2004.
UCLA
Savage has served as UCLA's head baseball coach since the summer of 2004. Savage guided UCLA to its first and only NCAA Championship in baseball in June 2013. While at UCLA, Savage has recorded the most postseason victories of any head coach in program history. In addition, he has seen 30 of his former UCLA players advance to Major League Baseball (since 2005).
Savage has become one of six college baseball head coaches to have won the College World Series (2013), produced the No. 1 overall selection in the MLB Draft (Gerrit Cole in 2011) and coached the winner of the annual Golden Spikes Award (Trevor Bauer in 2011). In fact, Savage has produced two of the No. 1 overall MLB Draft selections with Cole in 2011 and Roch Cholowsky in 2026.
Savage's career at UCLA began in the summer of 2004. Two years in, he had UCLA in the postseason. Bolstered by an exceptional incoming class in the fall of 2005, the Bruins advanced to the NCAA Malibu Regional (at Pepperdine) in 2006. UCLA's strong 2006 season came on the heels of a challenging 15-41 campaign in 2005. The Bruins' 2006 squad went 33-25.
In 2007, Savage's third year at UCLA, the Bruins earned their first NCAA Super Regional appearance since 2000. UCLA posted a 33-28 overall record and secured the No. 2 seed in NCAA Regional action at Long Beach State. UCLA's team swept the Long Beach Regional with wins over Pepperdine, Illinois-Chicago and Long Beach State, but lost the Super Regional to Cal State Fullerton. The Bruins used just three pitches in three wins at the Long Beach Regional (Tyson Brummett, Gavin Brooks and Tim Murphy).
UCLA's 2008 squad advanced to the NCAA tournament, marking the first time in program history that the Bruins had earned three consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament. The Bruins were ranked No. 1 in the preseason Baseball America poll that year. During the regular season, UCLA played 18 games against teams ranked in Baseball America's weekly top-25 poll. Savage helped lead the Bruins to series victories in three of the team's four Pac-10 road series.
In 2010, Savage's team advanced to the College World Series by defeating the defending National Champion LSU Tigers in the Los Angeles Regional and the Cal State Fullerton Titans in the Los Angeles Super Regional. The Bruins finished the season in second place, losing two games to the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Championship Series. He was named the National Coach of the Year by CollegeBaseballInsider.com in 2010. He was also named 2010 NCAA Division I Western Regional Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA).
First-Round Draft selections
While at UCLA, Savage has coached nine players who have been selected in the MLB Draft's first round (includes first-round compensation selections).
David Huff (39th overall, Cleveland Indians, 2006 MLB draft)
Gerrit Cole (1st overall, Pittsburgh Pirates, 2011 MLB draft)
Trevor Bauer (3rd overall, Arizona Diamondbacks, 2011 MLB draft)
Jeff Gelalich (57th overall, Cincinnati Reds, 2012 MLB draft)
James Kaprielian (16th overall, New York Yankees, 2015 MLB draft)
Michael Toglia (23rd overall, Colorado Rockies, 2019 MLB draft)
Garrett Mitchell (20th overall, Milwaukee Brewers, 2020 MLB draft)
Matt McClain (17th overall, Cincinnati Reds, 2021 MLB draft)
Roch Cholowsky (1st overall, Chicago White Sox, 2026 MLB draft)
USA Collegiate National team
Savage served as the manager for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team in the summer of 2017. He led the U.S. team to a 15-5 record that summer, including an 11-4 mark during international play. The United States won all three international series in which it competed, going 4-0 against Chinese Taipei and 3-2 versus both Cuba and Japan. The win over Cuba marked the third consecutive series win for the United States.
Personal
John Savage is from Reno, Nevada where he grew up with two brothers, Len and Pete. He attended Reno High School, where he was a record-setting right-handed pitcher. Savage and his wife, Lisa, have four children: Julia, Jack, Ryan and Gabrielle. He is also the son-in-law of former Nevada Wolf Pack football coach Chris Ault. Savage was inducted into Reno High School's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.