Tom Faris

Tom Faris grew up in Southern California. He attended Quartz Hill High School where he lettered 2 years in basketball and 2 years in baseball. He was 1st team All League in ’87 and ’88. He played baseball three years in college before having surgery on his throwing arm. He injured his arm playing in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita the summer before his senior season of college.

Coach Faris played junior college baseball at Antelope Valley College and Long Beach City College before moving on to play at Azusa Pacific University. He graduated in 1992 with his BA in Physical Education. He obtained his teaching credential in 1993 and his MA in Education in 1996 so he could pursue his passion of teaching, mentoring and coaching young men.

Coach Faris begins his 29th year coaching baseball and his 29th year in education. He began his coaching career at San Gabriel High School during his senior year in college while he was rehabilitating his arm. His next 3 years were at Citrus Community College as an assistant coach from 1993 - 95. He furthered his coaching career at Covina High School and at Cal State Dominguez. Prior to coming to Dana Hills, he coached at Capistrano Valley High School for 3 years and at Laguna Beach for 1 year. In the 18 years that Coach Faris has been at Dana Hills, he has accumulated more wins each consecutive year than any other coach in Dana Hills’ history. His teams have made the playoffs 10 times. The Covid year (2020) did not have playoffs. A great accomplishment considering the teams they play in league. While in the playoffs, they have made the quarter-finals 3 times and the finals once. In 18 years as the coach, Coach Faris has coached 13 Dana Hills baseball players who have signed professional contracts. They are Brett Lorin Class of '05, Tanner Scheppers Class of '05, Peter Tago Class of '10, Peter Maris Class of '11, Grant Dyer Class of '12, Blake Taylor Class of '13, Luke Williams Class of '15, Jay Schuyler Class of '15, Marrick Crouse Class of '15, Zach Wolf Class of '15, Justin Sterner Class of '15, David Clawson Class of '16 and Hans Crouse Class of '17. Tanner Scheppers was called up to the big league roster in 2013 with the Texas Rangers. Blake Taylor is currently playing in the MLB with the Houston Astros. He was called up in 2020. Luke Williams and Hans Crouse were called up in 2021 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Coach Faris’ goals for the Dana Hills Baseball Program are to make it to the CIF playoffs each and every year. This is a great accomplishment if achieved being in the South Coast League. The SCL is one of the hardest leagues in the CIF Southern Section and the state.

Coach Faris has been married for 23 years to his wife Annie who is also a teacher in CUSD. He has 3 children. Katie (21) is a swimmer at Cal Poly SLO, Grant (19) is playing baseball at Golden West College and Grady (16) is a junior at Dana Hills.