Tuesday Testimonial with Nino Giarratano
2/7/2017 5:08:00 PM | Baseball, Inside Athletics, Video
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USF - University of San Francisco or You Stay Forever? What is it about our school that creates such great passion and devotion from its sons and daughters?
The University of San Francisco Tuesday Testimonials tell that story in the words of the special men and women who make the Hilltop such an amazing place.
This week, Dons' baseball skipper Nino Giarratano talks about his time wearing Green and Gold. During his 18 seasons at the helm, Giarratano has amassed a record of 502-518-1, which is the most wins of any coach in USF baseball history. He has been named the Western Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2011. His 502 wins are the third most in WCC history and second amongst active coaches.
In 2006, Giarratano led the Dons to a milestone by winning a program-record 39 games and claiming the team's first WCC championship when they were co-champions with Pepperdine. In 2011 the Dons won the WCC again but this edition of the team won the program's first outright WCC title. And recently, Giarratano signed a five-year contract extension that will keep him on the Hilltop through 2022.
But one of the things that sticks with Giarratano most - other than opening Benedetti Diamond last spring - are the people he's been able to be surrounded with, on and off the field. Seeing his family graduate as Dons, his players go on to live the school's mission with the support of the entire USF athletics department has made him "the luckiest man in the world."
"I've had a lot of great memories here at USF. The opportunity to build a program and be something special, to be in one of the greatest cities in the world at one of the greatest universities in the world. The 19 years of seeing my kids graduate, compete for conference championships and now go out into the real world and be dads and lawyers and doctors and teachers and professional athletes and dot commers, it's just been wonderful to watch."
Giarratano and the Dons take the field for 2017 Opening Day in 10 short days, taking on Northern Colorado on Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. in the first of a four-game series with the Bears.
USF - University of San Francisco or You Stay Forever? What is it about our school that creates such great passion and devotion from its sons and daughters?
The University of San Francisco Tuesday Testimonials tell that story in the words of the special men and women who make the Hilltop such an amazing place.
This week, Dons' baseball skipper Nino Giarratano talks about his time wearing Green and Gold. During his 18 seasons at the helm, Giarratano has amassed a record of 502-518-1, which is the most wins of any coach in USF baseball history. He has been named the Western Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2011. His 502 wins are the third most in WCC history and second amongst active coaches.
In 2006, Giarratano led the Dons to a milestone by winning a program-record 39 games and claiming the team's first WCC championship when they were co-champions with Pepperdine. In 2011 the Dons won the WCC again but this edition of the team won the program's first outright WCC title. And recently, Giarratano signed a five-year contract extension that will keep him on the Hilltop through 2022.
But one of the things that sticks with Giarratano most - other than opening Benedetti Diamond last spring - are the people he's been able to be surrounded with, on and off the field. Seeing his family graduate as Dons, his players go on to live the school's mission with the support of the entire USF athletics department has made him "the luckiest man in the world."
"I've had a lot of great memories here at USF. The opportunity to build a program and be something special, to be in one of the greatest cities in the world at one of the greatest universities in the world. The 19 years of seeing my kids graduate, compete for conference championships and now go out into the real world and be dads and lawyers and doctors and teachers and professional athletes and dot commers, it's just been wonderful to watch."
Giarratano and the Dons take the field for 2017 Opening Day in 10 short days, taking on Northern Colorado on Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. in the first of a four-game series with the Bears.
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