Q&A With Head Baseball Coach Joe Jordano
10/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 5, 2011
PITTSBURGH - Pitt head baseball coach Joe Jordano is preparing for his 15th season with the Panthers. The following are his thoughts on a number of topics, ranging from last season’s performance, to the upcoming season, and the future move to the ACC.
Talk a little about last year.
Last season was a solid year. I thought we had a great fall and off-season and felt very good about our performance offensively and defensively. We all knew, though, we were thin. We could not afford any significant injuries prior to or during the season. Unfortunately, we got hit pretty hard on the mound with the losses of J.R. Leonardi and very promising freshmen, Joe Harvey and Luke Curtis. Those were three guys that would have seen significant time on the mound for us. That caused everyone on the staff to bump up three spots and it really put a drain on our staff, especially during mid-week games. We needed to save as much pitching as we could for the weekend.
Offensively we did a solid job. I think at times, because of our lack of depth, many of our starters were playing every game or close to it. As the season progressed they began to wear down. Our guys did a great job maintaining a very high level of competitiveness even though we did not have many options off the bench.
Finishing third again in the regular season was nice, but we fell short of a conference championship, which is our goal every year. In the tournament, we came out strong with an opening game win against a very talented Louisville team; then lost a very tough, close and controversial game against St. John's. If we could have pulled that game off, I thought we were in great shape to potentially win the tournament. I am confident our veteran players understand the importance of staying in the winners’ bracket. That will help us going into this year.
How about the eight players associated with your program being drafted?
I feel that is a testament to our program, players and staff. The majority of our players are not draft guys out of high school, so I love the fact that our system is developing guys to take their game to a higher level. Likewise, with Justin Bianco and Boo Vazquez, incoming freshmen, being drafted shows we are attracting the right type of player. Obviously, Justin decided to play professionally and Boo is with us now. I really like our 2012 commits as well as our 2013 commits. We feel these are all ACC caliber players.
All of the guys from the program, Kevan Smith, John Schultz, Travis Whitmore, David Chester, Corey Baker and Ray Black, deserved the opportunity. I could not be more proud of those guys and enjoyed watching their success this summer.
With the loss of all of that talent, where do the Panthers stand right now?
I like where we are at. We are a different type of team. We lost basically our 1-6 hitters, the all-time wins leader on the hill and our closer. That is a lot to lose, but we feel with the 11 guys we brought in and the returning core of our team, along with a few pitchers back from injury last year, we will be a solid team.
Like any year that has a lot of turnover, we have to go back to basics in the fall. Our guys have done a very good job grasping our system and to this point we are possibly a little ahead of where we were last year at this time.
Once again, we need to stay healthy and get after it every day in order to be successful. There is no other way we can play. We have made it clear to our players and they have done a good job with it this fall.
We have two more weeks of practice for this fall that concludes with the Navy/Gold World Series next week. All-in-all we are pleased where we are at. My staff of Danny Lopaze, pitching coach Tom Lipari and Dan Lipari have done a great job executing our fall segment plan.
You are now entering your 15th year at Pitt. Reflect back on the past 14.
I remember getting the call from Carol Sprague like it was yesterday. She said, “we would like to make you a Panther.” I did not hesitate. I could not wait to start.
Obviously, whenever there is a coaching change, there are fundamental changes that are made with the program. That was my focus in year one. Simply implementing a system that would teach our players how to practice and play on the field, as well as an expectation of what we believed in off the field. Needless to say, it was a tough year, but we made a lot of progress. It was not long until we were headed in the right direction.
Trees Field as you know was a very tough place to practice and play. It was a facility that was among the lowest in D1 baseball. One of the toughest things was to conduct a fall program. Our hours varied by the day depending on men's and women's soccer practice schedules and the band schedule. We would practice on some days at 6 a.m. and on other days at 8p.m. It was a very interesting schedule. Although I must admit, I enjoyed hearing the football halftime every night prior to Saturday's game.
In looking back, I have many great memories of some incredible players and some incredible people who have been associated with this program, both past and present. I feel good about what we have accomplished here but also can't wait to begin what will be a new chapter of Pitt Baseball as we transition into the ACC.
Speaking of the ACC, how do you feel about it?
My thoughts have already been well-documented. I have a great deal of respect for my peers in the Big East as well as a few conference administrators. I served as our coaches’ group president for three terms so there is some history there working with these folks. I will miss competing against these great coaches. However, the ACC is arguably the best baseball conference in the country and any coach would welcome and embrace the opportunity. We are preparing to do that. We will continue to work diligently to prepare our team to compete in the Big East until we are told otherwise. I feel we will be ready regardless of the conference we play in. I really don't know any other way.