Penn State Baseball tabs Boston College's Mike Gambino as head coach
Penn State search for a new baseball coach has come to an end today as the program announced that Boston College head coach Mike Gambino has been hired to become the next leader of the Nittany Lions program per Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.
Gambino is a Garrison, New York native, who comes to State College after 13 seasons leading the Boston College Eagles program, where he most recently made the NCAA Regionals with the program this past spring following a record of 37-20. He also just inked a five-year extension with the Eagles back on June 13th.
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Here’s his full bio via BCEagles.com
“13th Season | Career Record: 254-346
Mike Gambino, a 1999 Boston College graduate, was named head baseball coach on July 19, 2010. He brought the Eagles to the program’s first NCAA Tournament in seven years in 2016 and back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference Championship appearances. Between 2016 and 2019, BC appeared in three out of four ACC tournaments for the first time since joining the league in 2006.
In 2019, Boston College went 31-27 and reached the ACC Championship Semifinals as the 12-seed with wins over Clemson and top-seeded Louisville. A program record five Eagles earned All-ACC, led by All-ACC First Team pitcher Dan Metzdorf. A fifth round pick of the White Sox, Metzdorf led the ACC with a 2.30 ERA. Freshmen outfielder Sal Frelick and second baseman Cody Morissette earned All-ACC Second Team and thidr baseman Jake Alu was named to the All-ACC Third Team. Frelick and Morissette were joined on the ACC All-Freshman Team by pitcher Mason Pelio.
Metzdorf became the ninth player in program history to be drafted in the first five rounds and was followed by Jake Alu (Nationals - 24th) and Matt Gill (Reds - 27th).
Metzdorf and Morissette each earned Collegiate Baseball News All-America honors, becoming the first BC duo to claim All-America recognition in the same year since 2009. Morissette, Frelick and Pelio put BC in position to lead the country with three Freshman All-America honors across various media outlets.
BC was sixth in the ACC in hitting in 2019 with a collective .289 batting average. The Eagles' 94 stolen bases ranked second in the league and 1.62 steals per game were first. BC infielders turned a league-leading 55 double plays, while the pitchers surrendered a league-low 0.44 home runs per game.
Two former BC pitchers made their MLB debut in 2019 with 2016 first round pick Justin Dunn debuting for the Seattle Mariners and 2016 12th rounder Mike King pitching for the New York Yankees in the final weekend of the season.
Four players were selected in the 2018 MLB Draft beginning with Jake Palomaki to the Rays in the 18th round and followed by Jacob Stevens (Diamondbacks - 21st), Brian Rapp (Twins - 26th) and Dan Metzdorf (Yankes - 38th). Outfielder Chris Galland earned All-ACC Third Team and Collegiate Baseball News Freshman All-America.
The first BC player from Gambino's head coaching tenure reached the majors in 2018 when outfielder Chris Shaw, a 2015 first round pick, debuted for the San Francisco Giants
In 2017, the Eagles returned to the ACC Championship, the first time they went to the conference tournament in back-to-back years since 2009-10. BC accomplished the feat by winning 10 of its last 15 ACC games with sweeps over Notre Dame and NC State. The ’17 Eagles ranked fourth in BC record books for their .975 fielding percentage and fifth all-time with 76 stolen bases.
Gambino guided the 2016 Eagles to 35 overall wins, the most since 2005, tying for the second most in program history. They also tallied 13 ACC wins, the most since 2010, while their six conference series victories set a school record. BC swept the Oxford Regional as the three seed to advance to the program's first-ever Super Regional and move on for the first time in 49 years. BC also earned national ranking for the first time in school history, ending the season in the top 25 in all four major polls (15th – D1Baseball, 16th – Baseball America, NCBWA and 21st – USA Today/Coaches Poll).
For his efforts, Gambino was named the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Northeast Region Coach of the Year, was a D1Baseball finalist for Coach of the Year and earned a spot on the website’s top-10 coaching performances of the season.
Gambino saw Justin Dunn garner All-America third-team honors, the first pitcher to do so since 2009, and newcomer Jacob Stevens collect freshman All-America honors from two media outlets, the first BC honoree since 2002. Stevens picked up New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Freshman of the Year accolades and All-ACC Freshman team honors, while Dunn was named to the All-ACC Third Team and four players were named to the NEIBA All-New England team.
The 2016 Eagles ranked in the top five on 13 school record lists, including setting the program record for walks (240), tying the record for saves (14), and ranking second in opponent batting average (.245). Ten Eagles ranked on 26 of BC’s career top-10 lists while eight Eagles found themselves 17 times on single-season, top-10 lists.
In 2016 and 2015, Gambino mentored two first-round draft picks: Dunn, taken 19th overall by the New York Mets in 2016, and Chris Shaw, taken 31st overall by the San Francisco Giants. It was the first time in program history the Eagles saw back-to-back first rounders. BC was also one of five programs to have first-round selections both years.
The 2016 season saw five baseball players drafted – Dunn, Michael King (12th round), Jesse Adams (14th round), Nick Sciortino (19th round) and Joe Cronin (34th round). In 2017, Gambino saw Casey (20th round) and Adams (22nd round) leave The Heights for the MLB.
In 2015, Gambino logged his 100th career win as a head coach in the final game of the season with a walk-off, 10th-inning victory against No. 24 Notre Dame. The Eagles ranked in the top five on six school record lists, including the second-fewest walks (231), the third-best fielding percentage (.976) and the pitching staff recording the fourth-most strikeouts (433). BC also ranked sixth on the year in the ACC in stolen bases (63) and doubles per game (1.78), fifth for stolen bases per game (1.17) and walks per game (4.28) and second in fielding percentage.
Four players from the 2015 team were drafted in the MLB First-Year Players Draft, including Shaw, the first BC first-rounder since 2009. John Gorman (31st round), Jeff Burke (32nd round) and Blake Butera (35th round) were also taken. Four Eagles earned New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) All-New England accolades while Gorman was named to the ACC All-Academic Team and Shaw collected All-ACC Second-Team, Perfect Game USA All-American Third-Team and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Northeast First-Team honors.
The Eagles went 17-33 in Gambino’s first season at the helm, but he saw four players get selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft. In 2011, the Eagles improved to 20-33, winning 10 games in the highly-competitive ACC. In just one year, the team’s batting average improved 19 points, slugging percentage 54 points and on-base percentage 27 points.
In his second year, Gambino saw infielder Anthony Melchionda and outfielder Tom Bourdon earn All-ACC second-team honors and take home ABCA All-Northeast Region and NEIBA All-Star accolades. Melchionda and classmate Matt Brazis were both drafted in the 2012 MLB Draft.
A young team in 2013, the Eagles regularly started five freshmen, and Gambino worked to improve through the year. The overall batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage all rose significantly from the first half of the season to the second and the Eagles doubled their win total.
In his fourth year at The Heights, Gambino saw the more improvement, recording 22 wins and tying for the most in conference, going 10-20 in the ACC. Shaw earned First-Team All-ACC and ABCA honors while pitcher Andrew Chin was drafted in the 15th round.
Since taking over at the Heights, Gambino has stressed off the field success as well, raising the team’s GPA as a whole. Eagles have earned seven spots on the All-ACC Academic baseball team and 58 on the ACC Academic Honor Roll.
Gambino, who was an assistant coach for the Eagles from 2003-05, came from Virginia Tech where he spent four seasons as an assistant coach under former BC head coach, Pete Hughes. He served as the Hokies' recruiting coordinator and also worked with the hitters and infielders. In his four years, he saw 15 players get drafted in the MLB Draft, including nine in 2010. From 1997 through 2006, only 13 Hokies were drafted in total.
Virginia Tech's batting average improved 40 points under Gambino’s direction since the 2006 season. With his help, the 2010 Hokies made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2000 and finished the season ranked No. 20 in the country.
Prior to working in Blacksburg, Gambino spent two years as a regional scout for the Detroit Tigers.
Gambino played for the Eagles from 1997-2000, starting 166 games in the middle infield. He held a career batting average of .313 with 22 doubles, eight homers, 87 RBIs and 117 runs. His 78 hits in 2000, which was No. 1 when he graduated, was tied for fifth, until 2011, when his own player, Bourdon, knocked it down one with 79 hits of his own. Gambino’s 52 runs his final year is still tied for eighth.
The Garrison, N.Y., native was a first-team All-Big East, All-New England and All-Northeast region honoree following his senior campaign. He also earned second-team All-New England and Big East Academic Team accolades during his playing career.
Following his career with BC, Gambino played two seasons in the Boston Red Sox minor league system. He spent the 2000 season with the Augusta Green Jackets before splitting the 2001 season between Augusta and the Lowell Spinners. In 2002, the Red Sox hired Gambino as a special assistant to the Major League staff before heading back to Lowell for a coaching role with the Spinners just prior to the June draft. Following his stint in Lowell, the Red Sox sent Gambino to the MLB Scout Development Program.
In January 2003, Gambino returned to Boston College as an assistant coach under Hughes.
Gambino received his bachelor’s degree from The Heights in English and theology. He currently lives in Needham, Mass., with his wife, Jill, and their children, Sonny and Callahan.
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PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
2003-05: Boston College (Asst.)
2007-10: Virginia Tech (Asst.)
2011-2023: Boston College (HC)
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