The Naval Academy embarked on a new era by hiring Chuck Ristano as its new head baseball coach in June. The veteran coach felt Navy was the right fit at the right time and decided to leave Florida State after just one season. Ristano is a new face in Annapolis, but Baltimore fans may already be familiar with the coach.
Ristano served as a pitching coach at the Division I level for 18 years. He coached in the ACC for 13 of those years, spending 12 seasons at Notre Dame and this past season at Florida State. Ristano was hired as the Midshipmen head coach just two days after his one-year mark with the Seminoles.
College baseball fans wondered why Ristano left one of the premier programs in Florida State, but the pitching coach was motivated to lead his own team and strived for something bigger.
“Really high-level competition drives you, chasing things like the College World Series and winning ACC championships drives you,” Ristano said on Glenn Clark Radio June 23. “But I also think what kind of crystalizes as you mature and you become a parent is what you fundamentally want to become, what you want to be around and what motivates you every day.”
As it turned out, what motivated Ristano was to build his own program and Navy. Ristano is taking on a distinctive challenge in Annapolis. Recruiting is a lot more difficult than most schools because the Mids are expected to recruit the entire country. Navy also has significant academic benchmarks, time constraints and service requirements for student-athletes.
Ristano is committed to bringing in coaches and players who align with the program’s culture and values.
“The unique challenge is also to me the unique opportunity of surrounding myself with the very best and brightest young people that our nation knows,” Ristano said. “Being able to connect with them, be part of the mentorship and leadership process and then of course fielding a competitive Patriot League championship-level program are really all the reasons I felt in pretty strong alignment to this place and pretty well connected even just in my first couple days on the job.”
Ristano produced 17 draft picks and 13 all-conference selections on the mound for Notre Dame. His pitchers also sported a team ERA below 4.00 in eight seasons and posted a walks-per-nine-innings rate lower than 3.00 in three consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
Ristano assisted in all recruiting and academic matters at Notre Dame, so those areas are not new to Ristano. He believes his time at Notre Dame helped him get the job at Navy.
“I think my experience at a place like that, while the service component is not in play, allows me some degree of understanding of what I’m about to take on now and I think that that experience probably helped me in the process,” Ristano said.
Ristano has a strong connection with former Orioles slugger Trey Mancini, as both had their inaugural season at Notre Dame in 2011. Mancini was a prolific hitter for the Fighting Irish and Ristano threw him batting practice.
In 2012, Mancini won the Big East Home Run Derby with Ristano throwing to him. They often joked around about it, but Mancini told Ristano he would call him if he ever made it into a Major League Home Run Derby.
Almost a decade later, Mancini was named as one of the 2021 Home Run Derby competitors and invited his former coach to pitch for him.
“He was just so gracious, the postgame interviews he included me with, to put me in that locker room with all of those superstars,” Ristano said. “I felt like a big leaguer for the day, and it was just an unbelievable gift. But the best gift is that relationship that continues to this day.”
Mancini made his way to the finals by clobbering 37 home runs in the first two rounds but finished as the runner-up to Pete Alonso. Still, the memory serves as an example of the bond between Ristano and Mancini.
“[He’s] truly like the best human being on the planet,” Ristano said. “I’ve met people maybe as good as Trey, but I don’t think I’ll ever meet somebody better.”
For more from Ristano, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Navy Athletics