Penn State hires new baseball coach away from Boston College

Penn State hired a new baseball coach this week.

Penn State baseball will have a new look this season.

After 10 years as the head coach of the team, Rob Cooper announced his resignation would come at the end of the 2023 season. Cooper was previously at Wright State before coming to Penn State in 2013.

He had seven 30-win seasons out of his nine years at Wright State and made the NCAA Tournament three times.

Cooper was hired by Penn State to lead the baseball program back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.

However, the success never quite came for Cooper.

Penn State made the Big Ten Tournament one time in 2022 when they finished sixth in the conference standings with an 11-13 record. That was the best finish for Penn State under Cooper.

After Cooper’s resignation, Athletic Director Pat Kraft was tasked with finding his replacement. He went to a familiar face at Boston College and hired Mike Gambino to be the new head coach of the baseball program.

Gambino is coming to Penn State after 13 seasons at Boston College.

He just lead the Eagles to their best season in program history when they finished with a record of 37-20 and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Gambino also was able to develop talent while at Boston College. He had 33 of his players get drafted by the MLB, including three first round picks and six in the first five rounds.

In a press release talking about the hiring, Kraft said, “I am thrilled to welcome Mike and his family to Happy Valley as our new baseball coach. We worked with Mike at Boston College and know how he grows a program to find success on a national stage.”

Gambino is taking over the program immediately and will attempt to get Penn State back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over 20 years.

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