For the 42nd consecutive season, Tony Rossi will call the shots for the Siena baseball program. He is the second longest tenured active Division I head coach in the nation behind only Augie Garrido of Texas (43 years). Rossi is the winningest coach in school history in any sport and the winningest active coach in the MAAC.
Rossi has defined Siena baseball over the years, building it from a Division II team with 10 players to a championship Division I program with 24 scholarship student-athletes.
Over the past four decades, he has coached 34 players who have gone on to sign professional contracts and three who have reached the highest level (Gary Holle '71, Tim Christman '01 and John Lannan '07-Pres.). With the addition of baseball scholarships, Rossi has been able to recruit against the top programs in the country. This past season, second baseman Dan Paolini led the nation in home runs per game and was the first player in Siena College history to earn All-American recognition garnering a spot on Collegiate Baseball's Second Team.
Skip (as he is affectionately known) spends a good deal of his time recruiting, organizing and fundraising, so the program can continue to grow and remain successful.
Since entry in to the MAAC, prior to the 1990 season, Rossi has guided the Saints to a 261-202 (.563) record in the conference. Over the past 20 seasons, he has been named MAAC Coach of the Year six times: 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001 and most recently in 2005. Rossi has also coached four MAAC Rookies of the Year and four MAAC Players of the Year. Over this time, Siena has captured four MAAC regular-season titles and four MAAC Tournament championships.
Prior to 1999 there was only one step left for the Siena baseball program to take - qualifying for the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. That feat was accomplished by the 1999 Saints, who finished the year 21-5 in the MAAC, and swept through the MAAC Tournament out-scoring their opponents 35-7.
In 2006, Rossi earned his milestone 600th career win. Rossi has been elected to the Siena Sports Hall of Fame (1985) and the Albany Twilight League (1985) Hall of Fame. He is a 1965 graduate of Brockport State College (now the College at Brockport), where he excelled in baseball for three seasons, earning SUNY All-Star each year. In 1964, he had the highest batting average (.477) in the East.
Rossi and his wife, Val, live in Schenectady and have two children, Scott and Kristen.
