Winthrop University Men's Baseball

Riginos is entering his sixth season as head coach of the Winthrop baseball team after leading the Eagles to the 2014 Big South Conference Southern Division title. Riginos was officially introduced as the new baseball coach at Winthrop University on August 4, 2010, becoming just the third head coach in the programs history. In his first season with the program, two Winthrop players were drafted in the 2011 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft (Tyler Mizenko, Eddie Rohan), while one signed a free agent contract (Robert Lake). Mizenko was drafted in the 28th round by the San Francisco Giants and Rohan in the 50th round by the New York Mets, with Lake signing with the Mets as well. The 2013 draft included pitchers Eric Ruth and Matt Pierpont.  Ruth was taken in the 11th round by the Tampa Bay Rays while Pierpont went in the 26th round to the Colorado Rockies. Outfielder TJ Olesczuk was drafted in 2014 in the 40th round by the Baltimore Orioles. Riginos earned his first career victory as a head coach in the Eagles' 14-9 season-opening victory over the San Diego State Aztecs, who were coached by Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Prior to joinging the Eagles, Riginos (pronounced rih-JEEN-uhs) spent eight seasons on the Clemson baseball staff under head coach Jack Leggett. He spent his final three seasons with the Tigers as the associate head coach/recruiting coordinator, and was an assistant head coach from 2003-07.   We had a very strong pool of candidates for our head baseball coaching position, and in Tom Riginos we believe we have hired one of the top coaches on the collegiate level, said Winthrop athletic director Tom Hickman. Coach Riginos has had tremendous success in attracting talented players to both Stetson and Clemson, and then developing those players into championship caliber student-athletes. We believe he will continue to bring that success to Winthrop. During his time as the recruiting coordinator at Clemson, Riginos brought in consecutive top-20 recruiting classes. The 2009 class was ranked ninth by Collegiate Baseball, while the 2010 recruiting class ranked 29 th nationally by Baseball America. I just knew it was going to be the right fit, said Riginos at his introductory press conference. Rock Hill is a good area to bring up a family. With my family and my wifes family and relatives being in Florida, staying in the Southeast was important to me. Its about family, relationships and contacts, and this is the right fit. The overall program here at Winthrop, the facilities and the size of the school reminded me so much of where I got my start as a player and a coach at Stetson University. Those are my roots and Winthrop is so similar in so many ways. In his first season with the Tigers in 2003, the squad posted a .309 team batting average and also led the Atlantic Coast Conference with a .326 average in ACC regular season contests. All four starting infielders that season were named either First or Second-Team All-ACC. The next season saw Clemson continue its offensive progression hitting 73 home runs, and recording 77 stolen bases and 149 doubles. Over the next two years (2005-06) the Tigers posted four All-Americans, and finished the 2006 campaign 19 th in the country in homers-per-game, clinching the ACC Championship and a spot in the College World Series. Kris Harvey was named First Team All-American in 2005, while Taylor Harbin was a Second Team Freshman All-American member. Tyler Colvin, currently a member of the Chicago Cubs, and Andy DAlessio were both First Team All-Americans following the 2006 season. DAlessio would go on to tie the school-record for home runs in a career with 59 in 2007. Clemson would go 31-27-1 in 2008 and not make the NCAA Tournament, but Riginos developed future first-round draft pick Kyle Parker into a First Team All-ACC member during his freshman campaign. The Tigers also posted 62 homers in that season, despite starting eight underclassmen in the lineup. The 2009 and 2010 seasons saw Clemson make its way back to the NCAA Tournament. In 2009, the Tigers made it to the Tempe, AZ Super Regional and finished with a 44-22 record. Jeff Schaus earned First Team All-ACC honors, while Ben Paulsen led the squad with a .367 average and 13 home runs to go along with 61 RBI. Clemson returned to the College World Series in 2010 for the first time since the 2006 season after finishing with a 45-25 overall record and 18-12 in the conference en route to the ACC Atlantic Division Championship. The team hit a total of 93 homers in 2010, including 20 by Parker, and Schaus had a team-high 87 RBI. Brad Miller led the Tigers with a .357 batting average. Before heading to Clemson, Riginos spent nine seasons (1994-02) with head coach Pete Dunn as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Stetson University. He recruited eight classes for the Hatters program that garnered national recognition. Riginos also recruited six All-Americans and 10 Freshman All-Americans during his time at Stetson. He coached four of the five top hitting teams in Hatter program history, which included the 2001 squad that posted a .324 team batting average and 78 long balls. The team also finished the season ranked 24 th nationally in batting average, 12 th in slugging percentage and 19 th in homers per-game. Riginos tutored five All-Americans and five of the best hitters in Stetson history including Chris Westervelt, Kevin Nicholson, Frank Corr and Sammy Serrano. He began his collegiate coaching career as the top assistant and graduate assistant coach for two seasons at Eastern Kentucky under head coach Jim Ward. Riginos was in charge of the hitters and outfielders for the Colonels, and helped coach the team to a second-place league finish during the 1992 season. I have been with three head coaches who have probably more than 3,200 wins, said Riginos.There are probably not too many assistant coaches that have been under coaches like that. That right there gives me the experience to build the Winthrop program. The one thing that I will promise is that our guys will play hard, they will be competitive and they will represent Winthrop University in a first-class manner. I can guarantee you that. As a player, Riginos was a four-year letter winner for the Hatters from 1987-90. He played under Dunn and helped Stetson to three NCAA Regionals and three conference titles. Riginos played in 225 career contests and hit .279, while finishing as one of the top base-stealers in program history with 61. He was also named team captain during the 1990 season. He earned his bachelors degree in Sports Administration from Stetson in 1990, and later earned a masters degree in Physical Education/Sports Administration from Eastern Kentucky in 1993. A native of Clearwater, FL, Riginos is married to the former Shaileen Kelley. The couple has twin girls, Alexandra and Grace (15), and a son, Chatham (6). Tom also has a son, Ben (28) who plays professionally with the Colorado Rockies.