Riginos Hired as New Baseball Coach

As you have no doubt heard by now, Tom Riginos accepted the offer to be the third head baseball coach in Winthrop history Friday afternoon. His formal introduction will be at a Wednesday press conference in the Eagle Club room. Full video coverage will be available.

Coach Riginos has an excellent pedigree having coached under Jack Leggett at Clemson the past two seasons. Of course, everyone in this area is familiar with the Tiger Baseball program that has made the trip to the College World Series 12 times. Leggett was recently named the ABCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. Prior to his time at Clemson, Riginos played and coaching under Pete Dunn at Stetson. The Stetson program you may be less familiar with but the Hatters have played in the NCAA Tournament seven times since 2000. Coach Dunn is seventh on the list of division I wins by an active coach. He has 1,097 wins in 31 years at Stetson. And let us not forget his time at Eastern Kentucky where he learned under the legendary Jim Ward who has been inducted into three separate Halls of Fame (Eastern Kentucky, Stetson, and the Ohio Valley Conference).

Riginos has learned from three of the finest baseball coaches around and now he has the opportunity to coach at Winthrop. Personally, I think this is an exciting time for both Coach Riginos and the Winthrop program. Coach Riginos gets the opportunity he has no doubt dreamed about for years, having his own team, making his own decisions, and teaching players the sport he loves. Winthrop gets a new coach who has been to Omaha, has been a part of one of the best programs in the ACC, and has successfully recruited athletes who have played for the US National team and who are in professional baseball.

Winthrop is not in the habit of hiring short term baseball coaches. As I mentioned, this is only the second coaching change in the program’s 30 year history. Horace Tubeville from 1980-1991 and Joe Hudak from 1992-2010 both achieved success at Winthrop and hopefully Tom Riginos will find success here as well. All of the pieces are in place. A beautiful ballpark, great tradition, and a talented core of returning players should make this an exciting year for Eagle Baseball.