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Pitt Announces Resignation of Longtime Baseball Coach Joe Jordano

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Pitt head baseball coach Joe Jordano has officially resigned after 21 years, the school announced on Friday.

Several early reports on Thursday said that Jordano had been fired, and in an interview with Pittsburgh Sports Now late in the season, Jordano enthusiastically described his team’s returning players after an ACC-best 2018 season. He also tweeted on Jun. 15 that he was looking forward to the upcoming season.

Jordano’s departure had been rumored, if not expected, by many on Pitt’s campus until his team’s surprising 2018 run to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. Nonetheless, Jordano announced his own resignation on Friday.

“I am honored to have had the opportunity to lead this program with integrity, passion and love for the past 21 seasons,” he said in a press release. “It was my objective each day to provide an environment to allow our players to achieve a high level of success, both on and off the field. I am very grateful to my assistant coaches, players and Performance Team members who made my chapter of Pitt baseball a memorable one. Thank you for a great ride. Hail to Pitt!”

“For more than two decades, Joe has been the face of Pitt baseball,” Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said. “More importantly, he has also been the program’s driving spirit. On behalf of Pitt Athletics, I want to thank Joe for his tremendous service to the University of Pittsburgh and congratulate him on a truly remarkable run coaching the Panthers. He responded to the challenge of moving into the ACC by building a strong and competitive foundation. Our task now is to build upon that foundation and continue our upward climb in the nation’s best baseball conference.”

Jordano, whose tenure with the Panthers dated back to 1997, departs as the winningest coach in the history of the program with a 582-522-2 overall record.

His 2018 season was one of his best, with Pitt finishing 29-26, their best record since joining the ACC. Pitt also played in its first ACC Tournament, and beat Georgia Tech and top-seeded North Carolina to advance to the semifinals.

Before coming to Pitt, Jordan was the head coach at Mercyhurst for 10 years, where he also left after owing the school’s all-time wins record. Jordano is a Westminster alum.

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
 
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