In a pretty surprising move, St. Joseph’s Head Coach Rick Garrett announced that former Dowling Head Coach Tom Caputo will be his new assistant coach, replacing Paul Parsolano.
Caputo is widely considered to be one of the best hitting coaches on Long Island and was able to galvanize a Dowling roster that began the season 3-11 and led them to winning the ECC Championship in 2016. They also were on the verge of a Division-II World Series appearance in 2014.
When he was the guest on the Axcess Baseball Podcast, I came away with the impression that while he missed the success he had at Dowling and the impact he had on the lives of young men, that he was content with where he was at in life. Things change of course, and he is now back in the college game.
This is bad news for opposing managers.
Caputo is an astute observer of the game, obviously the fundamentals from his time as a professional player and is a master motivator. I know several of the Dowling players who came away convinced that he made a tangible difference in their record through his motivational and training tactics. Additionally, it can have an impact on recruiting as he has made a name for himself as someone people enjoy playing for.
I can speak on this because I played for him as well. I played at Farmingdale State College in 2010. During my freshman year, he was the assistant coach and I can say unequivocally that the position players were resolute in their support of him. It was nine years ago, so the memories fade, but I can say he was a voice of reason on a team with over 30 players and dozens of personalities. I also pitched two games for him that summer playing for the Long Island Junior Ducks. My late father was a big fan of him and I know that means he saw him as a man of integrity.
As for the Skyline Conference in 2019, I do believe this was about as big of an assistant coach as they could bring in. I don’t think it overcomes the advantage that Farmingdale State has on offense and the two aces of Merchant Marines, but it’s enough for them to be right in the mix to defend their crown.
If you’d like to listen to the podcast from November you can listen to it below:
