Frank Giannone Retires; Served as Player and Coach With the Blackbirds For 35 Years

7/13/05 -- Long Island University baseball coach Frank Giannone today announced his retirement, ending a 35-year run with the school as a player and coach that culminated with the last 29 years as skipper.

Giannone enjoyed a standout career as coach that saw the Blackbirds post a 544-497-4 record and gain at least a share of five conference titles. The last occurred in 1990, when the team led the nation with a .356 batting average and also won a school-record 27 games. Giannone also paced LIU to seven appearances at the ECAC Regionals, defeating some of the region’s elite programs along the way.

His next to last conference championship came in 1985, a year in which he notched his 159th victory to surpass his collegiate coach Dick Vining as LIU’s all-time leader. Another milestone was reached April 23, 2002, when Giannone recorded his 500th career victory as the Blackbirds upended Saint Peter’s.

Giannone’s impact can be felt beyond the program as 50 of his players have been drafted by a professional team or played professionally outside the United States. The 1990 Northeast Conference Coach of the Year almost inked another prospect that season, becoming the first to offer Atlanta Braves starter Mike Hampton a scholarship to LIU.

Arriving in Brooklyn in 1970, Giannone produced a solid four-year career in which he batted .301 and committed just two errors over 535 chances. He hit .333 as a junior in 1973 and .299 the following year.

Giannone provided the Blackbirds one of their memorable moments May 25, 1972 in the NCAA Tournament. As a sophomore, his two-run triple in the top of the ninth inning lifted LIU to a 2-1 victory over St. John’s.

He served as an assistant coach under Paul Lizzo from 1975-76 before becoming the all-time youngest Division I baseball coach at age 24, a mark he still holds. He amassed 18 winning seasons as coach and has been associated in over 65 percent of the Blackbirds’ games since the program’s inception in 1929.

Among his recent awards include recognition by the New York “Hot Stove League” for long, devoted, and meritorious service to the perpetuation and progress of baseball. He also was inducted into the Monsignor McClancy High School Hall of Fame in East Elmhurst, N.Y.

Giannone received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education in 1974 and a Master of Science Degree in Guidance and Counseling in 1976 from the downtown Brooklyn Campus. During several summers, he coached Teaneck of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. Giannone also served two terms as president of the Metropolitan Baseball Conference, was a panelist on the advisory baseball selection committee for the NCAA and the ECAC, and a college liaison for the New York Mets.