LEXINGTON, Ky. - The University of Kentucky has named former Embry-Riddle Baseball player and coach Nick Mingione as its next Head Coach of the Wildcat baseball program. Mingione, a native of Cape Coral, Fla., played for former ERAU coaches
Greg Guilliams and
Todd Guilliams from 1997-00 before serving on the Guilliams' coaching staff from 2003-05. Kentucky's Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart announced Mingione's hiring on Monday.
"When I first came here to Lexington, I moved up here from Daytona Beach, Florida where I left a great program in Embry-Riddle where I played and coached," Mingione said in a Tuesday press conference. "And right away I knew this was a place you could win at, and I am just so excited to be back."
"Nick Mingione is exactly the kind of coach we hoped to hire when we began our search," Barnhart said. "His passion, tactical mind and tireless recruiting efforts made him an important part of Mississippi State's staff during some great years for the program. More than that, he is a man of substance who is committed not only to developing young men as baseball players, but as students and people."
Mingione has spent the last eight seasons at Mississippi State, helping Head Coach John Cohen and the Bulldogs to 284 wins, five NCAA Regional appearances, three NCAA Super Regional appearances and a NCAA College World Series runner-up finish in 2013. Mingione served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under Cohen at MSU following a two-year stint at Kentucky with Cohen from 2006-07 and a year at Western Carolina in 2008.
"It's been a privilege to watch Nick develop as a person and a coach for a decade," Cohen said. "He's a tireless recruiter who values relationships, and he's done an outstanding job developing our players."
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Prior to his time at Kentucky, Mingione was an assistant coach at Embry-Riddle for three seasons as the Blue and Gold compiled a 154-36 record, winning three Florida Sun Conference Championships and reaching the NAIA World Series each year, culminating in a World Series runner-up finish in 2005.
"Greg and
Todd Guilliams have made major impacts on my life," Mingione said. "They gave the skinny guy from southwest Florida, who used to sprint on and off the field, an opportunity to play college baseball, and then they gave me an opportunity to coach. I can never repay them."
Mingione was an assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast in 2002, helping build the foundation of a program that began playing in 2003, and before that, coached at Mariner High School, his alma mater, in 2001.
Mingione appeared in 179 games for the Eagles in his four-year playing career, highlighted by an outstanding senior season in which he hit .392 with 76 hits, 43 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. Mingione collected 172 total hits in his career, ranking 10th all-time in program history, while driving in 95 runs and scoring 126 times. He graduated in 2000 with a degree in aerospace studies with  minors in business administration, psychology and humanities.
"What an awesome day today for Nick as he was named head baseball coach at the University of Kentucky," Embry-Riddle Director of Athletics John Phillips said. "The Wildcats are getting one of the most dedicated, passionate and competitive coaches in the country. Nick is an outstanding communicator, a phenomenal recruiter and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. When I think of Nick and his core values, I think of hard work, dedication, loyalty and family; and I know he will bring those same qualities to the Wildcat baseball program."
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