Tony Rossi Position: Head Coach Experience: 38th year Alma Mater: SUNY Brockport '65

For the 38th consecutive season, Tony Rossi will call the shots for the Siena baseball program. He is the winningest coach in school history in any sport. Rossi also has the longest tenure of any coach in Siena history and of any current coach in the MAAC.

Rossi has defined Siena baseball over the years, building it from a Division II team with 10 players to a championship Division I program with 21 scholarship student-athletes. Over his 37 years, he has coached 30 players who have gone on to sign professional contracts and two who have reached the highest level (Gary Holle `71 and Tim Christman `01). With the addition of baseball scholarships, Rossi has been able to recruit against the top programs in the country.

Skip (as he is affectionately known) spends a good deal of his time recruiting, organizing and fundraising, so the program can continue to grow and remain successful.

Since entering the MAAC in 1990, Rossi has guided the Saints to a 214-155 record in the conference. In the 17 seasons Siena has been a league member, he has been named MAAC Coach of the Year six times: 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001 and most recently in 2005. Rossi has also coached four MAAC Rookies of the Year and four MAAC Players of the Year. Over this time, Siena has captured four MAAC regular-season titles and four MAAC Tournament championships.

Prior to 1999 there was only one step left for the Siena baseball program to take - qualifying for the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. That feat was accomplished by the 1999 Saints, who finished the year 21-5 in the MAAC, and swept through the MAAC Tournament out-scoring their opponents 35-7.

Last season, Rossi earned his milestone 600th career win. Rossi has been elected to the Siena Sports Hall of Fame (1985) and the Albany Twilight League (1985) Hall of Fame. He is a 1965 graduate of Brockport State College, where he excelled in baseball for three seasons, earning SUNY All-Star each year. In 1964, he had the highest batting average (.477) in the East.

Rossi and his wife, Val, live in Schenectady and have two children, Scott and Kristen.