The winningest head baseball coach in San Jose State University history, Sam Piraro is in his 23rd season at the helm in 2010. Piraro is the program's only leader to guide the Spartans to multiple NCAA Championship appearances and Western Athletic Conference pennants. As the only San Jose State baseball coach with more than 500 victories, his teams have an overall record of 726-540-6 in 22 seasons. Over 100 of those wins have come against ranked teams.
 
In 35 years, the four-time WAC Coach of the Year has compiled 990 wins and been associated with 30 winning, two .500 and just three losing seasons. He has produced seven All-Americans, five Freshman All-Americans, 74 all-conference selections, including 40 All-WAC picks, and 42 academic honorees at the conference level during his tenure. Former standout Junior Ruiz is the only player in WAC history to earn both the league's Freshman of the Year (1999) and Player of the Year (2000) awards. Ryan Shopshire was the program's first WAC Pitcher of the Year in 2009, while Gerad Cawhorn was the 1993 Big West Conference Player of the Year.

Spartan Baseball Back Atop the WAC

In 2009, Piraro guided the Spartans to the WAC regular-season crown, their first since 2000, earning a second straight WAC Coach of the Year award as a result and fourth in his 12 seasons in the league. Among numerous team superlatives, San Jose State compiled the best overall record among the nine NCAA Division I baseball programs in Northern California for the second time in three years, at 41-20, reaching the 40-win plateau for the sixth time in program history, fifth under Piraro, and first since a school-record 45 triumphs in 2002. The 41 wins tied for the third-most at San Jose State with the 2000 College World Series squad. The Spartans were one of the final three teams in the country left undefeated, along with eventual NCAA Championship participants Georgia and Virginia, thanks to a 9-0 start, their best since 1989. At 15-7, San Jose State posted an above-.500 league mark in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2001-02.

Piraro's team lost just one series of three games or more all year long, going 11-1-1 in such sets, rallying from two games down for a weekend split against WAC rival and defending national champion Fresno State, before capping its first three-game sweep of area rival Santa Clara since 2003. An impressive 27-6 home ledger included four-game sweeps over league foes Louisiana Tech and Nevada for a second straight year. The Spartans led the league in pitching for the first time and fielding for the fourth time in five years. They were second in hitting, shattering the school record with a .339 average, among a total of eight new single-season program standards. WAC Pitcher of the Year Ryan Shopshire was joined by four teammates in earning All-WAC distinction. Five Spartans were selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, including fourth-rounder Kyle Bellows, with seven moving on to the professional ranks in all.

Along the way, San Jose State achieved its first in-season national ranking since 2002, taking over the No. 25 spot in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's poll on March 9, and produced its first victory over a nationally-rated opponent since 2005, when the Spartans edged then-24th-ranked Hawai'i, 3-2, in Honolulu on April 4.

For Piraro individually, win No. 700 came at home against Dartmouth, 6-1, on March 19, the milestone commemorated prior to the April 25 Fresno State doubleheader with the presentation of a framed home plate signed by Spartan players and coaches.

The 2008 campaign saw Piraro's Spartans post a winning record and 30-plus victories for the third year in a row, at 31-25, and qualify for a third successive WAC Tournament. San Jose State won its last five regular-season games to complete the WAC slate at 17-14, its first above-.500 league mark since going 21-9 in 2002. Picked to finish fifth in the preseason, the Spartans were just half a game out of the runner-up spot, in fourth.

Piraro and his brand-new coaching staff accomplished this with a squad that had just four seniors and 11 players returning from the previous year. He was rewarded by being selected the WAC Co-Coach of the Year. In 47 out of 56 games played, Piraro started no fewer than five freshmen and sophomores. In back-to-back non-conference victories at Washington State of the Pacific-10 Conference on April 27 and at home against San Francisco State on April 30, he had five true freshmen in the lineup. The Spartans, second in the WAC in both pitching and fielding, posted a 21-6 record at home.

In 2007, Piraro led San Jose State to a 34-26 mark, tops in Northern California. At the WAC Tournament, his squad took the first two games before falling to repeat champion Fresno State and host Nevada. The Spartans knocked off top local opponents California and Stanford in the same season and posted a series triumph at Hawai'i for the first time since 2002, and took the three-game set with Santa Clara for the first time since 2003.

A head coach who prides his program on being sound defensively, Piraro saw his squad top the conference in fielding (.970) for a third straight year while also pacing the WAC in hitting for the first time with a .312 average behind a then-school-record 653 hits. Kyle Bellows became the first Spartan to earn All-America honors of any kind since 2003 by being named a Freshman All-American by two media outlets, while also garnering second-team All-WAC distinction alongside a pair of teammates, including Donato Giovanatto, who was later selected in the First-Year Player Draft.

Piraro notched win No. 600 on March 12, 2006, in a 9-3 defeat of Miami (Ohio) at San Jose Municipal Stadium. The Spartans concluded the 2006 campaign with an overall record of 33-26, surpassing the .500 mark for the first time since 2002. An even conference record of 12-12 was good for third in the final standings and a berth in the reinstituted WAC Tournament.

San Jose State's team fielding percentage of .979 in 2006 bettered the school record it had just broken the year before with a mark of .978. The Spartans led the conference and ranked second nationally behind Oklahoma (.983).

The Spartans had pitcher Branden Dewing and outfielder Ryan Angel recognized as All-WAC performers. Two of Piraro's pupils were chosen in the MLB Draft.

In 2005, Piraro's squad was an even 28-28-1, and San Jose State became one of only two teams in WAC history to put together a three-game sweep over national power Rice, the conference's perennial champion from 1997 through 2005.

The then-school-record .978 fielding percentage in 2005 led the WAC while putting the Spartans in a three-way tie for first nationally with Texas and Washington. The Spartans did not commit an outfield error in 30 conference contests. First-team All-WAC shortstop Anthony Contreras produced a school-record 32-game hitting streak to close the season.

A Winning Tradition

After missing the 2003 season for medical reasons, Piraro returned to serve the University as its baseball head coach in 2004. He has averaged 33 coaching wins per season at San Jose State, and has directed teams to .500-or-better records 19 times. He is also the only Spartan baseball coach to lead teams to seven consecutive .500-or-better seasons. His Spartans have five 40-win seasons, including a school-record 45 victories in 2002, when the team was ranked as high as 18th nationally, set eight school records and qualified for the NCAA Championship for the second time in three years.

On February 23, 2002, Piraro became the first Spartan head coach to reach the 500-win plateau with a road win at Cal Poly. On March 13, 2001, he took over the number-one spot for San Jose State baseball coaching victories with his 468th triumph, passing his mentor, Gene Menges, following a win at the University of San Francisco.

Sixteen of Piraro's San Jose State teams have reached the 30-win mark, including six in a row from 1997 through 2002. The 1989 and 1990 editions of the Spartans are the only two to post back-to-back 40-win seasons.

In 2000, Piraro directed one of the most celebrated seasons in Spartan athletic history. San Jose State won a share of the WAC crown and earned the program's first NCAA Championship berth since 1971. The Spartans proceeded to win the Waco (Texas) Regional by defeating nationally-ranked Florida, and the Houston Super Regional over fifth-ranked host Houston, to advance to the College World Series for the first time. Piraro was named Rawlings Coach of the Year, ABCA West Region Coach of the Year and WAC Coach of the Year.

Named the San Jose State head coach in the summer of 1986, Piraro reached the 200-win mark in 1992, accomplishing the feat in fewer games than any previous SJSU baseball coach. His 300th Spartan coaching victory came in 1996 against Southern Utah, and his 400th win on April 10, 1999, at UNLV.

In 1997, the Spartans were 38-21 and won the WAC West Division championship. Piraro was named the WAC Coach of the Year and Louisville Slugger WAC Coach of the Year.

Piraro's teams have appeared in the national rankings a total of 48 times, including seven in the 2002 campaign and 10 weeks in 2000. The Spartans were ranked nationally for 11 weeks and as high as 11th by Collegiate Baseball during the 1989 season. In 1990, the Spartans received their first preseason ranking and were ranked for 14 weeks, peaking at No. 4 by The Sporting News. San Jose State appeared twice in the Collegiate Baseball rankings in 1992, at 29th and 27th, and was rated as high as 17th in 1997.

Guiding Young Men's Careers

Piraro has profoundly influenced the careers of his student-athletes. Nearly 80 of his San Jose State players have gone on to sign a professional baseball contract. Kevin Frandsen, a Spartan infielder from 2001-04, went 3-for-4 with three runs in his first game for the San Francisco Giants on April 28, 2006, and hit his first major-league home run on August 17 that year in San Diego. A local product who completed his first full season in the majors in 2007, Frandsen was a 12th-round pick by the Giants during the 2004 Amateur Draft. Three more former Spartans made their MLB debuts in 2009.

Previously, Anthony Telford pitched in the major leagues for nine seasons. Third baseman Jeff Ball played for the Giants in 1998 and managed the Atlantic City Surf professional baseball club from 2004-06. Second baseman Gabe Lopez was a Double-A prospect of the New York Yankees. Pitcher Matt Durkin was a second-round choice of the New York Mets in the 2004 draft. In all, Piraro has sent 32 players onto the next level via draft selection since 1997.

Over 50 of Piraro's former players and assistants have moved into the high school and collegiate baseball coaching ranks. Ninth-year Santa Clara University head coach Mark O'Brien played on the 1991 and 1992 Spartans. Scott Hertler, Piraro's assistant at Mission College and later for 12 years at San Jose State, has been the head coach at De Anza College since 1999. Also included are Todd Eagen (1987-88), former head coach at Mission College; Shane Carley (1993-94), a former assistant at Mission and now the head coach there; Jason Bugg (1991-92), a former Spartan assistant and now the associate head coach at Mission; Dave Sick (1991-94), a former assistant at De Anza College; and Greg Mugg (1990), another former assistant at De Anza.

The Spartan coach also places a premium on academic performance. Pitcher Donnie Rea and catcher Kevin Tannahill were Academic All-Americans in 1989. Dave Sick was a three-time Academic All-District VIII selection, with current senior Karson Klauer now a two-time choice. The program has set new highs in Academic All-WAC honorees the last four years, with four in 2006, eight each in 2007 and 2008, and 10 in 2009. Fifteen Spartans earned San Jose State University Scholar-Athlete recognition for the 2005-06 academic year, 14 for 2006-07, 10 for 2007-08 and 12 for 2008-09. Baseball players have posted the highest grade-point average among male SJSU student-athletes in four of the past five school years, with Wes Porter in 2004-05, and Klauer over the last three.

Corey Cabral, a pitcher who graduated in May of 2007, became the first Spartan male to be presented the WAC Stan Bates Award in August of 2007, as the top male scholar-athlete in the conference based on academic record, athletic performance, character, sportsmanship, leadership and community service.

From 1992-99, Piraro served as an assistant athletic director in addition to his duties as head coach. His fundraising efforts through the years have augmented the baseball operations budget and facilities. The Blethen Field project, through the generosity of Fred and Sandra Blethen-Chasalow, brought in $350,000. The gift enabled the program to refurbish Blethen Field into a first-class practice facility and alternate game site. Since Piraro's hiring in 1986, he has raised over $1,000,000 for his program and the athletics department.

Background Rooted in San Jose

Piraro was an infielder on the 1971 and 1972 Spartan teams. He received both his bachelor's degree, in physical education in 1975, and master's degree (1982), from San Jose State University.

The San Jose native is in his 36th season as a college baseball coach, and has amassed 990 victories during his three head-coaching appointments. He began his career in 1974 as a graduate assistant and junior varsity coach at San Jose State. His first year as the junior varsity coach resulted in a 22-5 record and a league championship. Piraro produced a 74-43 mark with the junior varsity squad in three seasons. He was the Spartans' top varsity assistant under Gene Menges from 1977 through 1979.

In 1980, Piraro became the first baseball coach at Mission College in Santa Clara, Calif. In seven seasons, he compiled a 190-70 record, won five Coast Conference championships and two state titles (1981 and 1983). Following each of the state crowns, Piraro was named California Community College Coach of the Year. He also was the school's athletic director and chair of the physical education department from 1983 to 1986. In 1996, Piraro became the second-youngest coach to be inducted into the California Community College Baseball Hall of Fame, for his contributions to community college baseball.

The Santa Clara County chapter of the Italian-American Heritage Association recognized Piraro in 2000 as its Sportsperson of the Year. He has served as an NCAA regional advisor and a voting member of the Collegiate Baseball rankings panel, and was selected to represent the West Region on the NCAA Championship Selection Committee prior to the 2006 season. He has co-authored a book with fellow coaches, titled Gold Glove Defense, through the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Piraro and his wife, JoAnn, live in San Jose with their two children, Jason (27) and Jenna (22). Jason is in his fifth season as the Spartans' coordinator of baseball operations, having completed his undergraduate degree requirements at San Jose State.