Penn State job a career move for Scott Loiseau
Jul. 15—Scott Loiseau considers Southern New Hampshire University home and had no intention of leaving his position as the school's head baseball coach.
Then he received a call from Mike Gambino.
Loiseau, who took over as SNHU's baseball coach in 2008 and led the program to the past 11 NCAA Division II tournaments, resigned from his position last week to join Gambino's new staff at Division I Penn State University.
Loiseau got to know Gambino when the Gambino became Boston College's baseball coach in 2010 through mutual friend and former Northern Illinois University baseball coach Mike Kunigonis.
Gambino, who left BC to become Penn State's baseball coach on July 3, called Loiseau, asking if Loiseau would like to be one of his assistant coaches.
"I just think it's a great challenge. It's a good staff," Loiseau said. "It's a Northeast staff obviously at a premier school in the country and it was just something that I thought was good for me right now in my career."
Loiseau, a Worcester, Mass., native, said his role with Penn State is still being figured out but he knows he will work with the batters and catchers.
Nick Puccio, a former assistant coach at Northeastern University and head coach at Division III Nichols College, will also serve with Loiseau as an assistant coach to Gambino.
Loiseau informed his SNHU players of his decision Monday night.
"The challenge of building a program kind of from the ground up with a new staff, I think, is something that's really exciting and definitely will be a really good challenge for us," said Loiseau, who is married with four daughters.
Penn State went 25-25 overall and 7-16 in Big Ten play last spring, missing the conference tournament. The Nittany Lions have had nine seasons, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, with under .500 records, including six with fewer than 20 wins, since 2010.
Loiseau led the Penmen to the Division II World Series five times (2012, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023). Last season, SNHU went 44-13 overall, 23-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference and advanced to the World Series semifinals.
Last spring, the Penmen set program records for the most home runs (86), hits (626) and RBIs (473) in a season and batted .321, their highest team average under Loiseau.
Loiseau won the NE-10 Coach of the Year six times and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association East Region Coach of the Year award four times.
Over Loiseau's tenure, SNHU went 480-209-2.
Loiseau said his experience leading the Penmen taught him that the more great people you associate yourself with, the better chance you have of being successful.
"I'm obviously extremely proud of all the hard work that all the administration have put into the program, all the coaches I've worked with and all the players that we've had," Loiseau said of his time at SNHU. "I'm extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish together and it was a huge part of my life. It's a chapter that I won't ever forget."
.
SNHU is expected to conduct a national search for Loiseau's successor.
"The heights that Coach Loiseau took the SNHU baseball program to during his time in Manchester were nothing short of incredible," said Anthony Fallacaro, director of athletics and recreation, in a statement released Friday.
"Any time you take over a program and grow it into one of the top programs in the country, you know that head coach and his staff are special, and I was fortunate to call him my head coach for the last 11 years.
"My confidence in Coach Loiseau is marrow deep and that only grew as time went on, and I watched him build this program into an NCAA national championship contender every year. Coach Loiseau always did it the right way and that is the foundation he built here and why SNHU baseball is consistently one of the best programs in the nation.
"I wish him all the best in this next chapter in his coaching journey and he will always be a member of the Penmen family wherever his coaching career takes him. Happy Valley is getting an incredible coach and an even better human being."
