New CSN coach Garritano begins cleanup assignment
Some players greeted him with wide smiles, some with steely stares. It's going to be that way for a while.
Broken spirits aren't mended overnight.
Nick Garritano understands this as sure as he awakes today the owner of his dream job as the College of Southern Nevada's new baseball coach. It was a position secured when the CSN baseball program went from World Series participant and home to the immense talents of Bryce Harper for one season to investigating potential rules violations and mistreatment of players.
When it went from historic wins to allegations of making players pay for working out and food while allegedly promoting a culture of drugs and alcohol within the locker room in just four months.
"I want our program to be very, very, very well-structured," Garritano said. "I want it to be clean. The image has been tarnished. The (program) has suffered a black eye. I'm going to do everything in my power to clean things up and help these kids move on. It's my job to restore CSN baseball to better times.
"I told the players that the faster we can jell together as a group, the faster we're going to heal and move forward. The more bickering there is, the more headbutts there are, it's going to take that much longer to provide the best possible team we can put on the field."
Garritano on Tuesday was introduced as the replacement for Chris Sheff, the coach fired last week a day after the university announced it had launched an independent review into allegations of irregularities in training and conditioning practices.
Look. The people at CSN seem like nice folks, but they botched this thing from the outset. They made the wrong hire in Sheff despite many, including the coach (Tim Chambers) who built CSN from dirt into a national power, recommending Garritano get the job once Chambers took over the baseball program at UNLV. They didn't listen closely enough to people with a clue about this sort of stuff. Fancy titles don't always translate to knowing what's best when it comes to hiring baseball coaches.
But for all the dark clouds hovering over CSN's program until the investigation runs its course and findings are released, there is some sunlight cast by a homegrown coach itching to prove himself at this level.
Garritano won two state titles coaching Green Valley High School the past 12 years, producing a 315-118-1 record. He played sports at Chaparral and was recently inducted into the UNLV Hall of Fame as a former place-kicker for the football team.
He didn't just want the CSN job. He coveted it for years.
"He will do a great job," Chambers said. "The bottom line is, the kids will be fine."
They have experienced the highs and lows of an emotional roller coaster recently, some standing on the side of Sheff and others on the side that insist rules violations occurred.
One thing sure to help Garritano is the presence of assistant coach Nick Aiello, a holdover from Sheff's staff who has a better understanding today of the team's mindset.
"It was very difficult at first," sophomore third baseman Ray Daniels said. "We didn't know where our program was going to go. To hear those things it was unfortunate what happened.
"But we're ready to move forward. We're not going to let any of this hold us back. I believe we'll get right back up."
This is news because of the nationally recognized program Sheff built at Bishop Gorman and of the success Chambers produced at CSN. Anywhere else, a community college bungling a baseball hire and having to now hope an investigation doesn't unearth serious rules violations might warrant a few paragraphs on the back pages. But these are big names in the local baseball community, and the allegations and countless rumors surrounding CSN under Sheff's guidance are beyond alarming.
What that means for Garritano's program today isn't clear. This much is: A local boy has grown up and been handed a college coaching job he should have probably had months ago. It's an opportunity he doesn't intend on wasting.
"I can't put into words what this means," Garritano said. "For it to finally be reality It's sort of surreal for me. I haven't quite yet swallowed it.
"I'm anxious to get out on the field with the kids and worry about baseball. That's my No. 1 concern -- these kids. We'll get it all figured out. I know there are going to be some headbutts along the way. We're going to get past all of that."
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," FOX Sports Radio 920 AM.
