UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Guided by a myriad of mentors, the memories of his late father and Pete Frates, newly appointed Penn State baseball head coach Mike Gambino looks to curate a winning culture through grand ambitions, a hard-nosed style of play and a unique brand of togetherness.
Shortly before the announcement to the college baseball world that Gambino was to become the new baseball coach in Happy Valley, Gambino made a special call. A call to the parents of the late Pete Frates.
The catalyst for the Ice Bucket Challenge which raised millions of dollars in the summer of 2014, Frates was a former player at Boston College. Following his playing days, Frates was dealt a difficult hand after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. Despite the diagnosis, Frates remained connected with Gambino, later joining his staff.
With the duo working together in the dugout at Boston College, Gambino watched as Frates battled with ALS, seeing first hand what it means to be resilient, selfless and a positive teammate, even in the face of insurmountable obstacles. Gambino continues to honor Frates legacy at Penn State and wants to have Frates' perseverance be shown on the field.
"One of Pete's famous quotes is 'be passionate, be genuine, be hardworking and don't be afraid to be great,'" Gambino said. "I think that's a really good model for everybody, for all of us and I think it's something to feed off of. I think the other thing is, he was such a great leader partly because he always put the team first. So, Pete gets diagnosed with ALS and his response is, 'well, what can I do to help everybody else?' Hopefully we got a team of guys in this clubhouse that want to put the team first as much as Pete did."
Inspired daily by Frates, Gambino's coaching style and philosophy through 13 seasons helped guide a successful northeast program through the trials and tribulations of a grueling season, even as a snow covered home field forced early season trips to the South and West.
With a strong understanding of what it takes to win in a difficult baseball market, Gambino still faces those same challenges at Penn State but with a fresh perspective and the same goals of placing the Nittany Lions on the national stage.
Indicating his aspirations for Penn State to host a regional at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park and further reach the College World Series, Gambino continues to embrace key values of an unwavering work ethic and disciplined play that allowed the long-time bench boss to cement himself as a top coach in the country.
"We're gonna have to be tougher and more competitive than everybody else, because it's not easy to do it here and I'm not saying that as an excuse, I'm saying that as a point of pride," Gambino said. "We know and understand that it's going to be a hard road and we love it and that's why we're here, both us as a staff but also us as a group of players who are here and that are coming in."
With a recruiting ideology built upon the pillars of finding and developing "tough, competitive, hardworking, athletic, greedy kids that want to win," Gambino's ambitions for his team will be fulfilled by a uniform buy-in from everyone in the program, staff and players alike.
Gambino is no stranger to the brightest lights after taking the Eagles to a Super Regional in 2016 and a second NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023 following a record breaking 37-win season. However, despite his success, Gambino refuses to be satisfied, indicating that national success will come with a unified mindset.
"Well, I don't think I am going to create a winning culture, I think we, as a group, are going to work to create a winning culture," Gambino said. "What I mean by that is, it'll be our entire staff, it'll be the group of players in this clubhouse, it'll be everybody."
Headlined by 2021 ACC Player of the Year and highly-touted Milwaukee Brewers prospect Sal Frelick, Gambino had 33 MLB Draft picks during his tenure at Boston College, putting his ability to develop highly-talented prospects on full display.
Calling it a "proud dad moment" when any of his players achieve their dreams of playing at the next level, Gambino recognized that he wants to see many of his players who will don the blue and white achieve that same dream while being a strong student in the classroom.
"I want kids that want to play in the big leagues,"Gambino said. "I will tell every kid that we recruit if baseball is just kind of a fun thing you do on the side, this isn't the right place for you. "Obviously we want kids that are tremendously high character kids, we want really good students that value this degree that understand what it's going to mean to have a degree from Penn State but I want kids that want to win and I want kids that want to play in the big leagues."
With his family by his side and the legacy of his father and Frates living on, Gambino embarks on his new journey through Penn State, knowing his big dreams could be realized in Happy Valley.
