Canadian Proietti set to head Saint Peter's University baseball program
Lou Proietti (Hamilton, Ont.) has been named head coach of the Division I Saint Peter’s University Peacocks. Submitted photo.
January 26, 2020
By J.P. Antonacci
Canadian Baseball Network
Hope springs eternal for baseball teams in January. Nowhere is that more true this year than at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey.
New head coach Lou Proietti has taken the reins of a program that was dead last in Division I last season. Playing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the Peacocks were 5-46, good for last place in the KPI ranking of 299 NCAA teams.
But the 36-year-old Canadian is brimming with optimism that change is coming to Jersey City.
“There are a lot of obstacles, but there are a lot of opportunities. Sometime you just have to have the right perspective,” said Proietti, who hails from Hamilton, Ont.
Since arriving at the private Jesuit college in the fall, Proietti and his assistant coaches, Casey Aubin and Lucas Luopa, have been aggressively seeking new recruits for the 2020-21 season.
“It’s an untapped resource. The program has been down for the last couple years, but it’s never really been attacked from a recruiting standpoint,” Proietti said. “That was an exciting thing for me – no one’s ever really attacked this full on.”
He’s especially keen to recruit players from north of the border to join Saint Peter’s lone Canuck, left-handed pitcher Christian Coombes, formerly of the Great Lake Canadians.
“I would love to have a program where we’re giving Canadians the opportunity to come down and compete against (Division I) schools and get a great education just outside New York City,” Proietti said.
Coaching at Saint Peter’s is a homecoming of sorts for Proietti, who played shortstop with the Peacocks in 2004 before continuing his collegiate career at Potomac State College in Keyser, West Virginia – finishing fifth at the Junior College World Series – and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Like the players he now coaches, Proietti missed family functions and vacations and delayed getting a job in order to focus on sports.
“I sacrificed my entire childhood to become a Division I player,” he said, stressing that he has no regrets. “I had a great experience as a kid. My dad was my Little League coach and I loved baseball. That love of the game never died – in fact, it intensified.”
Once his playing days were over, Proietti pivoted to coaching. He spent the 2009-10 season back home at McMaster University in Hamilton before stints as hitting coach with the Oneonta Outlaws of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League from 2010 to 2012, and the Plymouth Pilgrims of the New England Collegiate Baseball League from 2013 to 2016.
His prized pupil at Plymouth was Brent Rooker, the Minnesota Twins first-round pick in the 2017 MLB draft.
Working under head coach Barry Davis, whom he considers a mentor, from 2012 to 2015, Proietti helped lead the hOURglass Rival Rider Broncs to a pair of regular season MAAC championships.
For the past four seasons, Proietti was associate head coach of the Division II Stonehill College Skyhawks while also serving as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator.
“We were fortunate to have numerous qualified candidates, but Lou stood out and impressed everyone on his visit to campus,” Saint Peter’s director of athletics Bryan Felt said in a media release.
“Lou brings a relentless work ethic and remarkable track record in developing student-athletes. This is an exciting day for our baseball program.”
Proietti said education is a pillar of his coaching philosophy.
“I love teaching. With baseball, I get to teach when everyone loves the subject matter. They’re willing and able to listen to feedback,” he said.
“I am a firm believer in education through athletics. It comes down to the relationships you build.”
He wants to see his players develop self-discipline, time management and interpersonal skills through sports. As a rule, he won’t talk to parents about their kids’ playing time because he wants players to learn how to “approach people in a constructive way” and advocate for themselves.
“My goal for these guys is for them to move on to professional baseball and to leave here with a network and a skill set that will allow them to be successful in whatever they do after they leave college,” Proietti said.
“They may not even realize they’re building these skill sets while they’re here. It’s something they can take with them their whole lives.”
When presented with the chance to become a head coach in a division he knows well, Proietti jumped at it.
“It was a great opportunity to coach at the Division I level. It’s something I’ve been working towards,” he said.
Now he’s working on balancing the many responsibilities that come with being in charge.
“There’s a big difference between coaching a baseball team and running a baseball program,” he said.
On-field coaching comes naturally to Proietti after years of experience, but running the program includes keeping an eye on recruitment, fundraising, alumni and media relations, coordinating with strength and nutrition coaches, arranging accommodations, redshirting players, and a host of other duties.
The key, Proietti said, is communication.
“Just building relationships all throughout campus. The better relationships you form, the easier it becomes,” he said.
The most important relationships the rookie coach will build this season will be with the young men in the dugout at Jaroschak Field. Proietti said his team has the modern facilities and resources required to excel – what he plans to foster is a sense of pride in the program and hope for its future.
“There are 299 Division I programs in the country. We’re one of them. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be at this level,” Proietti said. “Our guys have done a great job of buying into expectations…to win at the Division I level.”
As the defending cellar-dwellers, few eyes will be on the Peacocks when Saint Peter’s opens their season on February 14 on the road in Atlanta against Georgia Tech. But Proietti has faith that if they work hard and have the right attitude, his players will soon be turning heads.
“We have everything we need,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of them making the most of it.”
Submitted photo