In naming Tom Carcione as Metro State's head coach in 2009, school AD Joan McDermott cited Carcione's long history, both as a coach and as a player."Tom brings an extraordinary amount of experience from the college and professional levels," McDermott said in a release. "We're really excited to have someone with his knowledge and experience to help move our baseball program forward in the right direction."
By that point, Carcione had been a coach in both the pros and college for a decade. Before that, Carcione spent another decade as a player. As a player, Carcione made it as high as AA, but he didn't make it higher.
Carcione's career in baseball began in 1988, taken by the Athletics in the 10th round of the draft, out of Texas A&M University.
Carcione started at short-season Southern Oregon, hitting just .187 in 43 games. His team made it to the league championship series, losing on a close play at the plate involving the catcher Carcione.
"I thought he was out," Carcione told The Spokane Spokesman-Review of the controversial play. "I thought I had the plate covered."
Carcione played much of 1989 and 1990 at single-A Modesto. He also got 24 games in 1990 at AA Huntsville. He returned to Huntsville for brief stints in 1991 and 1992. His 1992 season was again spent largely at Modesto. He hit .256 on the year, his last with the Athletics.
For 1993, Carcione moved to independent ball, becoming the first player to sign with the Sioux City Explorers. He played there two seasons, both under manager Ed Nottle. Carcione hit .227 and .233.
He played three more seasons, two with Grand Forks and a final season in 1998 back with Sioux City, ending his career.
Carcione soon found himself in coaching, starting in the Northern League as an assistant coach with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in 1999 and 2000. He then became an assistant coach at the University of South Dakota.
In 2006 and 2007, Carcione returned to Sioux City as pitching coach under his old manager, Nottle. When he took the position in 2006, Carcione credited Nottle with helping him learn important lessons, including getting involved in the community, according to The Sioux City Journal.
"In all my experiences with teams I coached on or teams I played on," Carcione told The Journal, "you may have better talent, but if you've got three or four different groups in your clubhouse it's a problem compared to having everybody in the clubhouse doing things together. I've seen it from the high school level to the professional level."
In 2012, Carcione took the position of assistant coach at Northern Illinois University, a post he also had in 2008. He continues in that job for 2014.
Originally published March 3, 2014
- Spokane Spokesman-Review, Sept. 5, 1988: Close call at home gives Tribe the NWL title, Part 2
- Sioux City Journal, April 1, 2006: Carcione rejoins X's as coach
- GoMetroState.com, July 2, 2009: Metro State Names Carcione New Head Baseball Coach
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