Head Coach Joe Milazzo

Joe Milazzo completed his ninth year at the helm of the Utica University Baseball Team in 2022.  Milazzo holds an overall record of 123-163-2 at UC. He has led the Pioneers to five conference tournament appearances over his nine-year tenure. In April 2019, Milazzo was inducted into the Mohawk Valley Baseball Hall of Fame. Later that year, he was inducted into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2022, the Pioneers had the strongest campaign yet of Milazzo's tenure. The blue and orange nine finished the year with an overall record of 21-18, and advanced to the Empire 8 tournament final for the second year in a row. A program-record nine players were chosen to the Empire 8 All-Conference teams, with Shamariah McCullough, Joe Crossley, and Michael Muentener landing first team honors. Joe Battista was selected to the d3baseball.com All-Region team, and Ryan Cardone was honored as part of the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region team.

The 2021 season not only saw the Pioneers appear in the conference tournament, but also in their first-ever Empire 8 final. The Empire 8 Conference runners-up finished with an overall record of 18-17, and the club was 9-8 in the Empire 8 conference. Highlighting the regular season was a win over nationally-ranked St. John Fisher. In the postseason, Utica overturned an 0-1 hole in their series against second-seeded Houghton and won back-to-back games to advance to their first-ever Conference final. One of Milazzo's best local recruits, Griffin Baur, became the program's all-time pitching leader in career starts, career wins, and career strikeouts. Seven Pioneers were chosen to All-Conference teams, including first team picks Joe Battista and Brian Dinnen.

The program’s 2020 season opened with a 1-3 overall record under Milazzo before the campaign was tabled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. UC recorded a win over Wesley College after having the opportunity to travel to Dover, Delaware for early season play.

In 2019, Milazzo led the Pioneers to a 15-24 overall record, 9-9 in the Empire 8 Conference, qualifying for the conference tournament.  This is the third time a Pioneer team led by Coach Milazzo has qualified for the tournament. Shortstop Christian Tiffin and Relief Pitcher Joe Palmieri were named to the Empire 8 All-Conference Second Team and Tim Quinlan was picked as an honorable mention. Matt Fitzgerald was named Sportsman of the Year. Quinlan was selected as a CoSIDA Google Cloud Division III Academic All-American as well.

The 2018 Pioneers posted a 12-17 overall record.  Five players were named to the All-Conference Team, including first team selection Tim Quinlan, and second-team selections Matt Fitzgerald and Ryan Palmer as well as honorable mention Jake Ryan and Christian Tiffin. Tiffin was also named Sportsman of the Year. 

In 2017, Milazzo led the Pioneers to an 18-18 overall record and a, 8-10 mark in the Empire 8 Conference.  UC narrowly missed out on a third straight trip to the E8 tournament, falling one win shy of a playoff berth.  Three players were named All-Conference, including first-team selection JT Ross, as well as honorable mention Tim Quinlan, and Sportsman of the Year, Christian Tiffin.  Ross was also a first-team ECAC All-Region selection.

In 2016, Milazzo led the team to a 9-25-1 record with a 6-12 conference record. The team made the second-ever conference tournament as the fourth and final seed. He had a program-record eight Pioneers on the Empire 8 All-Conference team along with two players on the All-Tournament team. Freshman Tim Quinlan was named to the first team as he led the conference in batting average (.404) and was tied for first in slugging percentage (.636). Matthew DeMartino was named to the second team while Matthew Fitzgerald, JT Ross, Jake Ryan, Bryce Patterson, Vincent Burillo, and Dom Caccioppoli were all honorable mention team. Patterson was also named to the Sportsman of the Year team, while senior pitchers Joshua Webb and William Winsman made the All-Tournament team.

In just his second season at Utica, Milazzo led the 2015 Pioneers to one of their best seasons in over two decades.  He compiled an impressive 20-16-1 overall record marking the first 20-win season in over 23 years. He placed eight Pioneers on the Empire 8 All-Conference team along with guiding four-year catcher Thomas Dinnen to his second straight All-Conference selection.  Dinnen was also named to the inaugural 2015 Empire 8 All-Tournament Team hitting .500 over the three games going 6-for-12 and upping his season average from .316 to .333 to close out his college career. He hit safely in nine of his last ten games including six multi-hit outings while batting .461.

In his first season, Milazzo guided the 2014 Pioneers to an overall record of 9-23, and placed three Pioneers on All-Conference teams. Junior Tom Dinnen earned second-team recognition, while classmate Ryan Watson was awarded an honorable mention. Joshua Webb received the Sportsman of the Year honor for UC.

Coach Milazzo brings close to four decades of experience to Utica University.  He began his coaching career at Utica Notre Dame High School in 1981, and directed the Jugglers for nine seasons.  His Notre Dame teams compiled an overall record of 146-54, winning three Central Oneida League Championships, three Tri-Valley League Championships, and four Section III Championships. The 1982, 1985, and 1986 teams all advanced to the New York State Final Four.

In 1990, Coach Milazzo left ND to become the Head Coach at Herkimer County Community College. Although his tenure at HCCC lasted only one year, he certainly left his mark. He led the Generals to their first-ever postseason NJCAA appearance, making a run that ended in the Region III Final Four.  The following year, he became the head coach at Mohawk Valley Community College where once again he enjoyed much success. He compiled a record of 174-122, including Mountain Valley Conference Championships in 7 of his 12 years. His MVCC teams made 11 NJCAA post-season appearances, and five Region III Final Four appearances. In 1993 and 1995, the Hawks were crowned Region III Champions. These two teams won the first region titles in program history, and went on to play in the NJCAA Division III World Series.

In 2002, he left MVCC to return to Notre Dame High School as an assistant coach. This stint lasted eight years. During that time, the Jugglers won five Tri-Valley League championships, four Section III championships and the 2005 Jugglers won the New York High School Class C State Championship.

During Milazzo’s career, he has coached 6 NJCAA All-Americans and has had nine players sign professional contracts.  One of those players was 1995 World Series Champion Mark Lemke. Lemke appeared in four World Series with the Atlanta Braves during his career.

“Joe Milazzo — he prepared you for things larger than the Utica area,” Lemke told the Utica Observer-Dispatch. “I remember the 1982 season like 1995, when we won the World Series. They were very similar. That’s the great thing about playing for Joe Milazzo. It’s not about winning championships; it was about preparing for life.”

Milazzo also has extensive experience in baseball administration. From 1994 to 2003, he was an administrator in the Class A New-York Penn League. He is also the Vice President of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.