George Valesente

George Valesente

Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Ithaca
Conference	Liberty
Biographical details
Born	1945 (age 78–79)
Playing career
1963–1966	Ithaca
1967	Lexington Braves
1967	Geneva Senators
1968	Burlington Senators
1969	Buffalo Bisons
1969	Savannah Senators
1970	Pittsfield Senators
1970	Burlington Senators
Position(s)	Pitcher, First baseman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1973–1974	Brockport (NY)
1975–1976	New Paltz (NY)
1977–1978	SUNY Maritime
1979–2019	Ithaca
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Division III College World Series Champions 1980 and 1988
Awards
American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2005) American Baseball Coaches Association Division III Coach of the Year (1980 and 1988)
Records
1,196-547-8

George R. Valesente (born 1945) is a retired college baseball coach who is the former head coach of the Ithaca Bombers.

Career

Valesente was a 1966 graduate of Ithaca College. Valesente coached for 41 seasons at his alma mater, where he coached from 1979 until 2019. Valesente, who was inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2005, reached the 1,000 win milestone of his coaching career during the 2012 season, and in 2014 earned induction to the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame. During the 2015 campaign, Valesente earned his 1,000th career win as Ithaca's head coach on March 14, and 1,100th overall on April 18. Valesente had guided the Bombers to two national championships (1980 and 1988), 10 World Series appearances and 35 NCAA postseason berths in all. His teams had never had a losing season and had won nearly 70 percent of their games. Ithaca had captured 27 league titles and four runner-up finishes during Valesente’s career. Ithaca has won 17 of the 20 Empire 8 titles. Valesente had coached 31 All-Americans and 42 players who have signed professional baseball contracts. Valesente retired with an all-time record 1,136-507-8 at Ithaca College and a 1,196-547-8 overall in 47 seasons coached. Valesente had been honored many times for his coaching accomplishments. He was voted the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Division III Coach of the Year in 1980 and 1988 and he earned district coach of the year recognition in 1980, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994 and 2013. In 2012, he was named D3baseball.com's inaugural NCAA New York Region Coach of the Year and earned his eighth Empire 8 Coach of the Year award. He repeated as New York Region Coach of the Year and Empire 8 Coach of the Year in 2013. Valesente would once again be named Empire 8 Coach of the Year in 2019, which was the 11th of his career.