FSU Baseball, Jarrett officially add two assistant coaches, finalize staff
Now with new Florida State head baseball coach Link Jarrett in the fold, Jarrett and the Seminoles are adding to the team's assistant coaching staff for the 2023 season.
FSU announced the hiring of two former Notre Dame top assistants in pitching coach Chuck Ristano and recruiting coordinator Rich Wallace to fill out the staff.
Wallace was announced yesterday, while Ristano's hire was announced by the school this afternoon.
Jarrett was able to sway both of the key former assistant coaches on his staff with Notre Dame during his three-year run in South Bend as head coach.
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A standout at UCF in the early 2000s, Wallace already has major ties to the state of Florida during his collegiate baseball career.
Before he joined Notre Dame's staff for three seasons under Jarrett, Wallace rose up the ranks with his alma mater UCF, High Point University, Creighton, and eventually as an assistant head coach with Jacksonville University from 2018-2019.
Meanwhile Ristano, a longtime Irish assistant who was retained by Jarrett, also started his career in college baseball on the field as a player with Sacred Heart.
A key member of the ND baseball staff since 2011, Ristano had experience as an assistant in a similar role as pitching coach with Monmouth University, Temple, and his alma mater Sacred Heart.
Here's the full release from FSU Sports Info for Wallace's hire, and the release for Ristano's hire is below:
Chuck Ristano, a veteran pitching coach with 18 years of Division I experience – including the last 12 at Notre Dame – has been named Florida State’s new pitching coach, head coach Link Jarrett announced Friday.
Throughout his coaching career, Ristano has recruited and coached 36 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, 9 MLB players, 26 All-Americans and 47 all-conference selections. Ristano has recruited and coached five conference Player or Pitcher of the Year winners and four conference Rookie of the Year honorees.
“Chuck is a dynamic pitching coach who has the experience to recruit effectively in any part of the country,” Jarrett said. “His recruitment and development of pitching staffs at Notre Dame – with versatility and unselfishness – was impressive. His dedication to his daily work with the pitchers, scouting report data, use of applicable modern technology and in-game pitch calling will help our FSU pitchers reach their full potential. His track record for producing Major League-caliber arms and a plethora of draft picks speaks for itself.
“Chuck’s wife, Lizzy, is a phenomenal softball coach who is leaving a championship program at Notre Dame. She helped build the Irish program as both a player and an assistant coach, while their kids Jane and CJ have grown up around sports and are fantastic kids. We are very fortunate to have the entire family at Florida State.”
“I’m incredibly excited for the chance to follow Coach Jarrett to Florida State,” Ristano said. “The environment he creates for our players, staff and families is special. I have long admired the Seminoles from across the diamond, and the level of respect I have for the program, its players and tradition is immense. It is such a privledge and honor to be a part of it, and I am really looking forward to working with the current and future Seminoles in our pursuit of excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community.”
Ristano spent the past 12 seasons at Notre Dame, serving as the pitching coach and liaison to MLB scouts and scouting directors while implementing advanced player development technology, maintaining the yearly calendar and helping with daily practice plans. He also assisted in all recruiting and academic matters, helping the Fighting Irish to a team GPA of 3.27 in Fall 2021. Notre Dame led the ACC with eight players on the All-Academic Team in 2022.
Ristano produced 17 Major League Baseball draft selections, 13 all-conference selections and eight seasons with an earned run average under 4.00 during his time in South Bend.
In addition to his college coaching career, Ristano has also served as a pitching coach for the 2019 and 2022 USA Baseball 16U/17U National Team Development Program. The program identifies, evaluates, coaches and selects the most elite players in the country for eventual placement on the 18U National Team. Ristano coached current Seminole pitcher Jackson Baumeister at the NTDP in 2019.
During the 2021 MLB Home Run Derby, Ristano was the pitcher for former Notre Dame star Trey Mancini. Mancini finished as the runner-up in the event.
In 2022, the Fighting Irish reached the College World Series for the third time in program history and appeared in back-to-back Super Regionals for the first time. Since 2020, Notre Dame’s .729 win percentage was second-best in the country and the Irish won at least 70 percent of their games in all three years.
Ristano’s 2022 pitching staff was one of the best in the nation, leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in ERA (3.91) and hits allowed per nine innings (7.77). Notre Dame was eighth in the country with 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings, setting a school record with 615 strikeouts for the year.
Notre Dame was 10th nationally in ERA and hits allowed per nine innings and 17th in WHIP (1.30).
Left-hander John Michael Bertrand was a unanimous All-American in 2022, while also being named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and first-team All-ACC selection. Bertrand was Notre Dame’s first All-American starting pitcher since 2009 and led the ACC with a 2.81 ERA and 109.0 innings pitched.
Jack Findlay was a Freshman All-American, while Austin Temple led the ACC in opponent batting average (.200) and was ninth in the league in ERA.
In 2021, Ristano and the Irish reached the Super Regionals, finishing third in the ACC with a 3.95 ERA with three pitchers among the Top 10 in the conference in ERA. Bertrand was a first-team All-ACC pitcher – Notre Dame’s first since joining the conference in 2014 – and Tanner Kohlhepp was a second-team All-ACC selection with seven wins out of the bullpen as the Fighting Irish’s top reliever.
Prior to joining Notre Dame, Ristano was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Temple (2010) and Monmouth (2006-09). Ristano began his coaching career in 2005 at Sacred Heart, his alma mater.
Ristano was a two-time captain and four-year letterwinner at Sacred Heart, graduating with a sports management degree in 2004. Ristano and his wife, Lizzy – a 17-year coach for the Notre Dame softball team – have two children, Jane and CJ.
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