By Will Herron

Coming off of an impressive 15-7 season with an appearance in the PIAA District 10 Region 6A championships, the Trojan Varsity baseball team was in need of an experienced coach after their varsity coach, Vincent Carone, left for an assistant coaching job at Division three Brevard College. 

To fill the spot, the district looked to the former McDowell JV baseball coach Rick Iacobucci, who has coached for over 20 years at six different programs at college and high school levels. This includes one year at Penn State Behrend, four years at Erie High School and Mercyhurst Prep High School, seven years at Gannon University, six years at Mercyhurst University, and two years as the McDowell JV head coach.

Iacobucci was signed to an athletic supplemental contract of just over $7,000 on Aug. 28. He is looking to complete various team goals like making and winning a district championship, gaining a state playoff berth, achieving a respectable record and improving throughout the season. 

Although he’s never coached the varsity McDowell team, the transition is much easier for Iacobucci as he not only knows the kids that are on the team because he’s coached most of them prior, but he also never has to worry about which baseball field in Erie is open or if they will get the entire JV game finished. 

This is what Carone had to deal with because of the old, unreliable field with no lights that McDowell had last year before upgrading to a turf field with lights. 

However, unlike JV, where he would prepare guys for varsity ball, in varsity they are already fundamentally sound so Iacobucci is looking to take it to the next level to send as many athletes to college ball as possible. 

Shawn Chludzinski, who was a former JV player when Iacobucci coached JV, believes in Iacobucci’s ability to do just that.

“I really do think he knows a lot more about baseball than any coach I’ve ever had. I’m pretty excited to learn from him and grow as a team with him as our head coach,” Chludzinski said.

Although Iacobucci is a highly knowledgeable coach, he has some pretty big shoes to fill. 

Carone, who was a former McDowell high school player and Allegheny College player, had an exceptional couple of years at the varsity head coaching spot in 2021 and 2022. 

He led the Trojans to records of 16-5 and 15-7, both years winning the district championship along with making state playoffs in 2022. Furthermore, Carone sent 42% of his graduating players to play college baseball at some level. He’s also a co-founder and head coach of a high school travel team, Millcreek Baseball Club (MBC). 

Chludzinski misses the enthusiasm that Carone brought. “He was kind of more like a friend than a coach sometimes because he was so young compared to all the other coaches I’ve ever had. So he knew more about us as players,” Chludzinski said. 

Heading into the new season, though, Iacobucci also has a sense of knowledge of the players and their fit in the team because of how long he has been in this program. He knows these players because he and his assistant coach, Gary Hills, have coached most of the players in the program at some point on various teams such as MBC, Legion ball, or school ball. 

He constantly is viewed as a big leader and plays an important role in the McDowell baseball program. “He was a big leader. He really helped me set the bar for the other guys during my sophomore year. And you know, like, he was a really, really good mentor for everybody,” Chludzinski said.

More than anything, however, Iacobucci is happy to finally be chosen by the athletic department. This is not his first or second time, but his third time applying for head varsity baseball coach. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if giving him a chance was the right decision. 

Chludzinski certainly thinks so, “Yes, yes I do think he was the correct decision.”