Former Tribune Latona named head coach of Mercyhurst Lakers

Jimmy Latona spent the months of May and June recruiting and putting together the 2025 schedule for Mercyhurst University Baseball. Filling the responsibilities as Interim Head Coach of the northern Pennsylvania school.

Earlier this week, the former Churchville-Chili Saint and Monroe Community College Tribune found out he will be at the helm when the Lakers take the field next season as a member of Division I Northeast Conference.

"It's definitely a big weight off my shoulders," Latona said by phone after being announced as head coach. "I've been doing everything all summer acting like the interim tag is not on, but it still was. It still weighed on me a little bit, so it's definitely a big stress relief to have that removed."

Latona takes the place of longtime head coach and current Mercyhurst athletic director, Joe Spano.

"It's all very humbling right now for me, everything that's going on," he said.

Latona didn't rush into the coaching profession.

An All-PSAC, All-Region and All-American selection during his senior season in 2017 at Mercyhurst, Latona continued his playing career for two years in the independent United States Professional Baseball League (USPBL). When his wife, Molly, was accepted into the nearby Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), Spano reached out with the possibility of Latona returning to the program as an assistant coach.

He hesitated at first when considering the financial limitations of the position.

"I knew I had to make money."

Spano persisted and Latona accepted the job as assistant coach in 2020. It didn't take long to figure out that he had made the right choice.

"A couple weeks being back, I knew that being around the game is something I love. I realized it was something I wanted to continue doing and make it my career."

It wasn't easy, though.

"People see guys that get paid a ton of money, but they don't realize what goes into it as an assistant, especially for us at Mercyhurst in the past. We only had our head coach and one assistant that was full-time. I wasn't that assistant. I was scrapping, giving lessons, working camps, going to all these different recruiting events making contacts and doing all those things just to make ends meet.

"It was a lot of time away from home, a lot of time driving the highways of PA (Pennsylvania), Ohio and New York. Trying to figure out ways to make money while staying in it and also doing your job. I go to these recruiting events to make money and to make ends meet, but I also got to find the best players."

The fruits of those labors are paying off now.

"He stayed in baseball when he was probably hardly making enough money to survive," said Dave Brust who coached Latona at Monroe Community College. "He paid his dues. He was available for the opportunity. That's what young coaches have to realize. You have to make yourself available.

"That carried over from his playing days. He didn't allow injuries or other off-the-field distractions to get in the way. Jim always made himself available. I'm very proud of him."

Spano, who led Mercyhurst Baseball for 24 years, took the athletic director position in August of 2023. Originally, his brother Charlie - a longtime assistant in the program -- was named the interim coach. That changed when Charlie took a job with Prep Baseball Report.

Latona was the next in line.

"It was kind of a shock," Latona said. "Charlie had been here 20 years. He got the interim tag and why wouldn't he. Once I got it, I was very excited.

A four-year varsity performer at Churchville-Chili, Latona played under head coaches Ed Distaffen and Randy Shaffer.

A summer playing in the New York Collegiate Baseball League led Latona to Mercyhurst.

"I hadn't heard of Mercyhurst out of high school. Roomed with a teammate from the Hornell Dodgers who played at Mercyhurst. I started to learn more things about the program. It sounded like a great fit for me with what I was looking for.

"The big thing for me when I was being recruited was I wanted to win. I didn't care about individual awards or how I did specifically in a game or season. I wanted to compete for wins and championships. That's what drove me to go to MCC and what got me to Mercyhurst."

Mercyhurst announced in April that all 27 of its athletic programs will go Division 1 for the 2024-25 school year.

PHOTO ATTACHED: In 2015, Jimmy Latona led NJCAA Division II with an on-base percentage of .567. Mercyhurst University named Latona its head baseball coach on July 17th. (Photo courtesy of Mercyhurst Athletics.