Looking back on the seven years of service as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Blazer baseball, Angelo Nicolosi has made it impossible to ignore the impact he has had on the program.
After arriving at VSU in the fall of 2017, Nicolosi used his first full year of recruiting efforts to bring in a class of student-athletes that helped lead the Blazers to a 32-23 record in 2019 and a dominant mid-season victory over the No. 1 ranked Tampa Spartans. Furthermore, the team proved their resiliency with a late-season surge that led to a deep run in both the Gulf South Tournament and the NCAA South Regional. Momentum carried over into the 2020 season before it was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Blazers were ranked 11th in the nation before the season’s abrupt conclusion.
Among the standout players who made up Nicolosi’s first recruiting class at VSU was Josh Broughton, who made his professional baseball dreams a reality out of Valdosta State after he landed a 25th round selection by the Kansas City Royals.
Prior to joining the Blazer baseball staff, Nicolosi spent two stints at St. Johns River State College in both 2014 and 2017. As both a coach and a key recruiter at St. Johns, Nicolosi put together recruiting classes that included Major League Baseball (MLB) players Nate Lowe of the Tampa Bay Rays and Miles Straw of the Houston Astros. In addition, he coached Pierson McMahen, who was drafted in the fourth round by the Colorado Rockies.
Along with his coaching experience at the collegiate level, Nicolosi is also no stranger to the world of professional baseball. Between the aforementioned stints at St. Johns, Nicolosi served as the Scouting Coordinator for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He capitalized on the opportunity by signing multiple players, including Willie Calhoun in the fourth round of the 2015 MLB Draft.
Nicolosi’s early days of coaching consisted of six years as an assistant coach at Tallahassee Community College, where he helped escalate the program to status as the nation’s top ranked team in the Spring of 2014. During the summer months of that six-year stretch, Nicolosi managed the Rockville Express of the prestigious Cal Ripken Summer Collegiate League in 2010 and 2011. In addition, he spent the summer of 2009 as the head coach of the nationally-renowned 15-and-under East Cobb Titans.
Experiences during his playing career included a full four year collegiate career from 2000-04 as both a catcher and a pitcher at St. Thomas in Miami, Fla., where Nicolosi decided to stay and further his education as a volunteer assistant with the Bobcats while earning his M.B.A.
