CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College Athletic Director Peter
Krasny recently announced the hiring of Dan Palumbo as the new head
baseball coach but a family issue led Palumbo to resign just after
a week on the job.
Palumbo was to replace Nathan Bashaw who left Elms to head the Westfield State program. Bashaw was 20-20 in 2013 for the Blazers.
"I am very excited to welcome Dan Palumbo in to the Blazer
community," Krasny stated. "Dan brings a tremendous amount of
energy and experience to our program, both as a head coach and
administrator, that will help the baseball team continue to grow
and succeed as we move forward."
During his 12 years at John Jay, Coach Palumbo served as the
Director of Athletics for four years, Interim Sports Information
Director for 5 years, game management supervisor for various
sports, an athletics alumni coordinator, as well as an athletics
advisement and retention coordinator. He was also an exercise
professional in the college fitness center, and an adjunct lecturer
in physical education classes.
Under the direction of Coach Palumbo, the John Jay baseball
program made the City University of New York Athletic Conference
(CUNYAC) playoffs every year including the conference championship
four times (2002, 2006, 2007, 2008) and won it twice (2002,
2007).
After joining the John Jay coaching staff just before the 2002
season, Coach Palumbo took over a program which had won just one
game the year before he arrived. In his first season he guided the
Bloodhounds to the conference championship.
In 2006 he led John Jay to their first of three straight
invitations to a regional post-season appearance in eight seasons
when the team earned a berth into the Eastern Collegiate Athletic
Conference (ECAC) Metro Division tournament, where they earned a
spot in the championship game. Then the following season Palumbo
led the Bloodhounds to 27 wins and once again earned a trip to the
ECAC Metro Regional tournament, while winning the CUNYAC Coach of
the Year award for the second time in as many seasons.
During his time at John Jay, Coach Palumbo was awarded the
prestigious John Jay College Employee of the Year award, American
Italian Coalition of Organizations (AMICO) Achievement Award and
the City University of New York Athletic Conference Service Award
for outstanding work in the community. Recently, Coach Palumbo was
awarded the Person of the Year award courtesy of the Republican
Club, a student club at John Jay. He also won an award from the
Urban Male Initiative Club. In 2013 he received the 25 Year College
Coaching Award from the ABCA.
Under Coach Palumbo's guidance, the baseball team, in 2007, was
presented with a Proclamation from the City of New York at City
Hall by New York City Councilwoman, Gale Brewer, due to the
tremendous amount of community service the baseball team provides
to its local community and their high GPA. Coach Palumbo also
received citations from the State Senate and letters from former
President Bill Clinton and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
due to his outstanding contributions to the community, along with a
citation from State Senator Martin Golden.
During his time as John Jay's head coach, five times one of his
players was named CUNYAC's Player of the Year, and twice named
Pitcher of the Year, to go along with an abundance of conference
All-Stars. Furthermore, Coach Palumbo was the head coach of a
CUNYAC baseball All-Star team in 2007 which traveled to Italy as
part of a conference Goodwill Tour. With a vast amount of hitting
expertise, the Bloodhounds led the nation in triples in 2006 and
finished second in the nation in batting average in 2007 and have
hit over .300 as a team numerous times.