UTPA names Mantrana as new baseball coach

EDINBURG -- The University of Texas Pan-American announced Thursday the hiring of Manuel Mantrana as its new baseball coach.

Mantrana, who was the coach at NAIA St. Thomas University in Miami, takes over a program that has fallen on hard times. In six seasons under former coach Willie Gawlik, the Broncs were 120-206. During the last two years, players openly spoke out against Gawlik and/or jumped shipped.

UTPA opened a national search for a new coach after firing Gawlik in late June.

The university informed Mantrana he was hired Thursday morning, and he says he is well aware of the challenges.

"The number one thing is that you have to change the mindset of the last few years," Mantrana said. "You have to turn that mindset around that we are capable of winning and that we are going to win. The first thing, with the players is letting them know that we are going to win. We just have to believe we are going to win."

Mantrana was one of 24 coaches who applied for the job and was one of four finalists, which included former Broncs assistant Gene Salazar, Virginia Tech Associate Head Coach Dave Turgeon and Virginia Military Institute assistant Ryan Mau.

This biggest name to apply was former University of Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico, who led the Volunteers to three College World Series in 18 years at the helm. Delmonico did have a phone interview with the school.

Broncs Interim Athletic Director Ricky Vaughn refused to speak about Delmonico instead focusing on Mantrana, who was the first to be offered the job.

Vaughn has said that the school was looking for the right fit and not necessarily the biggest name.

"Each of the candidates talked about the challenges they are going to have rebuilding this program," Vaughn said. "It is not going to happen over night. It is going to take a couple of years to get us going down the right path."

Mantrana played in the Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets farm systems. He coached high school in Miami for four years before jumping to Miami-Dade Community College in 1995. In 1996, Mantrana took over at St. Thomas, leading the school to a 434-193-1 record.

"We are going to take the players we have at UT-Pan American and do the best that we can," Mantrana said. "They remained loyal to the program and stayed. It could have been easy for them to leave but they didn't. I haven't met any of the players but I already respect them because they stayed."

Peter Rasmussen covers UTPA athletics for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via e-mail at prasmussen@themonitor.com