June 30, 2003

Garden City, N.Y. - Dominic Scala, former bullpen coach of the New York Yankees, was named the head baseball coach at Adelphi University as announced today by Director of Athletics Robert Hartwell. Scala, who replaces former coach Ron Davies, becomes just the second head coach in forty years.

"We are happy to be able to attract someone like Dom with not only his collegiate and professional experience but his camp experience as well," said Hartwell. "He brings a renewed vitality to Adelphi with his passion for baseball. This motivation will translate to our student-athletes and should bring us back to being a competitive regional team."

This is the first head baseball change for Adelphi since 1964. " I respect everything that Ron Davies has done for Adelphi, and I plan to follow in that tradition," said Scala. "My goal is to bring back the respect and the tradition that he established in the early nineties and build on that."

Scala comes to Adelphi with an impressive professional and collegiate career. Drafted in the 6th round by the Oakland A's in 1976, he was acquired by the NY Yankees as the Bullpen Coach from 1978-1986. During his nine-year stint with the Yankees, he was a member of the 1978 World Championship and the 1981 American League Championship teams and worked with such legendary coaches as Yogi Berra, Billy Martin, Gene Michael, Jeff Torborg and the late Dick Howser.

From 1987-1990, he became the Advance Major League Scout and special Assignment Scout of the Pittsburgh Pirates under Jim Leyland. In addition to maintaining his own baseball camps since 1990, he has served as director of many others, including NY Mets camp and the Dave Winfield camp.

Last season, he served as the third base coach for St. Mary High School, a team that hadn't won a single catholic high school game in its seven years existence. In 2003, they won three games, including upsetting No. 1 seed Chaminade in the first round of the Catholic High School League playoffs.

A standout athlete in both football and baseball at St. Francis Prep, Scala played third base at St. John's University from 1972-76. A collegiate third team All-American and two-time ECAC All-Star, his name still appears in the top ten collegiate career record books in nine of 13 offensive categories. A team captain, he batted .420 his senior year, good for 15th in the nation, and was named the team MVP.

In his first act as the new head coach, Scala appointed former assistant coach Bob Malvagna to the position of Associate Head Coach. They met as teammates at St. John's University and have maintained a working relationship for the past 20 years. "I have the utmost respect and trust in Bob," said Scala. "He has been with the Adelphi program for the past two years and will be my right-hand man."

A native of Middle Village, N.Y., Scala is also heavily involved in the community. In addition to Knights of Columbus and the Dante Foundation, he also served as the president of the Lady of Hope Athletic Association. In three years, he was responsible for raising over $300,000 to refurbish gym and baseball fields in the Brooklyn/Queens Diocese.