Notre Dame coaches Chuck Ristano, Rich Wallace set to join Link Jarrett at Florida State
Notre Dame was in the market in for a new head coach after Link Jarrett departed for Florida State, and it appears the Irish will need new assistants as well.
On Monday, Brett Nevitt of Noles247.com reported that pitching coach Chuck Ristano and hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Rich Wallace will join Jarrett in Tallahassee. BlueandGold.com subsequently confirmed the report.
Ristano has been in his current role in South Bend for 12 years, but his roots at Notre Dame run even deeper. His wife, Lizzie Lemire Ristano, is a member of the Irish softball staff, and they were married on campus at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Ristano is originally from New Jersey and was a two-time captain and four-year letter winner at Sacred Heart (2001-04). Prior to Notre Dame, he served as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Monmouth University where his pitching staff set the Monmouth school record for team ERA (3.34) in 2006 and the school record for strikeouts (374) in 2007.
While Ristano was reportedly in the mix for the head coaching job at Notre Dame, it seems he is headed south.
Wallace has been at Notre Dame since 2019 and was hired by Jarrett. He was the associate head coach at Jacksonville for two years and the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Creighton before coming to Notre Dame. He also spent eight years at High Point in the latter role.
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The Orlando, Fla. native played college baseball at Central Florida from 2000-03, was a third-team all-ASUN player as a freshman, and earned freshman All-American honors. The Knights made the NCAA Tournament from 2000-2002.
The assistant departure news comes on the same day as BlueandGold.com was able to confirm the Irish are set to hire VCU head coach Shawn Stiffler as the next head coach.
The 43-year-old Pennsylvania native had a 353-207 record in 10-plus seasons at VCU. He took the Rams to each of the last two NCAA Tournaments. They won 42 games in 2022, marking the highest total the program has had since Stiffler’s first full season in 2013. Stiffler was the A-10 Coach of the Year in 2019 when the Rams went 39-19 and finished first in the A-10 with a 19-5 conference record. He played college baseball at George Mason.
Stiffler’s top assistant at VCU, Rich Witten, was hired as the FIU head coach on June 23, 2022. He served as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator from 2018-22. VCU pitching coach Seth Cutler-Voltz remains on the Rams’ staff at this time.
