Given the fluidity of the collegiate athletics coaching business, Mike Trapasso, UTA head baseball coach, wasn’t surprised about former head coach Clay Van Hook’s resignation. After supporting Van Hook’s decision, Trapasso had a question to answer: Was it time to step back into a head coaching role again?
Trapasso, who has coached Division I baseball for over three decades, was hired as an assistant coach by Van Hook. Following Van Hook’s resignation in early August, UTA Athletics made the decision to promote Trapasso.
“My job was to give him my thoughts. If he took it to heart, great. If he wanted to do something else, great. We presented to the players as if it was all of our idea,” Trapasso said. “That’s what being an assistant coach is about.”
Trapasso said a lot of young coaches aren’t secure enough in what they’re doing to hire a former head coach, but Van Hook didn’t have those insecurities, something that showed what kind of person he was.
“I was very happy in that role, supporting [Van Hook] and trying to help him not make the same mistakes, as a young coach, that I made when I was a young coach,” Trapasso said.
Prior to his time in Arlington, Trapasso spent 20 years as the head coach for the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, guiding the Rainbow Warriors to multiple National Collegiate Athletic Association Regional appearances and later served as a pitching coach at the United States Naval Academy in 2022.
He was also named Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year three times, making appearances in back-to-back WAC championship games in 2010 with a title win and going back in 2011.
Three years removed from his head coaching job at Hawai’i, Trapasso knew he wanted to venture into head coaching again and told Athletics director Jon Fagg that he was interested in the job the day after Van Hook’s resignation was announced.
“My faith is the most important thing in what I do, and I feel strongly that we’re all called to do things until we’re not,” Trapasso said. “And I still feel called to really do this and try to create a culture for these young men where they can succeed.”
Less than two weeks after Van Hook resigned, Trapasso was announced as the eighth coach in program history.
Mavericks first baseman Tyce Armstrong said that with Trapasso’s experience as a head coach and the team, they had a feeling he would be the one hired to the position.
“We were just hoping they weren’t going to bring in somebody that hasn’t been here and only give them a week for getting recollected with this team,” Armstrong said.
The coaching staff was consistent and collaborative, leading to a seamless transition, Trapasso said. He added that the coaching change isn’t like many where a new coach has to go in and learn the whole team. While the personality of the team needs to be figured out, that’s something that changes every season.
“We have that relationship with these guys already. We were ready to take, and are hoping to take, that next step in development with a lot of guys who’ve been here for a year or two, and it’s going to take a lot of work and we’ll have to see how that goes,” Trapasso said.
Armstrong, entering his fourth year at UTA, has had three different head coaches during his time as a Maverick and said he’s thankful his newest coach will be someone he already knows.
“I have a connection with him and so do most of the guys that have been on this team. Even the new guys are already making connections with him,” he said.
In his first year as head coach, Trapasso hopes to set a culture for the team and establish an identity for the program.
“We want our program’s identity to be one where we develop guys. Where guys come into our program and get better through good coaching and hard work,” Trapasso said. “But then each team, every year, depending on its personnel, has to have its own identity as a team, and that’s based usually on skill sets.”
He hopes to use his time with the team during fall practices to eliminate team issues such as walks, errors, strikeouts and not being able to get bunts down.
“I know that he’s going to get our guys right,” Armstrong said. “We have a lot of talent who just came in from the [transfer] portal and from [junior college], so he’s going to work with them this fall, he’s going to get them right, and I’m really excited to see what it’s going to be in the spring.”
The team is set to announce their fall exhibition schedule in the coming weeks.
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