Hartnell College Baseball has a rich history of moving players to the next level in their academic and athletics careers.  In Coach Dan Teresa’s 17 years as head coach, he has helped more than 100 players receive academic baseball scholarships to the four year level.  In addition, 7 players have been drafted from the majors that have played for Coach Teresa.  Recently from 2005 thru 2007, the panther’s have sent 6 players to the Division 1 level and another 8 players to Division 2.  In 2005 Marc Nobriga was drafted by the Texas Rangers and recently in 2007 Skyler Crawford was drafted by the Florida Marlins.

   

Teresa was honored to receive Coach of the Year in 2002.  He has also tutored some of the conferences top fielding and running teams.  Hartnell’s 2002 squad was one of the best, turning 58 double plays in 42 games.  The team had a player lead the state in stolen bases and broke a school record as a team.  He has also had the number one pitching staff in the state while coaching the panthers.  In 2004, Coach Dan Teresa was named one of three individuals in a nationwide contest by USA WEEKEND magazine as winner of its Most Caring Coach Award. Readers were asked to nominate those who were not just coaches, but mentors. More than 1,000 names were submitted.

The USA WEEKEND editorial staff selected the seven finalists and passed them along to the judges, who included Dusty Baker of the Chicago Cubs, former Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, ESPN2's Leslie Maxie, 2004 U.S. Olympic track and field coach George Williams, Stanford University women's tennis coach Lele Forood and Charlotte Sting coach Trudi Lacey.

 

 

A Salinas, California native, Teresa attended Hartnell form 1981 thru 1983, receiving All-League and All-State honors.  He then attended the University of Michigan where he played beside National League MVP and All-Star, Barry Larkin of the Cincinnati Reds. His infield college coach at Michigan, Danny Hall is now the head coach at Georgia Tech. Teresa received his Bachelor’s degree at Sacramento State and his Master’s Degree at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California.

 

A community leader, Teresa emphasizes community service with his athletes.  His team has participated in their 10^th year of “Salinas Reads” an annual event that promotes literacy in area elementary schools.  He has also just celebrated his fifth year of participation, and second award winning project for a “Make A Difference Day”, an event that promotes volunteerism in communities.