Nike Holiday Baseball Camp at Villanova University

As the 160th season of Villanova baseball dawns, Mulvey can look back on having built a solid foundation for the future of the program. He and his staff have created a positive culture centered on a complete student-athlete experience. The results of that focus have paid immediate dividends from the standpoints of academic achievement, community involvement and alumni support.

The baseball team had a record 32 student-athletes named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team for the 2023-24 academic year. Individual honors over the years include 2017 senior Todd Czinege being named to the Philadelphia Big 5 All-Academic Team, while he and classmate Hunter Schryver were among 10 national finalists for the Senior CLASS Award which recognizes a student-athlete for their success in athletic competition, academic success and community service. Success in the classroom has remained consistent, as 186 players have been named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team during Mulvey’s tenure.

Mulvey has instilled in the baseball program a commitment to giving back to the community. He and other members of the team make regular visits to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia throughout the year and have participated in several other athletic department initiatives. Mulvey also started the Baseball Service Weekend in his first year as head coach, in which the Wildcats dedicated a weekend during the spring season to a team-wide community service project.

Another new initiative Mulvey has started is the Villanova Baseball First Pitch Dinner, an unofficial kickoff to the start of the baseball season which brings together the current student-athletes with alumni, fans and other supporters of the baseball program. Past keynote speakers have included former MLB player and manager Larry Bowa, former MLB player Dave Gallagher, New York Mets executive John Ricco and St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.

Mulvey's first year as head coach had no shortage of positive storylines on the field. He mentored two players -- infielder Todd Czinege and pitcher Hunter Schryver -- who went on to be selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in June. Schryver was a seventh-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays and was a first team All-BIG EAST selection after a season in which he had 91 strikeouts and the lowest ERA (2.44) by a Villanova starting pitcher in more than 20 years. Czinege was a 29th round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies after finishing his collegiate career ranked second in school history with 244 career hits.

A roster with a modest veteran presence and several underclassmen who were thrust into significant roles showed its promise during the 2017 season. Villanova won its first conference series against a Xavier team which went on to win its second straight BIG EAST title, and the Wildcats also defeated nationally-ranked St. John's on the final day of the regular season to cost the Red Storm the regular season title and the top seed in the conference tournament. Villanova also notched wins over Big Ten programs Iowa and Rutgers during the 2017 season, and defeated Army West Point in a renewal of the longtime series between the Wildcats and the nation's oldest service academy.

Mulvey continued to work with the Villanova pitching staff during his first year as head coach. The selection of Schryver in the MLB Draft continued Mulvey's streak of having a pitcher ascend to the professional ranks in each of his five years as pitching coach. Left-handed pitcher Woody Bryson was signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in June 2016, while Mulvey previously mentored a trio of pitchers who were chosen in the draft. Those pitchers included Pat Young (2013, 13th round); JB Kole (2014, 8th round); and Max Almonte (2015, 16th round).

Individual accolades continued to come for some Wildcats during the 2018 season. First baseman Ryan Toohers and outfielder David Gulati were each named to the All-BIG EAST team. Ryan Toohers hit .298 with five home runs and slugged .472 on the year to land on the first team. David Gulati hit .276 and was a menace on the base paths, going 13-13 on stolen base attempts.

Villanova got off to a 3-0 start to the 2018 campaign by sweeping Norfolk State on the road in convincing fashion. The program then continued its tradition of traveling to play a traditional powerhouse by heading to Los Angeles to play USC.

The Wildcats found a bit more success in 2019, showing some positive signs for the future. Nick Lorusso took home BIG EAST Rookie of the year by hitting .302 with four home runs and 29 RBIs. Lorusso also made 16 appearances on the mound, showing his versatility as a two-way player.

Mulvey might have found his top pitchers of the future during 2019, with Gordon Graceffo and Jimmy Kingsbury both showing a lot of potential as underclassmen. Kingsbury, a sophomore, led the team in innings pitched and tossed a complete game, one-hit shutout against La Salle. Graceffo, a freshman, won three games and threw the second most innings on the team. With each of them set to return, the weekend rotation should be as strong as it has been in years.

The Wildcats sported a 21-14 overall record in the 2021 season and had a 12-game winning streak at one point against the likes of Hofstra, Delaware, Stony Brook, Penn and Saint Joseph's. After standout senior seasons, pitchers Gordon Graceffo and Jimmy Kingsbury were selected in the 2021 MLB Draft. Graceffo was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifth round and Kingsbury was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 17th round.

The MLB Pipeline extended after the 2022 season with three Wildcats inking deals with Major League Clubs. Cole Patten was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 17th Round of the MLB Draft before Chris Rotondo had his name called by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 19th round. Days later, Danny Wilkinson signed a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. All of this came after a campaign that saw Rotondo earn both ABCA/Rawlings East All-Region Second Team and All-BIG EAST First Team honors while Joey Castellanos and Tyler Arella landed spots on the All-BIG EAST Second Team list.

The 2023 season was highlighted by a series sweep of Butler in which the Wildcats posted a combined 41 runs in three games (April 14-15). Additionally, Villanova took two of three in a BIG EAST series at St. John’s (May 5-7). The Blue and White finished the season with a record of 14-37 (7-13 BIG EAST). Under Mulvey’s tutelage, infielder Greg Larson earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors.

In 2024, Villanova posted sweeps at Pepperdine and Seton Hall. The Wildcats were very successful in the classroom, with 32 of the team’s 35 members being named to the BIG EAST All-Academic team. Overall, the team finished the season with an 18-33 record (8-13 BIG EAST).

As the Wildcats’ pitching coach in 2015, Mulvey led a pitching staff that posted an ERA of 4.14, which was nearly a full run lower than the previous season and was the lowest team ERA overall in the past 20 years. One of the top performers on the 2015 staff was right-hander Chris Haggarty, who saved nine games and held opponents to a .194 batting average. A former walk-on to the baseball team, Haggarty finished his collegiate career ranked second in program history with 80 career appearances. He also ranked seventh in school history with 11 career saves and eighth among pitchers with at least 100.0 career innings with a 3.78 ERA.

Villanova's 2014 pitching staff lowered its ERA by more than a quarter of a run from the previous year and had several noteworthy individual performances. Left-handed pitcher Matt Meurer was a second team All-BIG EAST selection after making 28 appearances and recording nine saves with a 1.21 ERA in 44 2/3 innings.

Mulvey pitched parts of seven seasons in the professional ranks and returned to campus in 2013 to begin his coaching career. In addition to his four years as an assistant coach Mulvey coordinated the program's nationwide recruiting efforts in 2015 and 2016 and oversaw the academic progress of the Wildcats student-athletes as the coaching staff's liaison to the Office of Academic Support.

Mulvey pitched for the Wildcats for three seasons (2004-06) and registered the most strikeouts (222) in a three-year span in school history. He also threw the eighth no-hitter in school history as a sophomore in 2005. Following his junior season, he was selected by the New York Mets in the second round with the 62nd overall pick in the 2006 MLB Draft. He became the first Villanova player ever to be selected with a team's top draft pick.

Mulvey pitched professionally in the organizations of the Mets, the Minnesota Twins and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched in the major leagues for both Minnesota and Arizona, logging 10 appearances and starting four games. In the minor leagues, Mulvey appeared in 143 games with 130 starts and tallied 35 victories while pitching more than 750 innings and striking out 547 batters. During his first full season of professional ball in 2007, Mulvey was named a midseason All-Star in the Double-A Eastern League and was also selected to pitch in the Futures Game which takes place during Major League Baseball's All-Star Weekend. He wound up being a 12-game winner for the Binghamton Mets in 2007 and, at the end of the year, made his Triple-A debut with six scoreless innings of two-hit ball.

Mulvey and his wife, Athena, make their home in King of Prussia, Pa. They are the parents to Jack and Max.

* - The 2020 season was canceled after 14 games due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kevin Mulvey embarks on his second season as the Villanova baseball head coach in 2018. He is the 11th full-time head coach in the program's history of more than 150 years, and was hired on July 14, 2016 after spending the previous four years as the Wildcats pitching coach.

Brown made an impact in working with the Villanova offense as the assistant hitting coach in his first season with the team. Senior second baseman Todd Czinege was named to the All-Big 5 team for a fourth straight season and was a 29th round pick of the Colorado Rockies in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft following the season. Brown also assisted with the development of freshmen Ryan Toohers and Tyler Bruno during the 2017 season, as both became mainstays in the Wildcats starting lineup. Entering his first year as the primary hitting coach, Brown has implemented a hitting program to prepare Villanova’s incoming freshmen hitters for their first taste of collegiate competition.

From a defensive standpoint, Brown worked with a Wildcats infield which was one of the best in the BIG EAST last season. Freshman shortstop Timothy Lilly started 44 games and committed just six errors all season while posting a .973 fielding percentage, while Toohers had a .987 fielding percentage at first base and Czinege a .972 mark at second for the season.

During the the 2020 season, the Wildcats recorded a .352 team on-base percentage. Chris Rotondo hit .298 with seven runs driven and walked 16 times in 47 at-bats with an impressive .485 on-base percentage.

The 2021 Wildcats featured three hitters who plated 20 or more runners throughout the season. Ryan Toohers hit .282 with two home runs and 22 runs driven in and sported an .827 OPS. Chris Rotondo led the team with seven homers, 23 runs driven in with nine doubles and a .966 OPS. Jack O'Reilly drove in 20 runs with seven doubles.

In 2022, the offense found substantial growth at the plate, hitting as high as a .346 slugging percentage and .358 on-base percentage during the 2022 season. The bats were led by eventual 19th-round MLB Draft Pick Chris Rotondo, who was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals after leading the team with a .359 batting average and .656 slugging percentage, both that were good enough for fourth-best in the BIG EAST. The All-BIG EAST First Team outfielder tacked on 59 runs, 15 doubles, 12 home runs, 37 RBI, 32 walks and successfully stole base in 14 of his 17 attempts.

Brown came to Villanova after spending the previous four years at Wagner, including the 2015 and 2016 seasons as an assistant coach. He primarily worked with the team’s infielders in 2016, in addition to overseeing the offense and coaching third base. Brown was also the Seahawks recruiting coordinator. He previously worked with the team’s outfielders.

Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Brown played college baseball at both Seton Hall and Wagner. He was the Seahawks starting shortstop in 2012, when former Wildcats assistant Jim Carone was in his first year as the Wagner head coach. Brown hit .314 with 15 doubles, three home runs and 36 runs batted in to go along with 22 stolen bases in 49 games as a senior in 2012. Also batted .277 with nine doubles and a team-high four home runs for the Seahawks in 2011.

Brown is a native of Edison, N.J. and began his collegiate career playing for Seton Hall in 2008 and 2009. He played in 161 games overall during his collegiate career, with a combined 123 hits, 83 runs scored, 10 home runs and 36 stolen bases.

Brown completed his MBA in business administration management at Wagner.