Duffin, a fixture at Pace, will retire as baseball coach after season
A quarter of a century after he began running the highly decorated Monsignor Pace baseball program, head coach Tom Duffin announced this week in a meeting with his players that this will be his last season at the helm.
Duffin, who is also the school’s athletic director, enters the 2024 season as the coach with the longest tenure at the same school in Miami-Dade County aside from Joe Weber, who has been at Columbus since 1996.
“My decision to step down was not an easy one, especially when I have dedicated the last 30 years of my life to the baseball program,” said Duffin, 56, who was an assistant coach under Mike Silvestri for five seasons before taking the top job in 1999.
“Two reasons led me to my decision. Being in my fourth year as athletic director and because those duties demand a lot of my time, I have found myself being pulled away from baseball a lot of times to handle other things dealing with other sports. I felt it was not fair to the players or the program moving forward, if I could not give my whole heart and soul as I’ve been accustomed to giving.
“Secondly and probably the most important reason, is the fact that I have lost so much time with my family because of the time spent coaching. Since I’m not getting any younger, I felt it important to start giving back to my wife and two sons at this time.”
If anybody can say they “bleed Pace colors,” it’s Duffin.
He graduated from
Pace in 1986 and helped lead the Spartans to one of their seven state titles in 1985 as the starting shortstop. He then played at Miami-Dade College and the University of Miami before being drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1989. He spent the next four years playing for the Mariners organization in the minors before returning to Pace as a coach and teacher in 1994.
Last season he reached the 500-win plateau and will enter his 26th and final season with a record of 506-181. He has won 16 district championships and taken the Spartans to the state final four seven times, winning the title twice, in 2006 and 2018.
Perhaps what Duffin is most proud of is the 148 players that he helped send to colleges on baseball scholarships. Of that group, 30 signed to play professionally with five becoming first-round draft picks.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to have been able to coach at my alma mater for the last 30 years,” said Duffin, who will continue as athletic director.
“I’ll always cherish the wonderful relationships that I’ve had with my coaches, players and the many families who supported me throughout the years. I hope that when people look back at my time at Pace, that they will say he coached with integrity, fairness, but most of all, he loved all of his players.”