Baseball notes: Giusti leaving big shoes to fill at Prospect

Prospect coach Ross Giusti knows that baseball is more than bats and balls.

Giusti, who has been the varsity baseball coach since 1997, will retire at the end of this season. He currently ranks third among Mid Suburban League coaches with 550 wins behind Schaumburg’s Paul Groot (595) and just ahead of Barrington’s Kirby Smith (543).

“It’s a lot of emotions that go through your head,” Giusti said. “And it just pops up at different moments. It is especially when you're talking to the kids or at the end of a practice or the end of the game that you realize this is it.”

Giusti first picked the Mt. Prospect school for himself. Giusti had his choice of schools to attend for his senior year when his Arlington High School closed after his junior year.

“Juice”, as he has been called going back to those high school days, had great success at Prospect, playing third base and being named all-conference and All-Area while helping lead his team to a regional title.

Next, he picked Prospect when he got his first high school teaching job. He had been a gym teacher at Will Grove Elementary school after three years as an assistant baseball coach at Buffalo Grove High School.

Giusti was an assistant coach at Prospect under Larry Pohlmam, who Giusti had played for when he transferred to Prospect. After Pohlman retired in 1995, Giusti was named just the fourth head coach in Prospect history.

Giusti said that this group of kids has made it special for him in his last year.

“I tell the seniors that we are all going out together, “Giusti said. “But in the same breath as I tell the juniors, I consider them seniors as well right now. I've been very fortunate this group of kids we have are just a great group of clubhouse guys, and they are very positive, and it makes our job easier when you have kids that are pulling the rope the same way.”

Giusti has made a career of out having his players working together.

“It’s life lessons through baseball,“ Giusti said. “They may not realize it now, but as they get older, they'll realize that what we've tried to do is give them life lessons, how to deal with failure, perseverance, how to work as a as a team. We always say that these are relevant experiences that you're going to have to deal with in an interview room someday or in a company where you're going to be leading people. “

Giusti has led the Prospect program since 1997. And despite all the wins that Giusti has led his team too, it is the personal growth in his players that is most important to him.

“Leadership is important,” Giusti said. “When I look back at all the kids we've had, we've had so many great kids that have been successful in the business world. Many have been successful with their own businesses and have families right now and are great parents. Not every experience is the best. I mean, you've always got, you know, it's not a perfect world, but we've always tried to be consistent in preaching our message. It's not just about wins and losses and the games themselves. It's about preparing yourself for the real world.”

Phil O’Grady has been an assistant coach with Giusti for nearly all of 28 seasons.

“It is bittersweet coming down the stretch here,” said O’Grady, who played little league baseball for Giusti’s father Ron.

“It is hard to believe that it is an end of an era. We have been together for 28 years when I started as a volunteer. Ross is almost like a brother to me. We talk every morning. Our coaching relationship has really evolved, and he has given me a lot of trust over the years, which I appreciate.”

Giusti will be joined in retirement by his wife Amy, who is also retiring after being a longtime aide in District 54. They have two sons: Alex, who works in the city, and Connor, who played at Fremd against his dad and currently plays for Valparaiso University.

There has been plenty of success on the field for Giusti and his Knights.

His teams have won or shared 10 MSL East titles. They have played in five MSL championship games, winning three of those.

Prospect has won six regional titles with Giusti at the helm. The Knights also went on to win two sectional titles and finished third in the state in Class 4A in 2011. In addition, Prospect was second in the Lawler Summer Classic in 2015.

Giusti said that despite his program’s success, his focus still was growth.

“I think the natural thing when you come in to a program you want to establish a winning environment, and when you use the word winning in front of anything else, it makes it kind of, it kind of muddies the waters.”

Giusti’s teams have always been fundamentally sound and understand the importance of teamwork.

“You can do more as a coach than just win games,” Giusti said. “It comes from a standpoint of teaching kids the right way to play the game and doing things the right way again. Wins take care of themselves, not emphasizing winning. Emphasize good, solid fundamental baseball and consistency. One of our goals has always been, is to maintain excellence, to maintain a good, solid, respected program, and any state tournament runs, or Mid-Suburban League titles will take care of themselves by just maintaining excellence.”

Prospect will honor Giusti in a ceremony at Prospect’s final regular season home game on May 24 against York. Former players, parents and fans are invited to attend with the ceremony to begin at 9:45 a.m.

They should have a pregame toast to Giusti with orange juice. That’s because Giusti always knew that it took the best squeeze to get the sweetest juice.

STATE PAIRINGS OUT NEXT WEDNESDAY

Prospect will be one of the regional hosts as the IHSA will announce brackets and dates on May 14th. Hoffman Estates, Fremd and Palatine will also be regional hosts in the Stevenson sectional with first round games scheduled to begin May 26.

Fremd, Libertyville, Mundelein, Hersey, Warren, Palatine, Prospect, Rolling Meadows and Lake Zurich will be among the top seeds. Conant, which was second in the state last year in 4A, along with Buffalo Grove, Hoffman, Schaumburg and Wheeling, will also be area teams in the 18-team sectional.

Barrington will be in the McHenry sectional. The Broncos will most likely be at the Grant regional.

Maine South will be one of the hosts of the Loyola sectional. The Hawks, who are battling for the CSL South title, will be joined in the sectional by Elk Grove, Leyden, Maine East and Maine West.

St. Viator will be playing in the 3A sectional which is being hosted by Grayslake Central.