Nick Mingione raves about ability to hire Austin Cousino

Kentucky baseball is bringing home one of its own. Last week, the program announced former Wildcat Austin Cousino will be UK’s new recruiting coordinator and assistant coach. Head coach Nick Mingione couldn’t be happier about the addition.

“There’s only 14 of those jobs in the country, and there’s a lot of people that want to come to this league. So, you can imagine the list was super long of people that were interested but, for me, he was a no-brainer. He was the first person I talked to. And the first guy that came to my mind,” Mingione told the press on June 30.

While Mingione never coached Cousino, he began his time at UK as the star outfielder finished his schooling. Emphasis on star. Cousino donned the Kentucky Blue and White from 2012-14 before being drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the third round of the 2014 MLB Draft.

During his time at UK, Cousino was a a three-time Rawlings Golden Glove winner, a consensus Freshman All-American, Second Team All-SEC, SEC All-Defensive Team and an NCAA Gary Regional All-Tournament Team member.

Although Cousino never found the same success in the MLB, he’s found a new talent: coaching. Cousino was named volunteer assistant baseball coach at Xavier in July of 2018 and quickly promoted to the assistant coach role just five months later.

After a successful stint with the Musketeers, Cousino began scouting for the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays organizations. Now, he’s back home.

“We’ve been watching him. He’s been making frequent visits to the ballpark to see our guys and just as each year passed, spent more and more time with them and it was an absolute no-brainer for us, the guy who loves Kentucky.

“He’s one of our most decorated players in the history of our program. His knowledge about the swing defense mentality, this place, what it takes to win at Kentucky,” Mingione said. “There was some guys that maybe have had better professional careers, but their Kentucky careers, he’s one of our greatest players of all time.”

Cousino seems happy to be back in the Bluegrass.

“I want to thank Coach Mingione and the entire University of Kentucky administration for entrusting me with this opportunity,” Cousino said in a press release. “Coach Minge has created and fostered an environment that allows everyone in and around the program to be the best version of themselves and that’s exciting. Returning to Lexington is a dream come true and I can’t wait to help the program take the next step.”

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