A big month or so for Pima Community College baseball coach Ken Jacome just became even bigger.
Jacome, who has helmed the Aztecs on the diamond since 2018, was announced Friday as Pima’s new athletic director. He replaces Jim Monaco, who officially retired from the post he’d held also since 2018.
“I am honored to accept the athletic director’s position at Pima Community College,” Jacome said via a school-issued press release. I look forward to partnering with the coaches and staff to build upon the success of this department. The last six years as the baseball coach have been very rewarding and I’m excited for the opportunity now to have a positive impact on over 300 student-athletes.”
When Monaco, Pima’s former football coach, took over as the school’s AD in 2018, the timing was in near lockstep with the elimination of football for PCC and many other community colleges across Arizona.
This time, in addition to his new role as AD, Jacome will still lead the PCC baseball program “for the upcoming year,” according to the release.
Jacome, who holds a master’s degree in education from NAU and a bachelor’s in health and physical education from Oklahoma City University, is a Tucson native. He graduated from Rincon High School before playing baseball collegiately at New Mexico State, Scottsdale Community College and OCU.
His coaching career has taken him from Pueblo High School in 1995-96 to the Arizona Wildcats, where he was a volunteer assistant under UA coach Jerry Stitt from 1997-98. Jacome is credited with starting the El Pasco Community College baseball program, accumulating a record of 207-122-2 in six seasons from 1999-2004.
That 200-win mark reared its head for Jacome again in recent weeks, as he reached 200 wins in his six-year Pima tenure on March 19.
“I’m very grateful for all the players and coaches who helped make that happen,” Jacome said in a release last month. “The wins were earned by lots of fantastic players who took a chance on Pima College. I’m thankful for each and every individual that helped play a part.”
Jacome became an NCAA Division I assistant coach at New Mexico for 14 seasons in 2004, first serving as the Lobos’ pitching coach before pivoting to infield coach/recruiting coordinator later in his tenure working for UNM head coach Rich Alday, himself also a longtime former Pima head coach.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ken Jacome as PCC’s next Athletic Director,” PCC interim chancellor Dolores Duran Cerda said in a release. “After successfully leading our nationally recognized baseball program, Ken will provide outstanding leadership in continuing PCC’s tradition of producing student-athletes who succeed both in competition and in the classroom.”
Jacome was one of a handful of known candidates considered for the position. Star columnist Greg Hansen reported last weekend that Pima men’s soccer coach Dave Cosgrove was also interviewed, as was Rincon High, Pima and NAU grad Lance LaVetter, who was most recently AD at Wenatchee Valley Junior College in Washington.
PCC will formerly introduce Jacome as its next athletic director at a Tuesday press conference.
