Manny Mantrana (September 28, 1964 – April 21, 2021) was an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach, formally serving as the

UTRGV Vaqueros baseball The Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team, or the UTRGV Vaqueros, is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, an NCAA Division I institution with several campuses in the Rio Grande Valley o ...

head coach. He held that position since prior to the 2009 season, when the program was known as the Texas–Pan American Broncs and represented the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA). In 2015, UTRGV entered into operation after the merger of UTPA with the nearby University of Texas at Brownsville. The UTPA athletic program was inherited by UTRGV, and Mantrana kept his position through the merger. He then became the women's golf temporary head coach for UTRGV in the fall of 2017. On May 24, 2017, he announced that he was stepping down as coach, with Mantrana being tapped to serve as a special assistant to the director of athletics. He died on April 21, 2021, following a battle with cancer.

Playing career

After graduating from Miami Jackson High School, Mantrana attended

Miami Dade Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

for one season. He then transferred to

Middle Georgia Central Georgia is the area containing the metropolitan region surrounding the city of Macon, in Bibb County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It abuts the Atlanta metropolitan area, just to the north. Similar and coextensive names for this region ...

, where he helped the Warriors to the 1983 NJCAA World Series. He earned was named to the All-Tournament team and was MVP of the regional tournament while Middle Georgia finished second in the tournament. He then played two seasons at

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

for Skip Bertman. Although Mantrana had been drafted several times previously (after high school and three times during junior college), he was not drafted at the end of his collegiate career. He signed a professional contract with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. He played three seasons in Class A in the Tigers and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

organizations before ending his playing career.

Coaching career

Mantrana began his coaching career at Miami Jackson High School, where he served for four seasons before moving to Miami Dade as an assistant. After one year, he earned the head coaching job at St. Thomas. In his twelve seasons with the NAIA Bobcats, the team appeared in the postseason nine times and earned three

NAIA World Series The NAIA World Series (officially branded as the Avista NAIA World Series for sponsorship purposes from 2013) is a double-elimination tournament, held since 1957, to determine the baseball champion of the National Association of Intercollegiate At ...

berths. Over 95% of his players earned their degrees, and at least 25 went on to play professionally. He compiled a record of 434–193–1. He was honored as Southeasat Coach of the Year and

Florida Sun Conference The Sun Conference (TSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Seven of the ten full member institutions are located in Florida, with three in Georgia. The Sun Conference c ...

Coach of the Year three times each. He became head coach at Texas–Pan American for the 2009 season, and led them into the

Great West Conference The Great West Conference (GWC) was an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental United States. Originally a football-only league, it became an all-sports entity during the 2008–09 season. The GWC stopped sponsoring football following ...

, going 52–58 in conference play in four seasons. With the dissolution of that league, the Broncs moved to the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

, remaining in that league through the merger that created UTRGV. In four seasons with the WAC, he went 40–61–1 in conference play.

Head coaching record

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mantrana, Manny 1964 births 2021 deaths Baseball players from Miami Sports coaches from Miami Columbia Mets players Fayetteville Generals players Gastonia Tigers players High school baseball coaches in the United States LSU Tigers baseball players Miami Dade Sharks baseball players Miami Dade Sharks baseball coaches Middle Georgia Warriors baseball players St. Lucie Mets players St. Thomas Bobcats baseball coaches UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball coaches