The list of highlights, awards and recognition for Mesa baseball coach Tony Cirelli has always been long, but was missing one key ingredient – a national championship. In 2014 he scaled that pinnacle to complete as good a resume as just about anyone.

The MCC coach just completed his 28th season leading the T-Birds as head coach, but his association with the school actually goes far beyond that. He played for Mesa in 1981 and then, after graduating from Arizona State, where he received a Master’s Degree in Education, he returned to the MCC campus as an assistant coach.