University of San Francisco fires baseball coach Nino Giarratano after lawsuit

The University of San Francisco has fired baseball coach Nino Giarratano, who is accused of persistent psychological abuse and repeated inappropriate sexual conduct in a recent class-action lawsuit.

Giarratano was fired by the school two days after the lawsuit was filed. Giarratano and Troy Nakamura were both suspended by the University of South Florida. In January, he was fired.

The athletic director said in a statement that Giarratano allowed Nakamura on the field this past week.

When the university first became aware of the complaints by students and families about the environment and behavior of coaches in the baseball program, we immediately conducted an internal investigation that led to the firing of Troy Nakamura and official reprimand of Nino Giarratano.

The new allegations in the lawsuit as well as Giarratano's recent behavior in allowing Nakamura access to baseball operations is extremely concerning. We have taken actions to make changes in baseball program leadership.

The three former players, identified as John Does in the lawsuit, described varying forms of abuse and described a culture in which it was "normal" to see former assistant coach Troy Nakamura naked on the field or in a window.

Giarratano was said to have referred to him using expletives and berated him in an attempt to get him to leave the program. He entered the portal in January.

In the fall of 2021, five emergency room visits resulted from a pattern of verbal and emotional abuse, which led to his decision to leave the program.

Giarratano told John Doe 3 that he was a waste of space, that no one liked him, and that he wished he could hit him with a bat and get his brain working.

The NCAA and the University of South Florida are accused of breaching their contractual obligations, including a failure to prevent sexual harassment and sexual abuse of student-athletes by athletics department personnel.

Multiple players have become suicidal as a result of Giarratano's and Nakamura's behavior, but it does not provide any additional context.

The Rev. Paul J. Fitzgerald apologized to current and former students. We have reopened our internal investigation, and encourage anyone with information to give it to the Title IX office or to the anonymous whistle blower hotline.

Kyle Bonagura contributed to the report.