Bio

Tony Cirelli looks forward to his 30^th year as the skipper of the Mesa Community College baseball program. After completing his playing career at MCC under Jim Frye in 1981, the former T-Bird 3^rd baseman returned to Mesa as an assistant coach in 1985, where he served as an infield coach for 10 years. Cirelli was named head Coach in 1995.

In Cirelli's 30 years at the helm, MCC has made 23 playoff appearances. In the 20 years since MCC was realigned in NJCAA DIV II, MCC has finished:

- In 1st place 10 times

- Hosted a Region 1 playoff 12 times 

- Nationally ranked 20 consecutive years (2002-2021)

-Captured the ACCAC Championship three timex

- Five World Series appearances

- National Champions in 2014 (the only baseball national championship by a Maricopa County school since the MCC teams in 1970-71-72)

- National Runner-Up in 2019

- 3 year World Series run (2004-05-06) which is unprecedented in Arizona DII JUCO history.

Furthermore, Cirelli has had:
- 108 Players gone on to play at a 4 year college in the last ten years
- 108 ACCAC All Conference/All Region selections.
- 21 All Americans
- 2 Arizona players of the year
- 3 National Golden Glove Awards
- 1 National JUCO Pitcher of the Year
- 60 players drafted or signed professionally
- 5 Major leaguers

The baseball team excels in the classroom as well as the field. The team has been honored as Academic All-Americans 6 of the last 8 years with 50 individual players being named Academic All-Americans in the last 6 years.

Personal accomplishments include:
- Winning his 1000th game of his career in 2023. Only the 2nd Arizona Juco baseball coach in history.
- 3 time ACCAC Coach of the Year
- 5 time Southwest DII coach of the Year
- 2014 National Junior College DII Coach of the year
- Inducted into the Mesa Community College Hall of Fame in 2015
- Inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame 2023

Cirelli earned His Bachelor's Degree in Education at Arizona State University and has a Masters degree in Adult Education. He taught Special Education in the Scottsdale School District for 34 years before retiring in 2020.

A New York City native, Cirelli has international experience, having coached 5 different teams in Italy, including 2012 with Novara in the top professional league. (Italian Baseball League)

Cirelli has been married to his wife Katie for 39 years. They have two sons, Rocco and Jake.