San Francisco Fires Coach Following Lawsuit, Allegations Of Misconduct

San Francisco on Sunday announced it had fired coach Nino Giarratano, two days after three former players filed a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA, the university, Giarratano and former assistant coach Troy Nakamura.

USF investigated allegations against Giarratano and Nakamura in the fall of 2021 and its findings led to the dismissal of Nakamura in January and a formal reprimand for Giarratano. The lawsuit brings new allegations, while separately USF learned that Giarratano allowed Nakamura on the field before Wednesday’s game against Fresno State.

“The new allegations in the lawsuit as well as Giarratano’s recent behavior in allowing Nakamura access to baseball operations is extremely concerning,” athletic director Joan McDermott said. “As a result, we have taken actions to make changes in baseball program leadership.”

The lawsuit alleges Giarratano and Nakamura oversaw an atmosphere that “included persistent psychological abuse and repeated inappropriate sexual conduct.” The lawsuit describes multiple instances when Nakamura was overly sexual, including an incident when he crawled on the field naked. The former players also describe verbal abuse and the lawsuit alleges multiple players became suicidal as a result of the program but does not provide further context for those allegations.

Giarratano has been head coach of USF since 1999 and is the winningest coach in program history.

Pitching coach Mat Keplinger was named interim head coach for the Dons. They are 10-7 this season and lost their first three games of the weekend against Arizona State and Missouri. USF concludes its weekend slate Sunday against Arizona State.