Pepicelli was named the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball on Aug. 10, 2015, and is currently in his ninth season at the helm of the Cornell baseball program.

Entering the 2024 Ivy League Baseball Tournament, Pepicelli has 99 wins as the Big Red's head coach, and is one win away from becoming the fourth head coach in Cornell baseball history to achieve 100 career victories with the Big Red.

Under Pepicelli's tutelage, Cornell has produced 21 All-Ivy League selections — including five First Team and eight Second Team selections. Four Big Red players have also been selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

The 2024 campaign has been a success for the Big Red, recording a 15-19 overall record and an 11-10 mark in Ivy League play. Cornell's 11 conference victories were the most by the Big Red since logging a 11-9 record in Ivy League play in 2013.

During the 2023 season, Pepicelli registered his 300th head coaching victory with a 13-3 win over crosstown rival Ithaca on April 4 in the program's home opener.

In just his second year at the helm, Pepicelli led the Big Red to a 21-17 record in 2017 to give the program its fourth winning season since 1991. Cornell also improved by two victories in Ivy League play to finish third in the Lou Gehrig Division, and Pepicelli helped develop a hitting approach that saw his team's bats explode for a season average of .295.

Cornell has won at least 14 games in all but two seasons, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, with Pepicelli at the helm of the Big Red program.

Prior to his arrival on East Hill, Pepicelli spend six seasons at Clemson where the Tigers posted a 231-149 (.608) record. Pepicelli had three coaching titles during his six-year stay with Clemson, with his final three years serving as the associate head coach.

He became the Tigers’ first pitching coach to lead a staff to the College World Series in his first season with the squad. That year, the pitching staff posted the first of four consecutive seasons with an ERA below 4.00. Pepicelli recruited and developed Matt Crownover, who earned freshman All-America accolades in 2013 and ACC Pitcher of the Year honors in 2015, and was instrumental in assembling Baseball America’s ninth-ranked recruiting class in 2015. In total, 10 Clemson pitchers were selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft in Pepicelli’s tenure at Clemson.
 
By joining the Big Red, Pepicelli returned home to upstate New York, where he previously had 11 years of head coaching experience at the Division III level with St. John Fisher and Hartwick.

After serving as an assistant coach for three seasons at Hartwick, Pepicelli was promoted to become the Hawks’ head coach for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. He then spent nine seasons as the head coach and assistant athletic director at Fisher. Pepicelli was named the Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2007, the latter honor coming during a season that saw the Cardinals advance to the NCAA Division III College World Series for the first time in program history.
 
Pepicelli's teams at St. John Fisher had winning records in his final seven seasons at the helm, and was previously the Cardinals' all-time leader in head coaching victories. His team in 2008 garnered national recognition for sportsmanship after a line-drive foul ball struck the opposing third-base coach in the head in the ninth inning of the play-in game of the 2008 ECAC Upstate Championship. Despite the fact that the Cardinals were trailing, Pepicelli and the team elected to concede the conclusion of the game and end any hope of a clinching the program's second consecutive NCAA tournament berth. The Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct presented Pepicelli’s team with the NCAA's All-Divisions Sportsmanship Award for its decision.
 
Along with being the baseball coach at St. John Fisher, Pepicelli also served as the head strength and conditioning coach where he spent three years on the NCAA Competitive Safeguards Committee. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and is a member of the National Strength & Conditioning Association.

A native of Schenectady, N.Y., and a graduate of Cicero-North Syracuse High School, Pepicelli played for three colleges in the region. He was an all-region selection in two seasons at Mohawk Valley Community College, before earning his bachelor of sciences degree in economics and management from SUNY Cortland after playing one season with the Red Dragons. He was also an all-conference pick in one season with Oneonta State.
 
Pepicelli is married to the former Robyn Molloy, who played for and served as an assistant coach with the Syracuse women’s soccer team. She also earned national titles as a player and coach at Monroe Community College. The couple has a daughter, Mia, and a son, Owen.

Tom Ford is currently in his 34th season with the Cornell baseball team in 2024. It is Ford's 16th season serving as the Big Red's associate head coach after spending his first 18 seasons at Cornell as head coach, being named the first Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball when that position was endowed in the summer of 1999 by Rich Booth ‘82.

Ford succeeded the legendary Thoren when he was named the 15th head coach in program history in 1991. Prior to taking over the Cornell program, Ford was the associate head coach at Ithaca College for 10 years.

In his 18 years as head coach at Cornell, Ford compiled a 266-467-2 record. He won his 200th career game in the first game of a doubleheader at St. Joseph’s (Pa.) on March 13, 2004.

In 2007, the Big Red ushered in a new era in Cornell baseball history, playing its first season on a renovated Hoy Field. The new FieldTurf playing surface immediately paid dividends, as that season’s squad set a new school record for fielding percentage, posting a 97.0 percent success rate, good enough to rank 42nd in the nation. The Big Red also was 22nd in the country in triples per game, averaging just over one every three contests.

The 2005 squad accomplished a number of firsts for the Cornell program, winning the school’s first Ivy League Gehrig Division title. The Big Red swept four games from Penn on April 23-24 to become the first Cornell team to sweep a four-game series against an Ivy League foe. Those four games and the first game of a doubleheader at Siena on April 26 marked the first time in the 139-year history of Cornell baseball that the Big Red held its opponent to one run or fewer in five consecutive games. The first three games of the Penn series also marked the first time in four years that Cornell pitchers threw three consecutive complete games.

His first squad in 1991 compiled a 23-17 overall record,  the program’s first winning season since 1984. As a team, the Big Red hit .306, marking its first .300 season in seven years. The Big Red also knocked off Georgia Tech in the second game of a doubleheader when the Yellow Jackets were ranked second in the nation.

In 1995, Ford guided the Big Red to a 20-19 overall mark and a second-place finish in the Gehrig Division of the Ivy League. He also had the 1998 squad in contention for the division crown until the final weekend of the season, going 12-8 in league play for the team’s best league record to date. The 12 wins in conference action were also the most since the 1982 squad went 12-6 in the then-Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League.

A 1979 graduate of Ithaca College, Ford has a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education and was awarded his master’s degree in 1981. Upon graduation, he served as head junior varsity and assistant varsity coach for the Bombers from 1979 to 1980. He worked strictly with the Bombers varsity as the pitching coach from 1981 until his appointment at Cornell in 1991.

Ford also worked as a physical education instructor in the Lansing Central School District. He was the Bobcats’ head football coach from 1984 to 1990 and also spent time as the head junior varsity and assistant varsity basketball coach. Ford also coached the Ithaca Junior Yankees in 1980.

During his undergraduate days at Ithaca, Ford was a three-year pitching standout on the varsity squad, serving as co-captain in 1979. He was the recipient of the Carlton “Carp” Wood Attitude Award following his senior year.

A graduate of Trumansburg (N.Y.) Central School in 1975, Ford played varsity football, basketball and baseball. He and his wife, Kristen, who is the Associate Vice President, Alumni Affairs & Development at Cornell University, have two children, Matthew and Jocelyn.

Coaching Experience:

• Assistant Coach, Cornell University (2022-present)
• Volunteer Assistant Coach, Cornell University (2021-22)

Competitive Experience:

• University of Connecticut (2016-19)
          • Second-team All-American Athletic Conference in 2019
          • Four-year starter in the outfield
          • Graduated sixth in program history in hits (237)
          • Two-year captain

Education:

• B.A., Political Science and Economics, University of Connecticut (2019)

At Cornell:

John Toppa, who served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Big Red during the 2022 season, took over as a full-time assistant coach in August 2022.

The Big Red had a pair of 2022 returners garner All-Ivy honors as the Big Red finished 11-25 in its final season on Hoy Field. Rising sophomore Max Jensen and junior outfielder Sam Kaplan both were second-team picks after pacing the offense. Jensen ranked in the top 20 nationally in doubles per game and ranked in the top 10 in the Ivy League in batting average and doubles. Kaplan paced the Ancient Eight in slugging percentage in league games and his six home runs ranked fourth.

Playing Career:

A two-year captain at UConn, Toppa played in three NCAA Tournaments and appeared in 222 games with 211 starts as a Husky. He graduated sixth in program history in hits (237) and earned NCAA All-Oklahoma City Regional team honors as a senior after capping his final season with a career-high .326 average with career highs in runs (50), hits (76), doubles (14), home runs (4), RBI (35), walks (41), stolen bases (15), on-base percentage (.433) and slugging percentage (.438) en route to second-teal All-American Athletic Conference accolades. He earned a spot on the AAC All-Tournament team as a freshman in 2016. Toppa played for the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod Baseball League during the summer of 2017 and earned CCBL All-Star honors.

Toppa graduated from UConn in 2019 with a degree in Political Science and Economics. He then spent two years as an Investment Sales Associate at Ariel Property Advisors in New York City, before returning to the diamond as a coach for the Big Red.