by Aidan Wang ’25, Media Editor

One face not seen in many months has returned to the corner of Carrollton and Banks. That is the face of Coach Joey Latino.

The multiple championship-winning former head baseball coach for the Blue Jays was out for most of the current academic year due to his May 2020 diagnosis of Hairy Cell Leukemia. The diagnosis of this severe, possibly fatal disease has been the only thing stopping this successful coach. Coach Latino was stricken with Hairy Cell Leukemia, a rare form of Leukemia, in May 2020. He was also diagnosed with a case of fungal pneumonia. These diagnoses left him neutropenic. Essentially, it put him in and out of many different hospitals and kept him in his house until he got his vaccine. With his getting a COVID shot and the expertise of MD Anderson’s world class medical team, Coach Latino is now back working at Carrollton and Banks.

Coach Latino has established a strong presence here. Coming to Jesuit in 2007, he was initially hired as an assistant athletic director and physical science teacher. Then, in his first year as head baseball coach, he led the Blue Jays to the state championship in 2011. The next year, he led the team to a victory as American Legion World Champions. The next few years, he led the Jays to two more American Legion State Championships, a World Series Runner Up, and many more accomplishments. In 2018, Kenny Goodlett took over his coaching duties. Today Coach Latino teaches Biology I and continues to work as Assistant Athletic Director. He will be joined in the latter role by new head football coach Ryan Manale when he arrives at Jesuit later this year. Coach Latino says that his experience of illness has taught him that every day is a gift, to focus on that day, and to make the most out of that day. He also says this is in God’s hands and that God will decide the future.

Coach Latino, welcome back to Carrollton and Banks!