Valley baseball coach Jim Basilone steps down, ending successful 8-year run

By: Josh Rizzo
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Jim Basilone took over at a time when Valley baseball was stuck in a deep, dark hole. The veteran coach leaned on his considerable experience to lead the Vikings to five playoff appearances in a tenure that started in 2016 and ended with his recent resignation.

“They wanted to go in a different direction,” Basilone said. “I needed a break.”

Valley athletic director Joe Skura confirmed Basilone’s resignation and said the school board voted to hire Jaron Minford as the Vikings’ new coach. According to the Nov. 12 school board agenda meeting minutes, Minford was awarded a supplemental contract for the 2025-26 school year in the amount of $3,500.

Valley finished 7-11 last season, which included a 2-8 mark in Section 3-4A.

Basilone, a 69-year-old Springdale graduate, doesn’t plan to leave baseball. He has been a coach for 47 years. During his time at Valley, the Vikings had a 74-70 record, shared a section title with Burrell in 2018 and won the crown outright in 2024.

“I don’t think I’ll step away from the game at all,” Basilone said. “It’s in my blood, and I love coaching kids and helping them get into college to advance their degree. I’ve written many letters for kids and saw a lot of my players become doctors, lawyers and not only get bachelor’s degrees but master’s degrees as well.”

Before Basilone took over, the Vikings had four coaches in six seasons.

During Basilone’s first season with the program, Valley reached the playoffs to snap an eight-year drought. In 2018, the Vikings broke through with a 7-5 win over Beaver Falls in the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs.

That was Valley’s first playoff win since the Vikings beat Ford City on June 1, 1970. The Vikings went on to make the playoffs in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Basilone called in favors to help bring Valley’s baseball facility up to snuff. The field and dugouts were renovated, an outdoor batting cage was installed and money was raised to help fix the outfield fence.

“We had the Pittsburgh Pirates come in and build the mound for us. I knew some people down there,” Basilone said. “I had also gotten money from Major League Baseball to renovate the field. One of my assistant coaches and I physically built those dugouts. I’m proud of the work we did there to get the facility upgraded.”

Basilone estimates Valley was able to have two or three players per season move on to college baseball. Ryan Pallone went on to play for Washington & Jefferson. John Luke Bailey was the 2021 Valley New Dispatch Player of the Year and went on to play for Mount Aloysius.

“I really enjoyed reaching out to contact coaches,” Basilone said. “I was able to get them to pick up immediately or call me back right away because not only were the kids athletically strong, but they were academically strong. They also knew they would be disciplined.”

Valley victories

A look at baseball coach Jim Basilone’s year-by-year record at Valley:

2017: 7-10*

2018 10-6*^

2019: 5-8

2021: 12-7*

2022 6-12

2023 11-11*

2024: 16-5*+

2025: 7-11

Overall: 74-70

*Made playoffs

^Shared section title with Burrell

+Won section outright

Tags: Valley