HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Francisco Honored As Southwest Virginia’s Top Coach

Eight years ago, Mark Francisco was a long way from the baseball diamond.

After completing a successful career at Clinch Valley College (now known as the University of Virginia’s College at Wise), Francisco was working at Twin City Federal Bank.

However, he yearned to return to the sport he loved. So, he changed his career path, entered the teaching profession and joined Trey McCall’s coaching staff at Abingdon High School.

In 2006, he became the Falcons’ head coach after serving four years as McCall’s assistant.
“Trey was a great guy to follow,” Francisco said. “I haven’t really changed a whole lot. I’ve followed the same pattern he set out.”

Francisco has compiled a 52-21 record in his three seasons as Abingdon’s head coach and had his most memorable season this spring.

The Falcons went 19-8, claimed the Region IV title and qualified for the Virginia High School League Group AA state tournament.

As a result, Francisco has been selected as the Bristol Herald Courier’s Southwest Virginia coach of the year.

“It was an exciting season,” Francisco said. “To start out like we did, I was just real proud of our kids for being so resilient and being able to come back and do what we did.”

Abingdon opened the season by losing four of its first five games, before turning things around.

“I don’t think it was really a single moment [that turned things around],” Francisco said. “We just stuck with it and slowly got better as the season went on. We started playing our best baseball at the end of the year.”

Abingdon’s run through the Region IV tournament was especially impressive. The Falcons earned wins over River Ridge District members Salem, Blacksburg and Hidden Valley en route to the third regional title in school history and first since 1987.

The low-key Francisco gives credit to his staff of assistant coaches and the team, which seemed to have a new hero every night.

“It was a good group of kids to coach,” Francisco said. “I’m very blessed to have good kids to coach. As the season went along, we got better and the kids seemed to have a lot more fun. It was a tight-knit group.”

A tight-knit group led by a determined head coach.
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