A former Trojan standout, Rick Guarno enters his second season on the UALR staff as a student assistant coach in 2011-12. A fourth round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, Guarno played seven seasons of professional baseball following his collegiate career, advancing as high as Triple-A with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 2008.

Working primarily with UALR catchers and hitters, Guarno helped produce two of the top hitting catchers in the Sun Belt in 2010-11 in sophomore Myles Parma and junior Nick Rountree.

Parma, who made 16 starts behind the plate, led the Trojans with a .350 batting average and a .439 on-base percentage to rank ninth in the conference in both categories. Rountree, who was a First Team All-Sun Belt selection at designated hitter, made 21 starts at catcher and led the Trojans with seven home runs and ranked second on the team with 14 doubles and 35 RBI.

A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Guarno attended Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester, N.Y., where he was a two-time City-Catholic League All-Star. Guarno was seventh in his graduating class at Bishop Kearney and was a member of the National Honor Society. Following high school, Guarno spent two seasons at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

A two-year starter at UMBC, Guarno hit .342 as a freshman to help UMBC advance to the 2001 NCAA Regional. He started all 53 games as a sophomore the following year, ending the season with a .323 batting average and 10 doubles to help UMBC to a 20-7 conference record and a spot in the Northeast Conference Tournament championship game.

Guarno transferred to UALR prior to the 2003 season, where he earned First Team All-Sun Belt Conference and Second Team ABCA Rawlings All-South Central Region honors in his lone season as a Trojan. He started 55 games at catcher as a junior, batting .344 with 27 doubles, 54 runs scored, 48 RBI and a .555 slugging percentage.

Guarno was selected in the fourth round of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft following his junior year (107th overall). He played seven seasons of professional baseball following his collegiate career, earning a call-up to Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2008 after batting .290 with five home runs over 25 games with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. He retired from professional baseball following the 2009 season after playing 26 games and winning a Golden League championship with the Calgary Vipers.

Guarno, whose duties at UALR include working with hitters and catchers, currently resides in Little Rock.