Paul Mainieri

Paul Mainieri
Sport(s)	Baseball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	LSU
Conference	SEC
Record	211–104–2
Biographical details
Born	August 29, 1957 (1957-08-29) Morgantown, West Virginia
Playing career
1976 1977 1978–1979 1979	LSU Miami-Dade North CC UNO Niagara Falls Pirates
Position(s)	Second base
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1983–1988 1989–1994 1995–2006 2007–present	St. Thomas (FL) Air Force Notre Dame LSU
Head coaching record
Overall	1075–596–6
Accomplishments and honors
Championships NCAA: 2009 Big East: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006 Big East Tournament: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 SEC: 2009 SEC Tournament: 2008, 2009, 2010
Awards National Coach of the Year (CBI): 1999, 2008 National Coach of the Year (Rivals): 2008, 2009 SEC Coach of the Year: 2009 Coach of the Year (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper): 2009 Coach of the Year (Baseball America): 2009

Paul Mainieri (born August 29, 1957) is the current head coach of the LSU baseball team. Prior to that position he was the head coach of the Notre Dame baseball team from 1995–2006, the United States Air Force Academy baseball team from 1989–1994 and the St. Thomas University baseball team from 1983–1988. Mainieri coached LSU to the 2009 College World Series championship.

Playing career

Mainieri graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. He started his college baseball playing career in 1976 at LSU. He played for one season, earning a letter, before transferring to Miami-Dade North Community College to play for his father, Demie Mainieri. After one year he transferred to the University of New Orleans where he played for two years and helped the team win two Sun Belt Conference titles and earn an appearance in the 1979 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

Mainieri completed his undergraduate degree requirement at Florida International University in 1980, earning a B.S. in physical education. He played two years of minor league baseball and earned a M.S. in sports administration from St. Thomas University in 1982.

Coaching career

St. Thomas

Mainieri began his coaching career in Florida as the head coach of St. Thomas University in 1983. In six seasons, his team went 179–121–1, and Mainieri became the winningest coach in St. Thomas History.

Induction into the Hall of Fame

It was announced that Mainieri will be inducted into the St. Thomas Hall of Fame on November 1, 2009. Mainnieri becomes just the fourth person to be inducted into the St. Thomas Hall of Fame joining Ken Stibler, Marinka Bisceglia and John Batule.

Air Force

He moved on to the United States Air Force Academy in 1989, where he would also remain for six seasons. He became the second-winningest coach in Air Force history posting a mark of 152–158.

Notre Dame

Moving to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 1995, Mainieri turned the Fighting Irish into a perennial postseason contender winning the Big East tournament an unprecedented 5 straight seasons, making the NCAA Tournament 9 out of 12 seasons, and leading the Irish to one College World Series appearance in 2002. In total, Mainieri posted a .714 winning percentage going 533–213–3 in twelve seasons.

LSU

Mainieri replaced Smoke Laval at the end of the LSU Tigers' 2006 season. In the 2007 season, LSU finished 29–26–1 and did not reach the NCAA Tournament.

40 games into the 2008 season, the Tigers were again struggling with a 23–16–1 record. However, the team then went on a Southeastern Conference record 23-game win streak and moved on to claim the 2008 SEC Tournament Championship. Under Mainieri's leadership, the team swept the Baton Rouge Regional bracket of the NCAA baseball post-season and won their first Super-Regional in years. UC Irvine ended the streak in the first game of the Super Regional, defeating LSU 11–5, but LSU won the next two games and reached the 2008 College World Series. It was LSU's first College World Series appearance since 2004 and they recorded their first win since their CWS championship in 2000.

Mainieri's Tigers entered the 2009 season as the favorites to win the SEC, and were the preseason No. 1 team in some national polls. During the season, the Tigers won the SEC regular season title, the 2009 SEC Tournament Championship, and reached the 2009 College World Series as the No. 3 national seed. Mainieri then led LSU to the CWS Finals against Texas. The Tigers won the first game 7–6 in 11 innings, lost the second 5–1, but won the national championship defeating the Longhorns 11–4 in the final game. The Tigers finished the season with a 56–17 record. Mainieri received the 2009 Coach of the Year award from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the 2009 Coach of the Year award by Baseball America. Rivals.com also named Mainieri the 2009 National Coach of the Year.

The 2009 title was the sixth in LSU baseball history, tying Texas for the second most national championships in college baseball history, and Mainieri joined Skip Bertman as the only LSU baseball coaches to win a national championship.

Coaching tree

Paul Mainieri's influence extends throughout the game of baseball, as seven of his former assistant coaches and six of his former players presently work as coaches or administrators.

Former assistant coaches

• Terry Rooney, Head Coach, Central Florida
• Brian O'Connor, Head Coach, Virginia
• David Grewe, Former Head Coach, Michigan State
• Cory Mee, Head Coach, Toledo
• Dave Schrage, Head Coach, Notre Dame
• Eric Campbell, General Manager, Team USA
• Al Avila, Assistant General Manager, Detroit Tigers

Former players

• Javier Sanchez, Assistant Coach, LSU
• Eddie Smith, Assistant Coach, University of Virginia
• Marty Smith, Head Coach, Central Florida CC
• Rick Hitt, Head Coach, South Florida CC
• Elvis Dominguez, Head Coach, Bradley
• John Corbin, Assistant Coach, Bradley
• Mike Kazlausky, Assistant Coach, Air Force
• J.J. Brock, Assistant Coach, Georgetown

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Air Force Falcons (Western Athletic Conference) (1989–1994)
1989	Air Force	27–27	13–13	5th
1990	Air Force	26–34	7–21	7th
1991	Air Force	22–27	1–20	8th
1992	Air Force	23–24	5–20	7th
1993	Air Force	28–22	5–16	10th
1994	Air Force	26–24	7–15	10th
Air Force:		152–158	38–105
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Big East Conference) (1995–2006)
1995	Notre Dame	40–21	11–4	2nd
1996	Notre Dame	44–18	13–7	6th	NCAA Regional
1997	Notre Dame	41–19	15–6	3rd
1998	Notre Dame	41–17	15–4	2nd
1999	Notre Dame	43–18	20–5	1st	NCAA Regional
2000	Notre Dame	46–18	18–7	2nd	NCAA Regional
2001	Notre Dame	49–13–1	22–4	1st	NCAA Regional
2002	Notre Dame	50–18	18–8	1st	College World Series
2003	Notre Dame	45–18	16–7	3rd	NCAA Regional
2004	Notre Dame	51–12	20–6	1st	NCAA Regional
2005	Notre Dame	38–24–1	14–9–1	3rd	NCAA Regional
2006	Notre Dame	45–17–1	14–9–1	3rd	NCAA Regional
Notre Dame:		533–213–3	196–76–2
LSU Tigers (Southeastern Conference) (2007–present)
2007	LSU	29–26–1	12–17–1	5th (West)
2008	LSU	49–19–1	18–11–1	2nd (West)	College World Series
2009	LSU	56–17	20–10	1st (West)	College World Series Champions
2010	LSU	41–22	14–16	5th (West)	NCAA Regional
2011	LSU	36–20	13–17	T–5th (West)
LSU:		211–104–2	77–71–2
Total:		866–456–5
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

NCAA tournament

Year	School	Record	Winning %	Notes
1996	Notre Dame	1–2	.333	Eliminated by Virginia in South I Regional
1999	Notre Dame	1–2	.333	Eliminated by Michigan in South Bend Regional
2000	Notre Dame	3–2	.600	Eliminated by Mississippi St. in Starkville Regional Finals
2001	Notre Dame	3–2	.600	Eliminated by Florida International in South Bend Regional Finals
2002	Notre Dame	5–3	.625	Won South Bend Regional & Tallahassee Super Regional College World Series (7th Place)
2003	Notre Dame	2–2	.500	Eliminated by Cal St. Fullerton in Fullerton Regional Finals
2004	Notre Dame	2–2	.500	Eliminated by Arizona in South Bend Regional Finals
2005	Notre Dame	2–2	.500	Eliminated by Florida in Gainesville Regional Finals
2006	Notre Dame	0–2	.000	Eliminated by Kentucky in Lexington Regional
2008	LSU	6–3	.667	Won Baton Rouge Regional & Super Regional College World Series (5th Place)
2009	LSU	10–1	.909	Won Baton Rouge Regional & Super Regional College World Series Champions
Totals		35–23	.603	11 Regionals (Won 3) 3 Super Regionals (Won 3) 3 College World Series (1 Championship)

External links

• LSU profile
• Notre Dame profile
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Minors)