Paul Mainieri (born August 29, 1957) is a former

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach and second baseman. He played

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LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, Miami-Dade CC and

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before pursuing a professional baseball career. He then served as the head coach of the St. Thomas Bobcats (1983–1988), the

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(1989–1994), the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

(1995–2006) and the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

(2007–2021). Mainieri coached LSU to the 2009 College World Series Championship.

Playing career

Mainieri graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. He started his college baseball playing career in 1976 at LSU. He played for one season, earning a

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, 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 The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...

where he played for two years and helped the team win two

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

titles and earn an appearance in the 1979 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. In 1978, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Wareham Gatemen The Wareham Gatemen are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Wareham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Gatemen play their home games at Clem Spillane Fi ...

of the

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, and was named a league all-star. Mainieri completed his undergraduate degree requirement at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

in 1980, earning a B.S. in

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. He played two years of minor league baseball and earned a M.S. in

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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 179–121–2, and Mainieri became the winningest coach in St. Thomas History. His No. 1 jersey was retired by the university in February 2012. In 2013, the new field at St. Thomas University was named in his honor. The Bobcats' new field is called Paul Demie Mainieri Field at Frank R. Esposito Stadium. Paul Mainieri asked the university to include his middle name, Demie, in the naming of the field because it is the same name as his father's first name. Both Mainieris have deep roots with St. Thomas, and recently became the first father-son duo to be elected to the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Mainieri was inducted into the St. Thomas Hall of Fame on November 1, 2009. Mainieri became the sixth person to be inducted into the St. Thomas Hall of Fame, joining Ken Stibler, Marinka Bisceglia, Manny Mantrana, Laura Courtley-Todd and John Batule.

Air Force

He moved on to the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

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

in 1995, Mainieri turned the Fighting Irish into a perennial postseason contender winning the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

tournament a record 5 straight seasons, making the NCAA Tournament 9 out of 12 seasons, and leading the Irish to one College World Series appearance in 2002. He won the 2001 Big East Coach of the Year award. In total, Mainieri posted a .714 winning percentage going 533–213–3 in twelve seasons.

LSU

Mainieri replaced

Smoke Laval Raymond Peter "Smoke" Laval (born December 20, 1955) is an American college baseball coach who was the head coach of the University of North Florida Ospreys. He is a former head coach of the Louisiana State University Tigers and the University o ...

at the end of the

' 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 The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

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 since 2004.

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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 The 2008 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was held from May 30 through June 25, 2008 and was part of the 2008 NCAA Division I baseball season. The 64 NCAA Division I college baseball teams were selected out of an eligible 286 teams on May 26, ...

. 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 Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. 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 ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') is an American publication based in Arizona that considers itself the "voice of amateur baseball" which has been published for over 40 ...

and the 2009 Coach of the Year award by

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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 Stanley "Skip" Bertman (born May 23, 1938) is a former college baseball coach and athletic director at Louisiana State University (LSU). He led the LSU Tigers baseball team to five College World Series championships and seven Southeastern Confere ...

as the only LSU baseball coaches to win a national championship. In 2015, Mainieri received the National Coach of the Year award from the

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and the

Skip Bertman Award The College Baseball Foundation was formed in 2004 in Lubbock, Texas as a non-profit organization, with the dual aims of awarding the Brooks Wallace Award, and creating the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. The organization also annually pre ...

presented by the

College Baseball Foundation The College Baseball Foundation was formed in 2004 in Lubbock, Texas as a non-profit organization, with the dual aims of awarding the Brooks Wallace Award, and creating the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. The organization also annually pres ...

. During the 2017 season, LSU played

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in a best-of-three series to determine the winner of the 2017 College World Series. Florida defeated LSU and the Tigers finished as College World Series runner-up.

Head coaching record

NCAA tournament

References

External links

LSU profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mainieri, Paul 1957 births Living people Baseball second basemen Baseball coaches from Florida Air Force Falcons baseball coaches Florida International University alumni Miami Dade Sharks baseball players LSU Tigers baseball coaches LSU Tigers baseball players Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball coaches St. Thomas Bobcats baseball coaches St. Thomas University (Florida) alumni New Orleans Privateers baseball players Niagara Falls Pirates players Sportspeople from Morgantown, West Virginia Baseball players from Miami Sports coaches from Miami Wareham Gatemen players Christopher Columbus High School (Miami-Dade County, Florida) alumni