Paul Mainieri

Paul Mainieri has been named the head baseball coach at the University of South Carolina, Athletics Director Ray Tanner announced today (Tuesday, June 11). He becomes the 31^st head coach in the history of Gamecock baseball.

Mainieri, who is the active leader in career wins in Division I (1,505), guided LSU to a 2009 national championship and a 2017 runner-up finish. He has made six College World Series appearances, five with LSU and one with Notre Dame, four SEC championships, six SEC Tournament championships and 10 NCAA regional championships. Mainieri is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year and a four-time National Coach of the Year (2000, ’08, ’09 and ’15).

Mainieri spent 15 seasons at LSU, guiding the Tigers to the 2009 College World Series national championship and five CWS appearances. During Mainieri’s tenure, LSU captured a remarkable 31 team championships, including the 2009 NCAA title, nine NCAA Regional championships, five NCAA Super Regional championships, four Southeastern Conference championships, six SEC Tournament titles and six SEC Western Division crowns.

In 11 of his 14 full seasons at LSU – the 2020 season was canceled after only 17 games due to COVID-19 – Mainieri led the Tigers to at least one team championship.

Mainieri posts a 1,505-777-8 (.659) record in 39 seasons of collegiate coaching at St. Thomas University (1984-88), Air Force (1989-94), Notre Dame (1995-2006) and LSU (2007-21). Mainieri is No. 7 in all-time NCAA Division I Baseball wins, and he is one of only five Division I coaches in NCAA history to have won over 1,500 games and a national championship.

He has guided his teams to 46 team championships – 31 at LSU and 15 at Notre Dame. As head coach at Notre Dame from 1995-2006, Mainieri directed the Irish to an NCAA Super Regional title and an NCAA Regional championship, eight regular-season conference championships and five league tournament titles.

Mainieri recorded a 641-285-3 (.692) mark at LSU, and he has the fourth-highest winning percentage in SEC history, trailing only former LSU coach Skip Bertman, who was 870-330-3 (.724) from 1984-2001, current Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, who has a 290-111 (.732) record from 2018-current and former South Carolina coach Ray Tanner, who posted a 738-316 (.700) mark from 1997-2012.

Under Mainieri, the Tigers earned an NCAA Tournament National Seed in six consecutive seasons (2012-17), making LSU and Stanford (1999-2004) the only schools in NCAA history to capture six straight National Seeds. Beginning in 2008, LSU earned nine NCAA Tournament National Seeds, the second-best mark in the country over the past 14 full seasons.

Mainieri’s LSU players earned First-Team All-America recognition on 13 occasions, and 25 of his former Tigers have played Major League Baseball. LSU players were chosen in the MLB Draft on 90 occasions during Mainieri’s tenure, including a first-round selection in seven of the past 13 seasons.

He served as the head coach of the United States Collegiate National Team for its 2018 summer tour, and he led Team USA to a 12-3 record that included series victories over Chinese Taipei, Japan and Cuba.

His sincere commitment to everyday excellence was recognized in a substantial way on January 3, 2014, in Dallas when he was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Mainieri, a four-time National Coach of the Year, joined in the Hall of Fame his father, Demie Mainieri, who coached Miami-Dade North Community College to 1,012 wins and a national title in his 30-year career. Demie and Paul Mainieri are the only father-son combination in the ABCA Hall of Fame.

Mainieri’s commitment to academic achievement was illustrated by the Tigers’ performance in the classroom, as 103 LSU baseball players earned their degrees during his tenure. Twenty-five of the graduates were players who signed professional contracts before completing their college eligibility and returned to LSU to finish their degree requirements. In addition, LSU players received SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition on 151 occasions during Mainieri’s tenure.

He established an active community service function within the baseball program, as the Tigers regularly visit hospitals and schools in the Baton Rouge area. The team also participated in events like the in the ALS Walk — promoting awareness of the treatment of Lou Gehrig’s Disease — and in the Buddy Walk, which is designed to encourage acceptance and inclusion of people with Down Syndrome.

Mainieri is personally involved in several philanthropic causes, including Cancer Services of Baton Rouge, the ALS Association, the Baton Rouge Children’s Advocacy Center, the Knock Knock Children’s Museum, Prostate Cancer Awareness and the Kelli Leigh Richmond Ovarian Cancer Foundation.

A four-year letterwinner in college, Mainieri played one season at LSU, one season for his father – legendary JUCO coach Demie Mainieri – at Miami-Dade North Community College, and two seasons at the University of New Orleans. The second baseman helped the Privateers win two Sun Belt Conference titles and advance to the 1979 NCAA Tournament during his senior season.

After completing his undergraduate degree requirements at Florida International (1980), Mainieri played two minor-league seasons before earning a master’s in sports administration from St. Thomas in 1982.

Mainieri’s coaching career began at his alma mater, Columbus High School in Miami, where he served as assistant baseball and football coach for three years before taking over as the head coach at St. Thomas in the fall of 1982. He also spent the final three years at St. Thomas as director of athletics. Mainieri was inducted into the Columbus High School Sports Hall of Fame in October 2009. He is a member of the St. Thomas Athletics Hall of Fame, and the St. Thomas baseball facility in March 2013 was named Paul Demie Mainieri Field in his honor.

Born August 29, 1957, in Morgantown, W.Va., Mainieri and his wife, Karen, have four children – Nicholas, Alexandra, Samantha and Thomas – and four grandchildren – Holden, Jonathan, Wren and Rocco.

Coaching Awards
2023 – Hall of Fame Induction (Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame)
2022 – Hall of Fame Induction (La. Baseball Coaches Association)
2022 – Selected as a “Louisiana Legend” (PBS)
2018 – USA Baseball Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year Award
2018 – USA Collegiate National Team Head Coach
2017 – Stan Musial Sportsmanship Award
2017 – Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year
2015 – USA Collegiate National Team Assistant Coach
2015 – National Coach of the Year (Skip Bertman Award, NCBWA)
2015 – Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year
2015 – Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year
2014 – Hall of Fame Induction (American Baseball Coaches Association)
2013 – Baseball field at St. Thomas University renamed in his honor
2013 – Finalist for the Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year Award
2013 – Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year
2012 – Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year
2009 – Hall of Fame Induction (Christopher Columbus High School)
2009 – Hall of Fame Induction (St. Thomas University)
2009 – Hall of Fame Induction (La. American-Italian Sports HOF)
2009 – National Coach of the Year (ABCA, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, Rivals.com)
2009 – Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year
2009 – Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year
2008 – National Coach of the Year (Rivals.com, Collegebaseballinsider.com)
2008 – Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year
2006 – ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
2002 – ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
2001 – Big East Conference Coach of the Year
2001 – ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
2000 – National Coach of the Year (College Baseball Insider)
1984 – Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year

The Paul Mainieri File
Pronunciation: Muh-NAIR-ee

Career Record: 1,505-777-8 (.659, 39 seasons)
at LSU: 641-285-3 (.692, 15 seasons)
at Notre Dame: 533-213-3 (.714, 12 seasons)
at Air Force: 152-158 (.490, six seasons)
at St. Thomas: 179-121-2 (.598, six seasons)

Personal
Birthdate: August 29, 1957
Hometown: Miami, Florida

Education
1980 – B.S. in physical education from Florida International University
1982 – M.S. in sports administration from St. Thomas (Fla.) University

Family
Wife: Married to the former Karen Fejes of Belle Chasse, La.
Children: Nicholas, Alexandra, Samantha and Thomas
Grandchildren: Holden, Jonathan, Wren and Rocco

Mainieri’s Coaching Record

Year	School	Record	Pct.	Notes/Honors
1983	St. Thomas	19-25-1	.445
1984	St. Thomas	37-14	.725	Set school record for wins, Sunshine State Conference Coach of Year
1985	St. Thomas	32-21	.596
1986	St. Thomas	23-24	.489
1987	St. Thomas	35-21	.625	Led nation with .340 team batting avg.
1988	St. Thomas	33-16-1	.670
6-yr	St. Thomas Totals	179-121-2	.596	Winningest coach in St. Thomas history
1989	Air Force	27-27	.500	Set school records for Western Athletic Conference wins (13)
1990	Air Force	26-34	.433
1991	Air Force	22-27	.449
1992	Air Force	23-24	.489
1993	Air Force	28-22	.560	Team led nation in triples, second-most wins in team history, best AFA record since ’82
1994	Air Force	26-24	.520	Team led nation with .360 batting average
6-yr	Air Force Totals	152-158	.490	Second-winningest coach in Air Force history
1995	Notre Dame	40-21	.656	Midwestern Collegiate Conf. Western Div. champs, most wins by first-year ND coach
1996	Notre Dame	44-18	.710	Participated in NCAA South I Regional ( Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
1997	Notre Dame	41-19	.683	BIG EAST National Division champions, top winning percentage (15-6) in Big East
1998	Notre Dame	41-17	.707	Notre Dame’s 10th straight 40-win season; Irish finish 12th in nation for team ERA
1999	Notre Dame	43-18	.705	National Coach of the Year (CBI); BIG EAST regular-season champ (20-5); NCAA host
2000	Notre Dame	46-18	.719	Reached title game of NCAA Starkville Regional; fourth-most wins in school history
2001	Notre Dame	49-13-1	.786	Big East/Midwest Region Coach of the Year; #1 ranking; Big East champs; NCAA host
2002	Notre Dame	50-18	.735	Mideast Region Coach of the Year; Big East champs; College World Series participant
2003	Notre Dame	45-18	.714	First Big East Tournament repeat champion since 1986; NCAA Regional participant
2004	Notre Dame	51-12	.809	First team to win three straight BIG EAST Tournament titles; NCAA Regional participant; school-record win total for 3rd time in 4 years
2005	Notre Dame	38-24-1	.611	Extended unprecedented run of Big East Tournament titles to 4; NCAA Regional finalist
2006	Notre Dame	45-17-1	.722	ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year; Extended unprecedented run of Big East Tournament titles to 5; NCAA Regional participant; Big East reg.-season champs; set ND record with 23-game win streak (nation’s longest in ’06)
12-yr	Notre Dame Totals	533-213-3	.714	Has seen 50 of his ND players be drafted or sign professional free-agent contracts
2007	LSU	29-26-1	.527	LSU wins four SEC series against Top 25 teams, including CWS participant Mississippi State
2008	LSU	49-19-1	.717	LSU wins SEC West and SEC Tournament; advances to College World Series for first time since 2004
2009	LSU	56-17	.767	LSU wins College World Series for sixth time; first time since 2000; Wins SEC Tournament and SEC Regular Season
2010	LSU	41-22	.651	LSU wins third straight SEC Tournament title; first team to win three in a row in current tournament format
2011	LSU	36-20	.643	LSU wins 12 of final 15 games and posts a 23-3 mark in non-conference action.
2012	LSU	47-18	.723	LSU wins its second SEC title in four seasons and is selected as the NCAA Tournament No. 7 National Seed.
2013	LSU	57-11	.838	LSU advances to the College World Series and ties the SEC record for single-season victories with 57.
2014	LSU	46-16-1	.738	LSU earns the NCAA Tournament No. 8 National Seed; Tigers win fifth SEC Tournament title in seven seasons.
2015	LSU	54-12	.818	LSU wins SEC championship and advances to the College World Series; Tigers post the nation’s highest victory total with 54 wins.
2016	LSU	45-21	.682	LSU becomes just the second school in NCAA history to earn five straight NCAA Tournament National Seeds.
2017	LSU	52-20	.722	LSU finishes as College World Series runners-up; Tigers win SEC regular-season and tournament titles
2018	LSU	39-27	.591	LSU plays in NCAA Tournament for seventh-straight year and advances to NCAA Regional final
2019	LSU	40-26	.606	LSU wins the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional and plays host to an NCAA Super Regional
2020	LSU	12-5	.706	LSU posts victories in nine of its final 11 games and ends pandemic-shortened season on a five-game win streak
2021	LSU	38-25	.603	LSU wins NCAA Eugene Regional; earns Super Regional berth for 15th time
15 yrs.	LSU Totals	641-285-3	.692
39 yrs.	Overall	1,505-777-8	.659