In 2014, Paul Mainieri, a four-time National Coach of the Year, joined his father, Demie Mainieri, who coached Miami-Dade North Community College to 1,012 wins and a national title, in the ABCA Hall of Fame. With his induction, Demie and Paul became the only father-son combination in the ABCA Hall of Fame.
Going into the 2016 season, Mainieri has a 1,279-653-8 record in 33 seasons of collegiate coaching at St. Thomas University (1984-88), Air Force (1989-94), Notre Dame (1995-2006) and LSU (2007-present). Entering the season, he ranks 8th on the career wins list for active NCAA coaches, and he is one of only six active coaches to have won 1,000 games and an NCAA national championship.
In nine seasons at LSU, Mainieri has guided the Tigers to four College World Series appearances, winning the national championship in 2009. He has also directed LSU to five NCAA Regional titles, three Southeastern Conference championships, five SEC Tournament titles and five SEC Western Division crowns.
Through the 2015 season, Mainieri has a 415-161-3 mark at LSU, and he is the second-winningest coach in Fighting Tiger annals, trailing only Bertman, who was 870-330-3 in his 18 seasons from 1984-2001.
Eleven of Mainieri's LSU players have already reached the Major Leagues, including pitcher Louis Coleman (Royals), infielder DJ LeMahieu (Cubs/Rockies), pitcher Charlie Furbush (Tigers/Mariners), pitcher Ryan Verdugo (Royals), pitcher Kevin Gausman (Orioles), pitcher Anthony Ranaudo (Red Sox) infielder Matt Clark (Brewers), outfielder Mikie Mahtook (Rays), pitcher Nick Rumbelow (Yankees), pitcher Nick Goody (Yankees) and pitcher Aaron Nola (Phillies).
Mainieri's commitment to academic excellence has been illustrated by the Tigers' performance in the classroom as 92 LSU players have received SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition over the past nine seasons.
Prior to coming to LSU, Mainieri established an unparalleled standard of excellence during his tenure at Notre Dame (1995-2006), leading his teams to 11 40-win seasons, nine conference titles, nine NCAA Regional appearances and a berth in the 2002 College World Series, marking the school's first CWS trip since 1957.
Mainieri led to Notre Dame to an NCAA Regional in every season from 1999-2006, making the Irish one of 10 teams to appear in every NCAA Tournament in that eight-year span – the others were Miami, Texas, Rice, Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Stanford, Clemson, Tulane and Oral Roberts. Notre Dame also joined six other schools (LSU, Miami, Rice, South Carolina, Stanford and Texas) as the only programs to reach an NCAA Regional final every season from 2000-05.
Mainieri's Notre Dame teams combined for a 100-percent graduation rate (71 of 71) among players who completed their eligibility. Twelve players who signed professionally after their junior year returned to Notre Dame to complete their degree requirements.
Notre Dame was the only Division I baseball program to produce Academic All-Americans each year from 2000-04, with two honored every season from 2000-03. The 2006 squad combined for an impressive 3.28 team GPA during the spring semester.
A former Chicago White Sox farmhand, Mainieri was the first civilian baseball coach at Air Force and averaged 26 wins in six seasons (1989-'94) for a program that averaged just 15 wins in the six previous years. He is the only Air Force baseball coach to post six straight 20-win seasons and his 1994 squad led the nation in hitting (.360), slugging (.623) and triples (0.76 per game).