Paul Mainieri

Paul Mainieri (born August 29, 1957) is an American former baseball coach and second baseman.

He played college baseball at LSU, Miami-Dade CC and New Orleans before pursuing a professional baseball career.

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.

In 1978, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and was named a league all-star.

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.

He then served as the head coach of the St. Thomas Bobcats (1983–1988), the Air Force Falcons (1989–1994), the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1995–2006) and the LSU Tigers (2007–2021).

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.

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.

Moving to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 1995, Mainieri turned the Fighting Irish into a perennial postseason contender winning the Big East 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.

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.

It was LSU's first College World Series appearance since 2004 and they recorded their first win since their CWS championship in 2000.

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.

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.

Mainieri coached LSU to the 2009 College World Series Championship.

Mainieri graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.

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.

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.

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.