St. John Fisher College softball coach Len Maiorani will be retiring at the end of this month (June 2013).
Maiorani ends his collegiate career as one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division III softball (15th all-time in victories), compiling a record of 672-331-5 (.667 winning percentage) in 26 years of service. After coaching at SUNY Brockport for seven years, Maiorani arrived at Fisher in 1995 – a 19-year span that never saw a single losing season.
“Len has been the driving force behind our softball program and has consistently made it one of the nation’s best year in and year out,” says athletic director Bob Ward, who has been at Fisher since 1987. “He’s made a huge impact on the lives of so many people here at St. John Fisher College and I think he will be truly missed by everyone he’s ever interacted with.”
At Fisher, Maiorani led the Cardinals to four Empire 8 Conference titles with the most recent coming this past season when third-seeded Fisher knocked off top-seeded Utica College to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. In the NCAA Ithaca Regional, Fisher was awarded the bracket’s No. 1 seed for the first time in the program’s history.
It was Fisher’s sixth time in NCAA Championship play and its fifth in the last six years. The Cardinals made their first NCAA appearance in 2001.
Maiorani composed a 541-277-5 record (.657 winning percentage) during his 19-year tenure and reached the 30-win plateau nine different times, including four in the last five years. In 1999, Maiorani’s Cardinals set a College record with 39 wins.
Fisher has reached some form of postseason play in all but one year under Maiorani’s watch. Since the Empire 8’s inception in 2002, the Cardinals made the postseason tournament each and every year. Fisher also won ECAC Championship titles in 1999 and 2006.
The East Rochester native developed four All-America award winners, with Danielle Guccia winning the accolade twice during her time at Fisher. In addition, Maiorani produced 32 All-Region honorees, with 12 tabbed for the honor multiple times during their careers.
However, it wasn’t just the players that were earning honors during Maiorani’s time at Fisher. In both 2004 and 2009 he was named as the Empire 8 Conference’s Coach of the Year. In his seven seasons at the helm at Brockport, Maiorani posted a 131-54 record while earning SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors four times – in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991. He led the Golden Eagles to three SUNYAC titles before joining the Fisher family.
Maiorani, a SUNY Geneseo graduate, began his coaching career in 1977, coaching the East Rochester varsity softball and girls basketball teams. He also coached softball and girls basketball at Pittsford Sutherland.
In addition to coaching, Maiorani worked as fourth grade teacher in Fairport from 1975 until 2008.
Upon his retirement, he plans on traveling the world with his wife Beth and visit their three children: Lenny, Sean and Stacia.