Longtime Alfred softball coach Olivieri steps down
ALFRED, NY –
Gino Olivieri has resigned as head soft ball coach at Alfred University.
Olivieri, the career coaching wins leader at AU, resigned effective Friday (Sept. 18) to take over the head coaching job at Division I Coppin State University (Baltimore, MD). AU Director of Athletics
Paul Vecchio said a national search to find Olivieri's replacement will commence immediately.
"I have no doubt that considering the program that has been built here, and the current talent in place, it will be highly desirable opportunity," Vecchio said. "Our softball student-athletes and alumni deserve nothing but my full attention in our goal of finding a coach that will allow us to continue to compete for Empire 8 championships and NCAA appearances in the future."
Olivieri leaves AU four months after leading the Saxons to the team's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III College World Series. Alfred competed in the eight-team national championship tournament last May in Salem, VA, after winning the program's first-ever Empire 8 Conference championship tournament, followed by wins in the AU-hosted NCAA regional and at the Heidelberg University-hosted Super Regional.
"I want to thank Coach Olivieri for the incredible job that he has done in putting the Alfred University softball program on the national landscape," Vecchio said. "There isn't a shadow of a doubt that the AU softball program is light years ahead of what he took on a decade ago. I wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future."
"I always said, when I left here I wanted to leave the program in better shape than when I came in. I think I did that," Olivieri said, adding that he feels the Saxons are poised for continued success. "This team has accomplished so much and only lost three seniors (from 2015). I will be rooting for them."
Olivieri was appointed head softball coach at AU prior to the 2006 season and that year led the team to its first-ever berth in the four-team Empire 8 championship tournament. The following year, AU won a school single-season record 23 games. The Saxons would eclipse that record each of the next three years, winning 37 games in 2010 and earning in the program's first-ever NCAA berth.
In 11 seasons at the Saxons' helm, Olivieri accumulated a career coaching record of 257-131, with the 257 wins the most ever at AU. His teams have competed in the Empire 8 tournament nine times and in the NCAA tournament three times (2010, 2014 and 2015). He is a three-time Empire 8 Coach of the Year (2008, 2010 and 2015) and two-time ECAC Upstate Coach of the Year (2010, 2015). Olivieri and his staff – assistant
Ralph Messura and graduate assistants
Becky Zill and
Nicole Pagano – were honored as NFCA Northeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year following the 2015 season.
Olivieri, while grateful for the opportunity to coach at the Division I level, said he will always have fond memories for the time he spent at Alfred.
"What I will miss the most are the relationships I built here over the years -- at the University and in the Alfred community," he said. "I'll miss the players, the closeness and camaraderie we've had over the years. I've always wanted nothing but the best for them. They've all made me grow as a coach, and made me a better coach."
Olivieri has coached three NFCA All-Americans (Nicole Hedrick, 2010;
Alison Wickwire and
Liz Thompson, 2015); 24 NFCA All-Region selections; and 55 Empire 8 all-stars, including three Empire 8 Conference Players of the Year (Karen Folts in 2009, Hedrick in 2010, Thompson in 2015) and one E8 Rookie of the Year (Emily Fenton in 2010). Thompson was also ECAC Upstate Player of the Year last spring.