In celebration of March Madness, we continue Center Field’s tradition of MAAC Madness with coaches from every school’s athletic program.
After seeding the coaches, the Center Field Staff will vote and ultimately pick a winner; the best MAAC coach of all time across all sports.
Canisius: Mike Rappl, softball
Great coaches inspire and instill confidence in his or her players. Those who do so while winning year after year, like legendary Canisius University Softball Coach Mike Rappl (1980-2014), belong to one of the most exclusive clubs in college sports.
In his 35-year tenure coaching at Canisius, Rappl, Canisius class of 1977, built the Golden Griffins into a college softball powerhouse, leading the team to 22 consecutive winning seasons from 1989 to 2002. Rappl led the Griffs to 13 MAAC regular season championships and 11 NCAA Division I softball tournament trips. He was the first coach to earn 800 wins in the MAAC. Rappl retired with 831 career wins, placing him in the top 60 coaches in Division I Softball. In 2007, he was inducted into the Western NY Softball Hall of Fame, highlighting his incredible talents as a coach and ambassador for the sport. -Caitlin Bombassei, Contributor
Fairfield: Carly Thibault-Dudonis, women’s basketball
It certainly takes a lot to be considered the best coach in Fairfield Athletics history in one’s third year in the program—let alone take the cake. But since taking over in the 2022-23 season, head coach Carly Thibault-Dudonis has accomplished what some MAAC women’s basketball coaches spend their entire careers striving towards.
Thibault-Davis made a name for herself and the team last season with a program-record 31 wins while notching a 29-game winning streak and going undefeated in the MAAC in 2023-24. Thibault-Davis and the Stags took home the MAAC Championship to earn a spot in the NCAAW tournament. The third-year coach also won the MAAC Coach of the Year and Kay Yow National Coach of the Year award. Fairfield notched a national ranking in the AP Top-25 poll for the first time in program history as well.
Thibault-Davis followed up this season strongly, earning a 28-4 record and a 19-0 MAAC record before a loss to Quinnipiac in the final game of the regular season. The Stags won the MAAC Championship again, marking their first back-to-back tournament championships in program history. Fairfield had just two coaches before Thibault-Davis since 1982, those being Dianne Nolan for 26 seasons and Joe Frager for 15 seasons, making it difficult for the third-year coach to surpass those two in total wins. But Thibault-Davus holds a .779 win percentage (74-21) since taking over, making her short-term resume beyond impressive and her future incredibly intriguing. She and the rest of the Stags will attempt to add to the portfolio in the upcoming NCAAW tournament as the No. 12 seed against Kansas State. – Michael Burns, Assistant Editor
Iona: Rick Pitino, men’s basketball
Rick Pitino only spent three years at Iona as their head men’s basketball coach, but the most dominant seasons in program history. He went 64-22 at Iona overall, and 40-9 in MAAC play. They won the MAAC regular season championship in 2021-22, his second season. In 2022-23, his third and final year, Iona went 27-8, won the MAAC, and made the NCAA tournament.
Pitino has a .740 career winning percentage, with an 834-293 career record. He’s won two national championships, one at Louisville and one at Kentucky, and has made four final fours. Pitino truly is one of the greats, and despite his short time in the MAAC, he changed Iona’s program drastically. – Ryan Eichem, Assistant Editor
Marist: Brian Giorgis, women’s basketball
No need to overcomplicate things for the Marist Red Foxes – the easy answer is Brian Giorgis. In 21 years as the women’s basketball head coach, Giorgis led the Red Foxes to a 463-203 record; his outstanding record resulted in 14 regular season MAAC titles, and the success continued into the MAAC Tournament. 11 times, Marist cut down the nets and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Not only did Giorgis get the Red Foxes to the Big Dance, but they had some success there even as a mid-major. In 11 tournament appearances, Marist won its opening matchup four times and made the Sweet Sixteen in the iconic 2007-08 season. Giorgis was the model of consistency, averaging well over 20 wins a season during his two-decade run as Marist’s head coach. – Ben Leeds, Associate Editor
Manhattan: Ken Norton, men’s basketball
Manhattan’s best coach comes from an era starting almost 80 years ago. The Jaspers, with Ken Norton at the reins, won 310 games with a .602 winning percentage—making him the winningest coach in their program’s history. Under Norton, the Jaspers won four conference championships in the Metropolitan New York Conference and two in the Metropolitan Collegiate Conference.
In his 22-year campaign, Manhattan reached the NCAA tournament twice, peaking at the Sweet Sixteen. In the 1957-58 season, Norton led his Jaspers to a first-round top-seed upset against the West Virginia Mountaineers—who were led by the logo man Jerry West. Norton stayed on as the school’s athletic director after stepping away from men’s basketball and was inducted into the Manhattan Hall of Fame in 1989. – August Lieberman, Assistant Editor
Merrimack: Ron Anderson, men’s hockey
While the MAAC has never had hockey, I have to throw in a shout for Ron Anderson, who coached the Warriors’ men’s ice hockey team for 15 years from 1983 to 1988. Over that time, he brought the program through three different conferences: first at a Division II level, a move to the ECAC East and a final transition to the notable Hockey East conference.
During that time, Anderson led the Warriors to three regular-season titles in the ECAC East, including a 22-0-0 record in the 1987-88 season. The Warriors earned an invite to the NCAA tournament, becoming the first Division I independent school to do so. They defeated Northeastern in the quarterfinals on a 10-8 aggregate, but they lost to Lake Superior State in the following round.
Anderson finished with a 254-253-24 record with Merrimack. He is currently the senior adviser of player recruitment with the Chicago Blackhawks and was on staff for three Stanley Cup wins (2010, 2013, and 2015). He also played 26 games in the NHL for the Washington Capitals. He sounds like a bonafide hockey guy to me. –Dan Aulbach, Editor-in-Chief
Mount St. Mary’s: Donny Lind, men’s basketball
How about some recent legacy?
Before the 2024-2025 season started, and much before MAAC play, Mount St. Mary’s athletic director, Brad Davis, told new head coach Donny Lind, “Just try to make the MAAC tournament,” according to Sam Federman of Mid-Major Madness.
Now, Lind has on his dancing shoes. The Mount may have not had the best record out of conference or even in MAAC play, but the team is extremely frustrating to play against thanks to Lind.
Whether it’s Lind sending out his first-half full-court press or designing a play for his superstar wing, Dola Adebayo, this team is tough to beat and even harder to gameplan for. Lind has taken this program from the bottom of the conference to March Madness, and it all happened in one year. The new head man for the Mount has already put his name in the record books and captured the Mount’s third tournament win in program history. Hayden Shapiro, Assistant Editor
Niagara: Joe Mihalich, men’s basketball
Joe Mihalich coached the Purple Eagles men’s basketball team from 1999-2013, accumulating 265 MAAC wins, the most in conference history. He made Niagara a mid-major wagon, winning four regular season titles in his tenure, including in his first year in 1999. They won the regular season and conference tournament title in 2005 having the 16th most efficient offense in the country.
Niagara won the conference tournament title two years later in 2007, beating Florida A&M in the first four before losing to Kansas. Mihalich won MAAC Coach of the Year three times, National Association of Basketball Coaches District I COY twice and in 2013 was named Skip Prosser Man of the Year. The Purple Eagles had just two losing seasons in his time and won 20 games in four seasons, including a 26-9 2009 where they ranked 75th in KenPom.
Mihalich’s team ran a high-paced, high 3-point attempt offense that attacked the glass and got to the free throw line. This made it difficult to defend because they spread the floor and opened up space to attack the rim. On the other end, Niagara always limited opponent 3-point attempts, proving to be a matchup nightmare in the MAAC.
Mihalich is an all-time mid-major coach on the MAAC Mount Rushmore of head coaches. – Marley Pope, Managing Editor
Rider: Tom Petroff, baseball
With an athletic program that has been historically competitive in such a wide variety of sports, it is hard to say who the best coach is when analyzing a school such as Rider. However, one coach in particular has seemed to set a certain level of standard in Rider’s athletic program. That coach is Tom Petroff, Rider’s head baseball coach from 1961 to 1970. He boasted a 155-84-2 record good enough for a 64.7% win percentage. Petroff, a member of the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, took the Broncs to their first and only College World Series appearance in 1967. These accomplishments allowed him to have a smaller coaching role with the Detroit Tigers and even the 1984 USA Olympic team. – Nate Babcock, Contributor
Sacred Heart: Mark Nofri, football
Leadership, accountability, longevity, and the ability to win: the archetype of a great coach is built on the foundation of these traits. For Sacred Heart, football coach, Mark Nofri fits the description.
Nofri earned his master’s from Sacred Heart and has been on the coaching staff since 1994, starting as a lineman coach, working his way up to assistant, then head coach. Entering his 13th season as head coach, he has put together an impressive resume including five NEC Coach of the Year selections and five NEC Championship victories. He also led the Pioneers to No. 24 on the The Sports Network Top 25 poll in 2014, the first national ranking in program history. With a 74-68 record, Nofri has the most wins of any Sacred Heart head coach.
Described by a former player as a “college football coach you dream of playing for,” Nofri will continue to build his legacy at Sacred Heart. – Gene Barbieri, Multimedia Assistant
Saint Peter’s: Mike Granelli, men’s soccer & women’s basketball
The definition of coach might have the picture of former Saint Peter’s men’s soccer and women’s basketball coach, Mike Granelli, next to it. Granelli, a lifelong New Jersey resident, began coaching as a teenager before eventually being inducted into the Saint Peter’s Hall of Fame.
Granelli’s Saint Peter’s campaign started with coaching the Peacocks men’s soccer team in 1970. He simultaneously coached the women’s basketball program beginning in 1972. During his soccer tenure, Granelli received two Tri-State Soccer Conference Coach of the Year awards and finished with the most victories in program history and a record of 163-110-28.
As impressive as his soccer coaching ended, Granelli’s 32-year women’s basketball coaching tenure is his claim to fame. Granelli accumulated 10 MAAC regular season championships and nine MAAC tournament championships from 1972-2004; Granelli became the ninth coach to win 600 games at the Division I level and the third women’s basketball coach to reach 600 wins at one school. – Aidan Lavin, Assistant Managing Editor
Siena – Fran McCaffery, men’s basketball
News has been buzzing around famed coach Fran McCaffery – after 15 seasons at Iowa the athletic director, Beth Goetz has fired the all-time wins Hawkeyes coach. Before McCaffery stepped foot in Iowa he was bringing Siena basketball their most decorated five-year run in program history. McCaffery was the head coach of men’s basketball at Siena between the years 2005 to 2010. During his time in Loudonville, New York McCaffery guided the Saints to four straight 20-win seasons and four MAAC tournament championship games.
But his winning didn’t stop within the MAAC. Bringing his team dancing four times out of his five years at Siena, he also led the Saints to first round victories, defeating number four Vanderbilt as the 13 seed in 2008, 83-62. Then a year later, they upset the No. 8 seed Ohio State 74-72.
McCaffery was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year during the 2009-2010 season and MAAC Coach of the Year for the team’s 2008-09 season. McCaffery ended his career at Siena with a 112-51 record spanning five years, with a .687 win percentage with the Saints.
McCaffrey also recruited three of the top five scorers in Siena basketball history. His 2010 draft class became the greatest team in Saints history, bringing in a program record of 97 wins, four 20-plus win seasons, and three MAAC Championships. Siena has not seen the March Madness tournament since McCaffrey’s departure in 2010 and has only returned to the MAAC championship once since, in 2017 where they lost to Iona 87-86 in overtime.
(His son, Connor is also dating Caitlin Clark, and Fran McCaffery and I share a birthday!) – Cara Lacey, Multimedia Director
Quinnipiac: Tricia Fabbri, women’s basketball
The first female coach to work full-time at Quinnipiac and one of the longest-tenured coaches in women’s Division I basketball, Tricia Fabbri has had her share of success for the Bobcats. Since taking the helm before the 1995-96 season, Fabbri has a total of eight Coach of the Year awards, three of which come from Quinnipiac’s time in the NEC and five since Quinnipiac joined the MAAC.
Fabbri has seven regular-season conference championships to her name and five NCAA Tournament appearances, including a sweet sixteen run in 2017. She has 529 wins, the 44th most in Division I history, and a .644 career winning percentage.
After coaching the Bobcats to a 27-3 regular season record this season, barely missing her eighth regular season championship and winning more than 20 games for the 13th time, Fabbri is still adding to her resume nearly 30 years after being hired. – Max Rosen, Assistant Editor
Edited by Dan Aulbach and August Lieberman
Graphic by Raegan Van Zandt, Photos via Marist Athletics
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