July 27, 2001
Notre Dame’s Paul Mainieri has been named the Mideast region’s Division I baseball coach of the year, as announced today by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). Mainieri was one of eight coaches nationwide to earn the regional coach-of-the-year honor, with the University of Miami’s Jim Morris receiving the ABCA national coach of the year award by virtue of his team’s College World Series title.
Mainieri also earned BIG EAST Conference coach-of-the-year honors after guiding his 2001 Notre Dame squad to one of the most successful seasons in the programs 109-year history, with the Irish rising to No. 1 in the national rankings for the first time in Irish baseball history.
Mainieri’s 2001 Notre Dame squad set the team record for victories (49-13-1) while posting a 22-4 conference record that represented the most wins in BIG EAST baseball history. The Irish ranked among the nation’s top all-around teams in 2001, finishing sixth among all Division I squads in team ERA (3.22) and 26th in team batting average (.322), with just three other teams ranking among the top 26 in both categories.
Notre Dame also posted a .964 fielding percentage that finished one percentage point shy of the national top 35, in addition to ranking 20th nationally in triples per game (0.40, 25 overall) and 31st in doubles per game (2.24, 141 overall).
Under Mainieri’s leadership, the Irish program developed a veteran core of players that paid big dividends in 2001, with consensus first team All-America pitcher Aaron Heilman leading the way. Junior centerfielder Steve Stanley earned All-America and BIG EAST co-player-of-the-year honors while four other Irish players joined Heilman and Stanley as first team all-BIG EAST selections.
Mainieri and the 2001 Irish also faced the challenge of starting a pair of freshmen on the right side of the infield but second baseman Steve Sollmann ran away with the BIG EAST rookie of the year award (in addition to being a first team all-BIG EAST pick) while first baseman Joe Thaman turned in a solid debut season that showcased his stellar defensive skills.
Notre Dame lost back-to-back games just twice during the entire 2001 season-never losing more than two in a row-and played host to NCAA Championship regional action at Eck Stadium for the second time in the last three seasons.
The 2001 Irish offense totaled a team-record 141 doubles while the Irish pitching staff set Irish records for strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.92, 420/151) and fewest walks per nine innings (2.48, 151 in 547.2).
Notre Dame’s 420 strikeouts thrown and .964 fielding pct. from the 2001 season both rank fourth in ND history while the team’s 25 triples, 21 complete games and seven shutouts all rank fifth in the Irish record book.
The 2001 team’s .786 winning percentage ranks as the second-best by a Notre Dame team in 65 years (since 1936)-trailing only the .793 (46-12) posted by the 1990 team-and ranks 11th overall in the program’s history.
Mainieri has compiled a 304-124-1 record (.710) in seven seasons at Notre Dame, with his 19-year record of 636-403-1 (.612) including six seasons at St. Thomas (Fla.) University and six at the U.S. Air Force Academy.