Paul Mainieri to ‘stay retired’, not return to Notre Dame as head baseball coach

On3 imageby:Tyler Horka06/24/22

tbhorka

Paul Mainieri isn’t coming back to Notre Dame. Not as the Fighting Irish’s head baseball coach, anyway.

A Friday evening report from Teddy Cahill of Baseball America indicated Notre Dame targeted the former Irish head coach on the same day Link Jarrett left the program to take over at his alma mater, Florida State. That was true. Mainieri, 64, told BlueandGold.com that he fielded phone calls from Notre Dame Thursday night and sometime Friday.

But he also told BlueandGold.com he has “decided to stay retired.”

“I was really flattered and honored for Notre Dame to show interest in me,” Mainieri said. “The possibility of returning was exciting to me. But after giving it almost a whole day to think about it, I’m just not ready to get back into coaching.”

Mainieri retired from LSU after the 2021 season. He spent 39 seasons as a collegiate head coach at St. Thomas (1983-88), Air Force (1989-1994), Notre Dame (1995-2006) and LSU (2007-2021). He won 533 of his 1,505 games at Notre Dame. He was the active NCAA DI wins leader at the time of his retirement and currently ranks 11th in all-time collegiate coaching victories.

Mainieri still lives in Baton Rouge, where he won the 2009 national championship with the Tigers. He became the second LSU head coach to ever win it all, joining the legendary Skip Bertman. Mainieri currently serves as the an LSU Athletics Ambassador.

The search will continue for Jarrett’s replacement. He left for Florida State after just three seasons (86-32) at Notre Dame, one of which was shortened by the COVID pandemic. He took the Irish to the 2022 College World Series, joining Mainieri as the only coach who has been able to do so since 1960. The Irish’s only other CWS appearance came in 1957 under Clarence Jack Kline.

Notre Dame was one win away from Omaha in 2021, too. Jarrett and the Irish took the eventual national champion Mississippi State Bulldogs to a decisive Game 3 of the Starkville Super Regional. The Irish have had the nation’s second-best winning percentage since 2021 behind only Tennessee.

Mainieri’s son, Nick, played for him for two seasons at Notre Dame and spent another as a player-coach while nursing an injury. He now works in Notre Dame’s academic advising unit where he was of major help to Jarrett over the last three years. Mainieri has taken a few trip to South Bend to see his son in the last year.

Evidently, he had the chance to live and work there once again. But he has elected to stay put in Louisiana. When Mainieri retired a year ago, he cited neck pain causing headaches. He told BlueandGold.com earlier this week he is happy and healthy in retirement. His physical health is ”much better” than it was one year ago.

He’d like to keep it that way.

“I wouldn’t be able to do my job to the best of my ability if my neck flared up again,” he said. ”This is the right decision for me at this time.”

• Irish baseball hot board: Six candidates to replace new Florida State coach Link Jarrett

• Irish baseball end of 2022 season superlatives: Biggest moment, best play and more

You may also like