Mike Rappl is best known as the winningest softball coach in MAAC history. But the Buffalo, NY, native also proved he knew how to coach basketball as well.
 
In seven seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at Canisius from 1986-93, Rappl posted 93 career victories and helped lead the program into the Division I era, as the College joined the MAAC prior to the start of the 1989-90 academic year. In that season, Rappl’s squad posted an overall record of 21-7, just the fourth 20-win campaign for the Golden Griffins at that point in the program’s history, and the Blue and Gold earned votes in the Associated Press Top-25 Division I poll for the first time in school history. When he retired from leading the Canisius women’s basketball program at the end of the 1992-93 season, his 93 victories ranked second in program history, with 13 of those wins coming against long-time local rivals Buffalo, Niagara and St. Bonaventure.
 
Prior to taking over as the head coach for the Canisius women’s basketball program and transitioning the team from the Division II level to Division I, Rappl served as an assistant coach with the program for five seasons. He was a part of Sister Maria Pares’ coaching staff in 1982-83 when the Griffs earned a trip to the Elite 8 round of the 1983 NCAA Division II Tournament, and he later served as the president of the Middle Eastern Collegiate Women’s Basketball Conference from 1985-87. In addition to his college basketball coaching responsibilities, he coached the Western New York Open Women’s Basketball teams at the Empire State Games from 1983-91 and his squads won gold medals in 1986, 1987 and 1989 to go with silver medals in 1983 and 1990. He also served as the venue chair for Women’s Basketball in 1993 when the City of Buffalo hosted the World University Games.
 
A member of the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame, the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame and the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame, Rappl won 831 career games leading the Canisius softball program from 1980-2014. He led the Griffs to 13 MAAC regular-season softball titles, 12 MAAC Softball championships and 11 appearances in the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. His softball teams went to the MAAC Championship 21 times in a 25-year span, where the Blue and Gold advanced to 17 title games. He recorded 14-straight years with 20-plus wins, highlighted by a 36-win season in 1993 where Canisius set the NCAA record for consecutive victories as winners in 35 straight to open the campaign.