Marist's Brian Giorgis Named 2011 The Rock MAAC Coach of the Year
MAAC Sports
Bridgeport, Conn. - Marist College head women's basketball coach Brian Giorgis has been selected as the 2011 The Rock MAAC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, announced today by the league office. This is Giorgis' fifth Coach of the Year award in his nine year career.
Giorgis led the Red Foxes to their second perfect MAAC season (18-0) in four years and an overall mark of 27-2. Marist is ranked #21 in the Associated Press Poll and #18 in the ESPN/Coaches Poll, the highest ranking the program has ever received. The Red Foxes currently have a 23-game winning streak, the longest in the nation and a program record. Marist won two non-conference tournaments this season - the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas, which included wins over Louisville, Nebraska, and Houston, and the TD Bank Classic hosted by Vermont.
Prior to his arrival at Marist, Giorgis enjoyed a tremendous amount of success at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie. In his final season there, the girls basketball team finished with a fourth-place national ranking in the USA Today poll and earned its fourth straight New York State Federation Championship. He earned WBCA Region One Coach of the Year honors, was runner-up for WBCA National Coach of the Year honors and was selected to coach at the Phoenix/WBCA High School All-America Game.
As the head girls' basketball coach at Lourdes, Giorgis posted an astounding record of 451-44 in his 19 seasons, good for a winning percentage of .911. He won nine state championships with the Warriors. In his last two years, his teams posted a combined mark of 56-2 and earned the top ranking in the Madison Square Garden Tri-State Area Poll each year. Giorgis has earned two WBCA Region One Coach of the Year honors and two coach of the year awards from the New York State Coaches Association. He led Lourdes to the league title all 19 of his seasons there and won 15 Section I crowns, with the last 11 coming consecutively.
Giorgis' achievements at Lourdes were not limited to the basketball court. He is the only coach in state history to take four teams to the state Final Four in his career, as he also guided the baseball, softball and volleyball teams there. His softball squad captured the state crown in 1990. Additionally, Giorgis coached golf and tennis at Lourdes and served as athletic director for 10 years. He served two stints as president of the Section One Girls Basketball Coaches Association.
Giorgis earned a bachelor's degree in health education from the State University of New York at Cortland in 1977, and earned a master's in health education from Virginia Tech University in 1982.