Jay Sirianni is entering his sixth season at the helm of the Sam Houston Baseball program in 2025, the program's second season as a member of Conference USA.
He became the 10th head coach in program history in July of 2019 after serving as the Bearkats’ associate head coach and pitching instructor each of the previous five seasons.
While at SHSU, Sirianni has been an integral part of taking Bearkat baseball to new heights with 221 total wins in that span. That mark includes conference regular season titles in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022 along with four NCAA Tournament appearances and a berth in the NCAA Super Regionals in 2017.
As head coach, Sirianni's Bearkats have had a pair of players selected in the first round of the MLB Draft with Colton Cowser selected fifth overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 2021 and Walker Janek chosen by the Houston Astros with the No. 28 selection of the 2024 draft.
Sirianni has had seven of his Bearkat pitchers drafted during his time at Sam Houston, including Hayden Wesneski's selection in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. Wesnski (Houston Astros), Cowser and Bryce Johnson (San Diego Padres) are all Kats' who were in Huntsville during Sirianni's tenure who are expected to be on MLB rosters in 2025.
Since joining Sam Houston prior to the 2015 season, Sirianni has tutored a pair of freshman All-Americans and another third-team All-American while having seven pitchers drafted in the MLB Draft. His pitching staff set a new program record with 522 strikeouts in 2017 while each of the top four single-season strikeout totals in program history history have come with Sirianni as coach.
The Bearkats captured their first-ever NCAA Super Regional appearance in 2017 and matched the previous program record with 44 victories. The win total marked the first time the Kats had produced consecutive 40-win seasons in Division I history.
Sam Houston pitching played an integral role in the program reaching consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 2016 and 2017, posting a 1.32 ERA while limiting opponents to a .167 average in four games at the Southland Conference Tournament in 2017 on their way to a run to the Tallahassee Super Regional.
The Kats backed that up with consecutive Southland Conference regular season titles, going 44-16 in SLC play while winning 18 of 20 league series.
Following the 2017 season, the squad finished nationally ranked in all six polls, checking in at No. 14 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 16 (NCBWA), No. 18 (D1 Baseball), No. 19 (USA Today Coaches), No. 20 (Baseball America) and No. 22 (Perfect Game).
That year Sam Houston led the Southland Conference in ERA (3.80), strikeouts (522) and saves (20) while finishing second in opponent batting average (.258). The success came during a season in which the bullpen featured eight first-year players including six freshmen.
Prior to his arrival in Huntsville, Sirianni served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at UT Arlington for 10 seasons where he helped lead the Mavericks to three conference titles and two NCAA Regional appearances. He mentored more than 21 pitchers that were drafted or signed free agent contracts with MLB organizations.
With Sirianni guiding the pitching staff, UT Arlington won a conference title in back-to-back years for the first time in program history. The Mavs made conference tournament appearances in seven of ten seasons.
The 2012 UTA pitching staff finished the season with a 3.89 ERA, the program's best ERA since 1992. His staff led the Southland in ERA in 2009 and followed up to lead the league in strikeouts in 2010.
During his stay in Arlington, the Mavericks posted 26 wins over top-25 nationally-ranked opponents with six victories over top-10 ranked teams.
All three of Sirianni's weekend starters were drafted in the top-17 rounds of the 2010 MLB Draft – a first in Southland Conference history.
Before his arrival at UT Arlington, Sirianni spent three seasons as the pitching coach at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kansas. While at Barton County, Sirianni helped lead the Cougars to a 113-56 record and qualified for three consecutive NJCAA Region VI Tournaments.
He began his collegiate playing career at Texas A&M before transferring to Nebraska to play for head coach Dave Van Horn.
Following his career at Nebraska, Sirianni was signed as a free agent by the Cleveland Indians. He began his professional career with the Burlington Indians (Rookie League) and also spent time with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (New York-Penn League) and Kingston Indians (Carolina League).
After finishing his pro career in January 2001, Sirianni returned to Nebraska for his final semester and earned a bachelor's degree in history in May 2001. He served as a graduate assistant on the baseball coaching staff and helped the team make it to the College World Series.
Sirianni played his prep career at Indianola High School. He earned 10 varsity letters with four coming in baseball and three each in track and field and football. He was a two-time All-State selection and a three-time All-Conference pick.
Sirianni's father, John, was the Director of Athletics at Division III Simpson College in Indianola for 28 years, spending 20 years as the school's head baseball coach. His brother, Mike, the former head coach at Regis University (Division II) and is currently an assistant coach at Nebraska.
