Mary Jo Firnbach - Softball Coach - Southern Illinois University Athletics

Mary Jo Firnbach

Title:
Associate Head Coach
Email:
maryjo.firnbach@siu.edu

Saluki Hall of Famer Mary Jo Firnbach '91 returned to SIU as associate head coach for the 2023 season, and has remained in the role since.

Firnbach, who starred on SIU's softball team from 1987-91 and was inducted into Southern's Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility in 1996, has amassed an impressive coaching resume dotted with stops at several perennial powerhouses which include the likes of Michigan, Texas A&M and North Carolina. All told, Firnbach's teams have made 17 NCAA Regional appearances and have been to three College World Series, including a National Runner-up finish while at Texas A&M in 2008.

Firnbach arrived in Carbondale after spending the previous eight seasons as the associate head coach at North Carolina. The Tar Heels made four NCAA Regional appearances during her seven full seasons and set single-season program records in a litany of categories under her tutelage, including batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored and home runs. In 2017, Firnbach helped the Tar Heels reach both the ACC Championship game and the Regional Finals in the same season for the first time in program history.

Prior to her eight seasons at Chapel Hill, Firnbach spent eight seasons as the associate head coach at Texas A&M. During her tenure at College Station, the Aggies made eight NCAA Regional appearances, including two trips to the Women's College World Series and four NCAA Super Regional appearances. In 2008, Texas A&M advanced to the national championship game. Firnbach's major job functions while in Aggieland included working with hitters, infielders, team defense and team offense and the results were immediate. In her first season on staff, Texas A&M hit .284 as a team and, in 2013 and 2014, posted back-to-back seasons in which they hit over .300 for the first time in the program's esteemed history.

Firnbach arrived at Texas A&M after she built Syracuse's softball program from the ground up from 1998-2006. In seven seasons, Firnbach compiled a 174-169-1 overall record, won a then-program record 36 games in 2006, made three appearances in the Big East Tournament and earned Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2005.

As a student-athlete, Firnbach was a four-year standout at third base and was named team captain prior to the 1991 season, a season in which the Salukis went 42-7 and were the Gateway Conference regular season and tournament champions. She was a two-time GTE Academic All-American, a two-time All-League and All-Midwest region pick, as well as SIU's Gateway Conference Athlete of the Decade. She started all 184 softball games in her career, hit .309, committed only 12 errors in 667 chances, and helped her teams to a 127-59 record.

Following her stellar playing career at SIU, Firnbach played professionally for the Raybestos Brakettes in Stratford, Conn. The Brakettes won the national championship and the gold medal at the Olympic Sports Festival. She also played with the Michigan Cruise in Ann Arbor, Mich., which finished fifth at the national tournament in 1994.

Firnbach entered the coaching profession immediately following graduation, serving as a volunteer assistant coach for two seasons at Southern, while completing her master's degree in sport psychology. She served as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan from 1993 to 1995 where she helped lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten Conference regular season and tournament championship, the National Invitational Tournament title and to an appearance in the College World Series. She then spent three seasons at Illinois State, where she helped the Redbirds win a pair of Missouri Valley Conference titles before taking the reins at Syracuse in 1998.