Mike Rappl

Mike Rappl

Biographical details
Alma mater	Canisius
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Basketball
1981–1986	Canisius (associate coach)
1986–1993	Canisius
Softball
1980–2014	Canisius
Head coaching record
Overall	831–526–2 (.612) (softball)
Tournaments	3–22 (.120) (softball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
13× MAAC regular season (1993–1996, 1997–1999, 2001, 2002, 2006–2008, 2010) 12× MAAC tournament (1993–1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007–2009)
Awards
7× MAAC Softball Coach of the Year (1992–1995, 1998, 2001, 2008) MAAC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year (1992) Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame (2015) [1]
Records
Most MAAC wins by a coach in league history (253) Most Wins by a coach at Canisius (831) Most NCAA Tournament appearances by a MAAC coach (11)

Michael R. Rappl ^[2] is an American former basketball and softball coach. From 1980 until 2014, Rappl was the head softball coach at Canisius College. ^[3] While at Canisius, Rappl helped build the program from a club team into a perennial NCAA tournament team and is considered a legendary figure in Canisius athletics history. ^{[4] [5]}

Coaching career

Softball

After graduating from Canisius in 1977, Rappl was tasked with building the school's softball program in 1980. ^[6] After posting a 5–9 record in his first season as head coach, Rappl led the program to 22 consecutive winning seasons, spanning from 1981 until 2002. Rappl ultimately led the Golden Griffins to 27 winning seasons in 35 years, winning 831 career games. ^[7]

Along the way, the Golden Griffins won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular season championship 13 times, as well as winning the MAAC tournament 12 times, both records. The team qualified for the NCAA Division I softball tournament 11 times. Rappl is one of two MAAC coaches to win a game in the NCAA tournament, the other being former Niagara coach Al Dirschberger. ^{[8] [9]}

While at Canisius, Rappl was named MAAC Coach of the Year a record seven times, winning the award each year from 1992 to 1995, 1998, 2001, and for the last time in 2008. His teams qualified for the NCAA tournament 11 times, doing so each year from 1994 to 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, and each year from 2007 to 2009. ^[10] Upon his retirement, Rappl was the most winningest head coach in any sport in MAAC history. ^[11] He has since been passed in this distinction by former Siena baseball coach Tony Rossi. ^{[12] [13]}

Basketball

While serving as head coach of the Canisius softball team, Rappl also was the head coach of the women's basketball team from the 1986–1987 season until the 1992–1993 season. He finished his time as a basketball coach with a 93–94 record, and was named MAAC Coach of the Year for the 1991–1992 season. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Canisius Golden Griffins (America East Conference)(1980–1989)
1980	Canisius	5–9
1981	Canisius	9–4
1982	Canisius	12–10
1983	Canisius	12–8
1984	Canisius	15–8
1985	Canisius	28–9
1986	Canisius	20–6–1
1987	Canisius	17–8
1988	Canisius	16–9
1989	Canisius	20–9
Canisius Golden Griffins (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)(1990–2014)
1990	Canisius	21–11–1		4th
1991	Canisius	27–10	11–2	2nd
1992	Canisius	22–7	6–0	2nd
1993	Canisius	36–3	10–0	1st
1994	Canisius	38–8	11–1	1st	NCAA Regionals
1995	Canisius	28–14	11–1	1st	NCAA Play-In
1996	Canisius	33–7	11–1	1st	NCAA Play-In
1997	Canisius	31–14	10–2	1st	NCAA Play-In
1998	Canisius	22–18	14–2	1st
1999	Canisius	32–12	14–2	1st
2000	Canisius	34–23	9–7	4th	NCAA Regionals
2001	Canisius	28–15	14–2	1st
2002	Canisius	33–16	13–3	2nd	NCAA Regionals
2003	Canisius	15–31	6–10	8th
2004	Canisius	23–30	9–7	3rd	NCAA Regionals
2005	Canisius	22–19	10–6	3rd	NCAA Regionals
2006	Canisius	28–23	13–3	1st
2007	Canisius	27–21	12–4	1st	NCAA Regionals
2008	Canisius	39–14	15–1	1st	NCAA Regionals
2009	Canisius	26–25	9–7	4th	NCAA Regionals
2010	Canisius	34–19	13–3	1st
2011	Canisius	20–21	7–9	6th
2012	Canisius	20–30	11–5	3rd
2013	Canisius	22–25	6–10	7th
2014	Canisius	18–30	8–12	8th
Total:		831–526–2 (.612)
National champion        Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. "Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame announces 12 new members". wgrz.com. June 3, 2015.
2. "Canisius College Softball" (PDF). section6.e1b.org.
3. "Rappl announces retirement as Canisius softball coach". Buffalo News. July 28, 2014.
4. "MIKE RAPPL – Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame". June 4, 2015.
5. "Tributes on Twitter for retiring Canisius softball legend Mike Rappl". Buffalo News. July 29, 2014.
6. "End of an Era: Rappl '77 Retires from Coaching | Canisius College - Buffalo, NY". www.canisius.edu.
7. Gazette, Doug SmithNiagara (August 11, 2014). "Base Paths: Canisius' Rappl will be missed". Niagara Gazette.
8. "Griffs Rappl Steps Down after 35 Years". wgrz.com. July 29, 2014.
9. "Softball Postseason History". maacsports.com.
10. Moritz, Amy (July 28, 2014). "Legendary Canisius College softball coach Mike Rappl steps down". Buffalo News.
11. "Mike Rappl to Retire from Coaching". Canisius College Athletics. July 28, 2014.
12. "Siena's Tony Rossi retiring after record-breaking tenure". Associated Press. March 7, 2023.
13. "Tony Rossi, NCAA's longest-tenured DI baseball head coach, announces retirement | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com.
14. "WBB ALL TIME RESULTS THROUGH 2023 (PDF)" (PDF). Canisius College Athletics.
15. "Mike Rappl (2009) - Hall of Fame". Canisius College Athletics.
16. "Women's Basketball All-MAAC Awards".