Jay Sirianni Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 6th year Alma Mater: Nebraska, 2001

Jay Sirianni enters his third season as UT Arlington's assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and sixth season as the Mavericks pitching coach in 2010.

Sirianni was promoted to recruiting coordinator in November 2007, when head coach Darin Thomas was named the sixth head coach of the Mavericks.

Sirianni led the Mavericks pitching staff to a 4.38 ERA in 2009, which led the Southland Conference. Three of his pitchers ranked in the top nine in the SLC in ERA and the Mavericks also posted a league-best 4.00 ERA during SLC competition.

In 2009, the Mavericks tallied a school-record 410 strikeouts as a team while right-handed pitcher Nathan Long led the SLC with a school-record 104 strikeouts. Long had the sixth best ERA in the conference (3.76), lefty Ryan Robinson (3.89) ranked eighth and Rett Varner (3.95) also had an ERA under 4.00 to finish ninth in the league.

The pitching staff's ERA (4.38) was the Mavs lowest since 2004 and is the school's third lowest team ERA since 1992. Sirianni's pitching staff tallied five shutouts, which matches the most by a Mavericks staff since 1995.

Five of Sirianni's pitchers were either drafted or signed a professional contract with a Major League organization following the 2009 season. Long was drafted in the 26th round by the Oakland Athletics and Varner was taken by the Chicago Cubs in the 34th round. Long signed just days following the draft while Varner opted to return for his redshirt-junior season. Weeks following the draft, Andy Sauter (Milwaukee Brewers), Matt Otteman (Seattle Mariners) and Andrew Kainer (Florida Marlins) all inked free agent contracts. All five players were signed as right-handed pitchers.

Since Sirianni's arrival to the Mavericks' program in 2004, there have been 16 pitchers who have either been drafted or have signed a free agent contract with an MLB organization.

The UT Arlington pitching staff helped secure five wins over nationally-ranked opponents in 2009, which included a sweep over No. 25 Minnesota, and wins against No. 7 Baylor, No. 17 Oklahoma and No. 25 Texas State. In fact, in those five victories, the Mavericks staff allowed an average of only 4.4 runs per game. Sirianni's pitchers also performed well in losses against No. 4 Texas (3-4), No. 22 TCU (1-2) and No. 26 Oklahoma State (2-6).

The past two seasons the Mavericks have defeated every Big 12 opponent they have faced at least once, which also includes wins over Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.

One of the top prospects Sirianni has mentored was Dillon Gee, who put his name in several all-time Maverick record books before being selected by the New York Mets in the 21st round of the 2007 MLB Draft.

Gee racked up 10 wins his final two seasons with the Mavs, and led the team his junior season in ERA (4.67), strikeouts (96), innings (111.2) and complete games (4). Gee's 96 strikeouts rank tied for fourth in UT Arlington single-season history, and his innings total places him fourth on the single-season list.

Sirianni had his hands full in the 2006 season when the Mavericks returned only one pitcher from the previous season. Sirianni molded his young staff into a group that helped the Mavs to one of their best starts in conference action (10-0) and to the team's first Southland Conference Tournament championship since 2001. Two of the UTA SLC All-Tournament team selections were pitchers, including Tournament MVP Ryan Riddle.

Before his arrival at UT Arlington, Sirianni spent three seasons as the pitching coach at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan. While at Barton County, Sirianni helped lead the Cougars to a 113-56 record with a pitching staff ERA of 4.69. His first season saw the Cougars post a 44-14 overall record, setting a school-record for wins in a season.

Prior to his time at BCCC, Sirianni spent the summer of 2001 as an assistant coach for the Liberal (Kan.) Bee Jays of the Jayhawk League.

He began his collegiate playing career at Texas A&M before transferring to Nebraska to play for head coach Dave Van Horn. In four years in Lincoln, Sirianni compiled a 15-9 record and was the Friday night starter in 1999.

Sirianni was named a team captain as a senior in 1999 and went 6-3 with a save leading the Huskers to a Big 12 Tournament title, 42 wins and the school's first NCAA appearance since 1985. He tossed his second career complete-game to finish a series sweep over Texas. In his junior season, Sirianni led the Huskers with five wins and 56.2 innings pitched. He tossed a complete game to earn a victory over the Longhorns by allowing four runs on nine hits.

Sirianni became linked to NCAA history during his senior season as he was the winning pitcher in the most lopsided game in NCAA history when the Huskers defeated Chicago State 50-3 in the second game of a doubleheader on March, 16, 1999. Sirianni earned the win by retiring all six batters he faced in a predetermined two-inning appearance.

In the summer of 1998, Sirianni was a member of the Liberal Bee Jays that advanced to the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan. That team was coached by current UT Arlington head coach Darin Thomas and the late Clay Gould.

Following his career at Nebraska, Sirianni was signed as a free agent by the Cleveland Indians. Sirianni 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.

Sirianni is a native of Indianola, Iowa, and 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, is the Director of Athletics at Division III Simpson College in Indianola after spending 20 years as the school's head baseball coach. His brother, Mike, is a high school baseball coach in Jonesboro, Ark.

Sirianni married the former Erin McKernan on Sept. 2, 2006.