DIRECTOR OF BASEBALL – LAWRENCE
My Favorite sports moment is….. winning the 2000 Group 3 State Championship at Hamilton West, the only one in school history.
Coach Maher is currently the assistant baseball coach at Hamilton West. Previously, he was the head coach at Florence Hamilton and Nottingham, compiling a record of 429-189. During that time his teams reached 9 Sectional State Championship games, winning 4 of them. His 2000 team won the NJ State Group 3 Championship featuring major leaguer Jim Hoey. For his work in high school baseball, Maher was elected to the Hamilton West Hall of Fame in 2009 and the NJSIAA Hall of Fame in 2018. His 2000 West team and his 1978 Steinert teams are also in the hall of fame as a team. Maher has been named the Coach of the Year in 1986, 1990, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2016.
Additionally, Coach Maher spent numerous years coaching college baseball. In 1984 he helped lead Barton College to the 1984 NAIA Regional final in 1986 was the graduate assistant at TCNJ which reached the NCAA Regional South final. While coaching at Rider, they won the school’s first MAAC title and participated in the NCAA Cal State Regional tournament. Maher spent 5 years coaching the Trenton Generals of the AcBL where they won 3 regular season titles and the ACBL Championship in 2014.
Maher also coached youth baseball in the summers, leading his son’s Nottingham little league team to the 2002 NJ state championship and a spot in the final 4 for the Mid Atlantic regional in Bristol, Conn. He also coached Nottingam Babe Ruth to 3 straight World series from 2006-2008 reaching the Championship game in 2006.
During his playing days he was a pitcher for the 1978 Group 4 championship team at Steinert that featured future major leaguers Dave Gallagher and Chris Pittaro. From there he attended Mercer County Community College where he played for 2 teams that were ranked nationally. During his sophomore year Maher was 3-0 with 8 saves and 19 appearances that were both school records at the time. For the next two years Maher attended Barton College on a baseball scholarship, winning 8 games over the next two years
Coach Maher recently retired from teaching after 34 years. During his time teaching and coaching he has sent over 75 players to college and several to the major leagues.