Mike Sirianni

EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is the biography and photo of Michael A. Sirianni, one of 11 inductees in the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021.

Other inductees are George L. Barone, Jr., Harry G. Carlson, Andrew J. Creager, Larry E. Rodgers, Christina M. Kebort, Marc T. Tramuta, Randall G. Anderson, Sarah M. (Bogardus) Burnett, Lewis G. Mack and Richard P. Shearman.

These individuals will be formally inducted at a time to be determined. Current New York State COVID-19 restrictions prevent the annual induction banquet on Presidents’ Day later this month.

The Class of 2021 will be the 40th group inducted into the CSHOF since its inception in 1981. The new honorees will bring the total number of CSHOF inductees to 220.

For more information, visit www.chautauquasportshalloffame.org.

Following one’s father into his profession is one thing. Following one’s father into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame is quite another. Michael A. Sirianni joins his father, Fran, in the Hall of Honor as an inductee of the CSHOF’s Class of 2021.

Born in 1972, Mike Sirianni attended Southwestern Central School where his dad was a successful and well-respected coach. The Fran Sirianni Athletic Complex was dedicated at the Hunt Road school in 2015.

Mike Sirianni earned four varsity letters in track and field, three letters in basketball and two letters in football as a Trojan.

Following his 1990 graduation from SWCS, he enrolled at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. He was a three-year starter at wide receiver for the Purple Raiders, including being a member of the 1993 NCAA Division III national championship squad led by legendary MUC coach Larry Kehres. Sirianni was a two-time Ohio Athletic Conference All-Star.

Sirianni also was a four-year member of the Mount Union track and field teams, both outdoors and indoors. He was a four-time Ohio Athletic Conference triple jump champion as he won that event in 1993 and 1994, both outdoors and indoors.

After graduating from Mount Union in 1994, he went to Ithaca College to earn a Master’s Degree. At Ithaca, Mike had his first taste of being a coach, like his father, when he served as a graduate assistant in the Bombers’ football program.

Sirianni next returned to Mount Union as an assistant to his former coach, Kehres, in 1996 and 1997. The Purple Raiders were NCAA Division III national champions both years. Sirianni then moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where he served as offensive coordination at Wilkes University in 1998.

Washington & Jefferson College then offered the offense coordinator and quarterbacks coach position to Mike. He worked in that role for the Presidents from 1999-2002.

When W&J head football coach, John Banaszak, left after the 1992 season, Sirianni was hired to replace the former Pittsburgh Steeler great beginning in the 1993 season, he’s still there. His record in 17 years is 156-36. His spectacular 81% winning percentage ranks fifth among all active NCAA football coaches with at least 10 years of experience.

His teams have won nine Presidents Athletic Conference titles and he has been named PAC Coach of the Year seven times. In 2012, D3football.com selected Sirianni as South Coach of the Year and in 2017 the American Football Coaches Association named him Region 2 Coach of the Year.

Not only did Sirianni follow his father into coaching, so did his two younger brothers. Jay Sirianni won New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C football championships for his alma mater Southwestern in 2008 and 2009. Nick Sirianni has been a coach in the National Football League since 2009. He was with the Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts before taking his present position as the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021.

Sirianni and his family reside in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.