BOSTON – Janet Maguire has been named the Suffolk softball head coach, Athletic Director Cary McConnell announced Tuesday morning.  

A veteran leader with more than two decades of experience at the highest levels of the sport, Maguire was most recently an assistant coach at West Point following stops at Cornell and Brown. Prior to jumping to NCAA Division I, she served as the head coach at her alma mater Bridgewater State and did a one-year stint at UMass Boston. She takes over a flourishing program with deep history and looks to guide it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.  

"I am excited to return to Division III to lead the Suffolk softball program," Maguire said. "I want to thank Cary McConnell, Anthony Del Prete, and the entire search committee for this great opportunity to be part of Ram Nation. I look forward to working with the exceptional student-athletes at Suffolk. We will work together to build on positive team culture that exists and to take on the competitive challenges within the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC)." 

"We are thrilled to name Janet (Maguire) our next head softball coach at Suffolk University," McConnell said. "Her vast experience and success as a head coach and assistant made her the ideal candidate to continue the success of our softball program and take it to the next level. Her passion for the program was evident throughout the interview process. We are excited to welcome her to the university and athletic department." 

A former second at Bridgewater State from 1991-94, Maguire brings an extensive resume to the blue-and-gold that includes NCAA appearances as both as student-athletes and coach. She has experience working in athletics development off the field, in addition to 20-plus seasons as a collegiate coach with responsibilities spanning all aspects of the game and a particular specialty teaching plate approach.  

Maguire spent the last two seasons at Army as an assistant coach on Cheryl Milligan's staff, who is one of the most decorated coaches in Division III history thanks to her tenure at Tufts, who became the first team in DIII to win three consecutive national championships from 2013-15 with a perfect 51-0 campaign in 2015. 

In two COVID condensed campaigns, Maguire helped the Black Knights to their best start in five years (14-9) before the shutdown in 2020 and aided to the team's first Patriot League post-season appearance since 2018 a year later. That season, in 2021 she coached Army's defense to its highest fielding percentage (.964) since 2015. 

Before heading to the banks of Hudson, New York, Maguire grew Ivy League roots at Cornell and Brown, where she held the same titles.

Maguire held a wide-range of responsibilities with the Big Red including practice planning, scouting and recruiting for Cornell, who's fielding percentage improved by 20-plus points during her tenure. She showed a knack for modifying mechanics and strategies, which was a direct result in 2018 All-Ivy sections Erin Rockstroch, who's batting average bloomed from .197 to .410, and Tori Togashi that hit at a .320 career clip.   

From 2008-12 at Brown, Maguire was instrumental in the recruitment and development of two Ivy League legends, Stephanie Thompson and Kate Strobel. Thompson holds the Ivy League career record for batting average (.434) and on-base percentage (.515), while Strobel is featured in the Ivy League ranks in slugging percentage (728). In her first four years with the Bears, the squad's Ancient Eight win mark improved each season and in 2010, the team posted a 20-win campaign for only the second time in 13 years. Her improvements in between the lines in Providence, Rhode Island, resembled her off-field contributions to Brown's program, which are highlighted by the Home Runs for Homeless service project she spearheaded.  

Maguire's coaching roots were made at the DIII level, first as a student-athlete at Bridgewater State, then as a coach. Her first gig was at UMass Boston in 2000 where she not only led the team that was held winless the year before to a 9-21 record in her only season in Dorchester, but also guided the Beacons on the soccer pitch as well.  

From there she returned to her alma mater, Bridgewater State. From 2001-07 she steered the Bears to seven consecutive regular season Massachusetts Stat College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) championships, five league tournament titles en route to five NCAA regional appearances. The 2006 MASCAC Coach of the Year accumulated a 175-122-3 (.588) record during her seven-year tenure, including an 86-12 (.878) league ledger. She coached student-athletes to numerous accolades on the conference, regional and national level, both athletically and academically.  

A player, Maguire captained Bridgewater State as a senior and aided to her team's runner-up finish in the 1994 NCAA DIII World Series. Today, she still owns a school single-season record for runs scored (57 in 1994) and singles (61 in 1994).  

A 1994 graduate of Bridgewater State with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Maguire obtained her masters in Physical Education from BSU.