Steve Mormando
Head Coach
Phone: 998-2052
Email:
video.guru@verizon.net
Alma Mater: Rutgers University '80
Seasons as Head Coach: 25th - women; 24th - men
NCAA National Champions: 2
NCAA All-Americans: 40
Best NCAA Championship Finish: 7th (1994)
UAA Championships: 24 (15 men, 9 women)
UAA Individual Champions: 45 (28 men; 17 women)
UAA Coach of the Year Awards: 11
Steve Mormando, who has been a member of the New York University coaching staff since the 1981-82 season, has continued to produce successful national-caliber men’s and women’s fencing programs. He is entering his 25th season as women’s head coach and 24th year at the helm of the men’s team.
Mormando first joined the NYU men’s fencing program as an assistant coach. He became the women’s head coach from 1982-85, stepped aside for the next four seasons -- mainly to train for the Olympics -- but remained on staff as an assistant. Mormando, who took over as men’s head coach in 1987-88 and reclaimed the head women’s position prior to the 1989-90 season, has remained in charge of both programs ever since.
During his lengthy service on the Violets’ strip, Mormando has produced six NCAA champions, 40 All-Americans (six Academic), 45 University Athletic Association (UAA) titlists, six Intercollegiate Fencing Association (IFA) champions, and 15 NCAA Regional first-place finishers. In addition, Mormando and his staff of assistant coaches have combined to earn UAA Coaching Staff of the Year honors on 11 occasions.
The 2009-10 season was a continuation of the program’s success, as three of Mormando’s student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Fencing Championships. Senior Sam Roukas (sabre), junior Sam Byron Neslund (epee) and freshman Phil Jamesson (foil) represented NYU at the NCAA’s, where the Violets’ combined men’s and women’s teams placed the highest of all Division III squads at the competition, coming in 16th place. It was the 16th consecutive season in which NYU posted a top-20 national finish.
Overall, the 2009-10 men’s squad posted a 10-13 record, including impressive victories over NCAA division I squads from Columbia University, Princeton University and Boston College. The Violets also defeated their UAA foe, Brandies University.
The women’s team finished with a 10-15 record in ’09-10, marking their third consecutive season with double-digit wins. Included in that win total was victories over NCAA Division I squads from the Air Force Academy, Boston College and Wayne State University.
Off the strip in 2009-10, Mormando saw 24 of his student-athletes earn UAA Winter Sport All-Academic honors.
Overall, Mormando has helped lead the Violets to 12 top-10 national finishes, as well as 15 men’s UAA Championships (1988, 1990-2003) and 10 UAA women’s titles (1989-92, 1996-2000, 2003). The last UAA Championship was held in 2003.
The Violets have finished as high as seventh nationally (1993-94) during Mormando’s tenure with the program.
Mormando, who qualified as the 1992 United States Olympic Team's top sabre fencer, was also elected co-captain of the U.S. Fencing contingent. The Barcelona games marked his third consecutive Olympic selection. He earned the trip to Barcelona largely as a result of the gold medal he won in the individual sabre competition at the 1991 Pan American Games. In addition to his Pan American gold, Mormando captured the 1987 U.S. National Sabre Championship and has earned 17 U.S. Olympic Festival Championship medals.
In 2005, Mormando won the bronze medal at the Veterans Over-50 World Championships in Tampa, Florida. He won the gold medal at the 1998 Nike World Masters' Games in Portland, Oregon, defeating 1980 Olympic gold medalist Nikolai Alekhine of Belarus 15-12 to win the championship.
Mormando’s competitive career includes 13 United States National Team gold medals to go along with his one gold and four silver medals from the Pan American Games. He made the Olympic Team finals in 1984, finishing sixth, and in 1988, finishing seventh. Mormando finished 12th in the individual sabre in 1984 and 16th in 1988. Over the course of U.S. national competitions, he has accumulated a total of 34 medals, including the silver he won in the team competition at the 2003 U.S. Nationals.
A 1980 graduate of Rutgers University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in philosophy and English Literature, Mormando earned his Master of Arts degree in sports and fitness management from NYU's School of Education in 1983. He has been inducted into the Toms River High School, Rutgers University and New Jersey Shore Halls of Fame.
A native of Toms River, NJ, Mormando resides in Dover, NJ.
Return to Coaching Staff