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With Hollander at helm, softball flourishes
By Tony Fiorello
On March 25, 2012
Sandra Hollander didn't come to Buffalo State with the idea of leading the Bengals' softball team to
multiple SUNYAC championships. In fact, she hadn't even considered the possibility of coaching the
softball team upon her arrival to the college.
Hollander, who has led the Bengals to three SUNYAC titles and 554 wins over her 23-year tenure, initially
wanted to be an athletic trainer.
"I was originally hired at Buff State as an athletic trainer and equipment manager," Hollander said. "I
went to school to go into that profession. My goal was to take care of the athletes, make sure they were
safe on the field and get them back onto the field quicker."
Although Hollander was hired for a vastly different job, she has had a much larger impact in becoming
one of the most decorated coaches Division III softball history.
As a child, Hollander said she had a deep interest in sports. Little did she know that one of the games
that she played as a youngster would eventually become the sport most closely associated with her.
"Growing up, I used to play softball with the other boys and girls living in the area on the playground
on the street corner," Hollander said. "I remember one day, somebody told us that they had organized
teams. I went with a friend of mine and started playing at 12 years old. I loved it."
A 1981 graduate of Indiana University, Hollander was hired shortly thereafter by Buffalo State as athletic
trainer and equipment manager. After serving in that role for a few years, she gradually shifted toward a
role as an assistant coach with the softball team.
"When I was an assistant coach here, I kept busy," Hollander said. "I was involved in recruiting, planning
practice, and it just seemed like the right move to make when the job became open so I could move up
on the totem pole here at Buff State."
After Hollander was named head coach in 1989, success came consistently. Over the next 23 years,
she piled up many accolades, including the aforementioned 554 career wins and three SUNYAC
championships, eight appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs, induction into the Western New
York Softball Hall of Fame in 2005 and being honored as SUNYAC's coach of the year four times.
Hollander has also had the privilege to coach six All-Americans, more than 40 All-Region athletes and
more than 85 All-SUNYAC selections. Two of those All-SUNYAC players, shortstop Kyrstin Lekki and
catcher Lindsay Goff, felt fortunate to have had her as their coach.
"(Hollander) knows the game inside and out," Goff said. "I think one of the great things about her is, if
you don't agree with an umpire, she'll be the first one out there defending you. She stands up for her
players."
"Our team is very close to coach Hollander," Lekki said. "She's a friend to me, a mentor. I love her."
In addition to her duties as head coach of the softball team, Hollander has served as Buffalo State's
Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator since 2009.
"I enjoy that role a lot because it gives me a chance to interact as much as I can with all the other teams
that may be considered minor in the public's eye," Hollander said. "As an SWA, I want to make sure that
all the minor sports are able to fill their schedules and be provided for with monetary assistance. I also
like being involved with our department's budget and seeing what's going on and how we are spending
our dollars that come through the student fees."
Even though she has accumulated many individual honors over her career, Hollander's favorite
memories of coaching at Buffalo State come from her team.
"I would say the first time that we were ever nationally-ranked in 1991 as the ninth-ranked team in the
country is a great memory of mine," Hollander said. "I really didn't even know what that was all about,
so it was exciting because it was all so new to us. Next to that, I'd say when we won our first SUNYAC
championship in 1996, because that's what you work for all season long."
As she enters her 24th season as head coach, Hollander believes that she has improved at many areas of
her job that will allow her to continue to coach to the best of her abilities.
"I think I've become better at recognizing the positives, which is very difficult in coaching," she
said. "You're here to make the kids better, so you're always looking for what is wrong with the team
instead of what went right. I've gotten better at going ahead and correcting what's wrong, but also
focusing on the right things."
Tony Fiorello can be reached at fiorello.record@live.com.
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