Larry Puzan is traveling down Route 31 to coach a different Niagara.
SUNY Niagara announced Puzan was joining softball head coach Jenna Koch’s staff Tuesday as a volunteer pitching coach. Puzan spent 13 seasons as Niagara University’s head coach before the school announced June 26 he would not return next year, although a replacement has not been announced.
Puzan went 154-261 at Niagara, where he first joined the staff as an assistant in 1996. The Purple Eagles went 11-30 last year, one season after going 29-21 overall and 16-7 in MAAC play, the second-most total wins in school history and the most conference wins.
A 1986 graduate of SUNY Niagara, Puzan played baseball for the Thunderwolves in 1984. He has played fastpitch softball for 40 years and was a 2018 inductee into the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame.
In Koch’s first season as head coach, SUNY Niagara went 5-26, a year after going 0-14. The Thunderwolves had posted three consecutive winning campaigns before coach Nate Beutel resigned following the 2023 season.