Year at Saint Mary's: 7th (in 2024-25 /
Year-by-Year Record /
Cumulative Records
Record at Saint Mary's: 66-94
Joe Fano is the head men's basketball coach at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, a position he has held since the start of the 2018-19 academic school year.
Fano and the Cardinals enjoyed their best season in more than 50 years in 2022-23, finishing 16-10 overall — the most wins since the 1977-78 team finished 16-10. Saint Mary's also posted a third-place record of 12-8 in conference play and reached the MIAC Playoffs for the third time in Fano's five years at the helm.
In a pandemic-laden third season, Fano's Cardinals put together a 6-2 showing, including a 3-1 mark in conference play. Because of COVID-19, there was no post-season tournament, and several of the team's contests were canceled due to testing protocols.
In just his second year at the helm, Fano guided Saint Mary's to its first postseason appearance in 35 years — and its first postseason victory in program history. The 2019-20 Cardinals — just two years removed from a 1-24 season — finished the year 14-13, the most wins since gong 15-10 during the 1984-85 campaign. Saint Mary's also boasted a 10-10 conference record in 2019-20 — the Cardinals' most MIAC wins since 1999-00.
Year No. 2 also saw Fano's squad put the end to several lengthy streaks. With their 72-59 postseason win at Bethel in the MIAC quarterfinals on Feb. 25, 2020, the Cardinals snapped a 25-game losing streak at BU’s Robertson Center, dating back to an 82-68 win on Feb. 9, 1997. It was the Cardinals’ second streak-snapping win against the Royals that season. Saint Mary’s 72-59 win over BU in the team’s second meeting on Feb. 8 snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Royals, dating back to Jan. 12, 2013. With its 80-74 win over St. Olaf in the teams' first meeting on Nov. 23, Saint Mary's snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Oles. It was the Cardinals' first win over St. Olaf since Jan. 16, 2013, when Saint Mary's posted a 66-57 victory.
In his first year with the Cardinals in 2018-19, Fano guided Saint Mary's to an 8-17 overall record, while ending several long-standing streaks. The Cardinals snapped a 19-game road losing streak with their season-opening 76-71 win at Crown on Nov. 10 and ended a 27-game conference losing streak with a 71-64 win over Concordia on Dec. 5. Saint Mary's put an end to a 35-game road losing streak against Gustavus on Dec. 8, beating the Gusties 86-81. It was Saint Mary’s first win in St. Peter, since beating GAC 86-82 in overtime during the 1982-83 season. The Cardinals completed the season sweep of GAC with a 79-64 win on Jan. 26 — it was the first time since the 1979-80 season that SMU had beaten GAC twice in a season.
Eleven of the Cardinals’ 17 losses during the 2018-19 season were decided by 10 points or less, including three of their last five decided by five points or less — a five-point 90-85 overtime loss to St. Olaf on Jan. 31, a three-point, 68-65 loss to Hamline on Feb. 4 and a five-point, 88-83 setback vs. Bethel on Feb. 6.
Fano came to Saint Mary’s having spent two seasons as the associate head men’s basketball coach at North Park University. In his first year at NP, the Vikings closed out the year with an 18-8 overall record. The Vikings were ranked as high as ninth by D3hoops.com, earned a share of the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) regular-season title for the first time in 30 years, and collected its first CCIW tournament appearance in program history.
Prior to his stint at North Park, Fano served as an assistant coach for Benedictine University, where he helped lead the team to a combined 49-10 record in his two seasons—including a near-undefeated 2015-16 season in which BU earned a No. 1 national ranking by D3hoops.com, as well as back-to-back Northern Athletics Conference championships, and the program’s first-ever NCAA Division III Final Four appearance.
In addition Fano coached three student-athletes who earned All-NACC First Team conference honors, including Lucas Johnson, who was named the D3Hoops.com National Player of the Year. Benedictine finished the year as the top Division III team in total assists, assists per game, rebounding margin, defensive rebounds per game, field goal percentage defense and set school records for wins, win streak, win percentage, points in a season, 3-pointers, total rebounds, and blocked shots. All of this taking place while reaching their first NCAA Final Four in program history.
Fano also boasts 12 years as a high school varsity assistant coach. He began as the varsity assistant at Gordon Tech High School in 1996, where he helped lead the team to a pair of regional championships in eight seasons. Fano has also served as the head coach for the Mercury Elite AAU 16U and 17U.
