Serie B After retiring as a player in 1997, Maran started his coaching career in 1997 at his former side Chievo as a coach, he joined
Brescia as a youth coach in 1998 and stayed there for two years before becoming the youth coach at
Cittadella in 2000. Two years later, he became that club's first-team manager. Maran became manager of newly relegated
Serie B club
Brescia on 5 July 2005 on a one-year contract. The following 5 March, with the team in 5th, he was replaced by
Zdenek Zeman. He joined
Serie B club
Bari in 2006, where he was sacked and replaced by
Giuseppe Materazzi in February 2007 with the team in 13th. Maran joined
Triestina in June 2007, and two years later he joined fellow Serie B side
Vicenza. He helped them avoid relegation. On 15 June 2010, his contract was extended for a further two years, but he was dismissed just under a year later. In October 2011, Maran joined struggling
Varese, replacing
Benito Carbone as head coach. He led them to the playoffs; however they lost out on promotion to
Serie A to
Sampdoria, 4–2 on aggregate.
Serie A years On 11 June 2012, Maran joined Serie A club
Catania. He took them to 8th place in a record-breaking season where they accrued 56 points from 38 matches. The season also saw Catania take a record number of home wins in one season, its record number of victories overall in a single top flight campaign, as well as its record points total in Serie A for the fifth consecutive season. Maran was dismissed on 20 October 2013 after a 1–2 loss to
Cagliari that left Catania in the relegation zone, and replaced by
Luigi De Canio. He returned on 15 January, before being sacked for the second time later on 6 April, after five defeats in a row and with the team bottom of the league. On 19 October 2014, Maran was named new head coach of former club Chievo, replacing
Eugenio Corini. He was sacked on 29 April 2018, weeks before the end of his contract; the team was on the brink of the relegation zone having taken 11 points from the last 21 games. On 7 June 2018, Maran was appointed manager of
Cagliari on a two-year contract. His side won seven of their first 12 games to challenge for a Champions League place in November; the only time the
Sardinians had started so well was when they won the league for the only time in
1969–70. This form did not continue into the second half of the season, and on 3 March 2020, he was fired by Cagliari after a run of 12 consecutive games without a league win. On 26 August 2020, Maran signed a two-year contract with
Genoa. On 21 December 2020, Maran was sacked.
Back to Serie B: Pisa and Brescia On 23 June 2022,
Serie B club
Pisa announced to have hired Maran as their new head coach. He was however sacked on 19 September 2022, leaving Pisa at the bottom of the league table after six games. On 14 November 2023, Maran was hired by
Brescia as their new head coach for the ongoing season. He was dismissed on 9 December 2024, following a 1–2 loss against
Catanzaro. ==Managerial statistics==