SUNY COBLESKILL MAKAROWSKI NAMED 2006 MOUNTAIN VALLEY CONFERENCE BASEBALL COACH-OF-THE-YEAR

The Mountain Valley Conference announced today that SUNY Cobleskill Head Men’s Baseball Coach Bill Makarowski has been named the 2006 MVC Coach-of-the-Year by the league’s coaches. In his first year at the helm of the program, after serving as an assistant coach on the Cobleskill staff in 2005, Makarowski led the Fighting Tigers to one of the college’s most successful seasons as the team posted an 18-17 overall record equaling the record for most wins in a single season. Under his direction the Fighting Tigers qualified for their first NJCAA Region III Division III Tournament bid, and winning season, since 1995.

During the year, Cobleskill also posted the best Mountain Valley Conference record in school history with a 12-4 record and the team’s best NJCAA Region III Division III single season mark with a 15-6 regional record. After returning from the team’s annual southern spring trip with a 0-10 record; Makarowski led his squad to an 18-7 mark highlighted by a doubleheader sweep of NJCAA Division III nationally ranked Hudson Valley Community College at Joseph Bruno Stadium on the HVCC campus in Troy, NY.

“It was definitely an exciting season for us a team and for myself in my first season as head coach. I was very fortunate to have a number of players back from last year’s team that I had worked with as an assistant coach and it was a real honor to share the experience of returning to the play-offs for the first time in over a decade with them,” said Makarowski. “We’re now going to keep pushing forward and keep things going in the right direction.”

A native of Cobleskill, the Fighting Tiger mentor was a member of Cobleskill-Richmondville High School’s 1997 Class “B” Section II Championship Team as a sophomore for Bulldog Head Coach Dale Wortherspoon. The talented pitcher/outfielder was also a member of the Bulldog Section II Runners-up teams of 1998 and 1999. He joined the Fighting Tigers in the fall of 2000 and received the team’s Coach’s Award for the 2001 season. In 2002 he was named as one of the team’s co-captains.  
Makarowski graduated from Cobleskill in May 2002 with his Associate of Arts Degree in Graphic Design and then transferred to the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Sports Management in May of 2005. While completing his degree he joined the Fighting Tiger coaching staff for the 2005 season as an assistant coach under his former head coach Shawn Noel.