SUNY COBLESKILL’S MCCARTHY NAMED NJCAA
DISTRICT I BASKETBALL COACH-OF-THE-YEAR

The National Junior College Athletic Association has named SUNY Cobleskill Head Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin McCarthy as the 2005 NJCAA Division III District I Coach-of-the-Year. Under McCarthy’s direction the Fighting Tigers advanced to the NJCAA “Elite Eight” for the second time in school history after winning the 2005 Region III Championship and establishing a new program record for most victories in a single season as Cobleskill finished the year with a 30-6 overall mark. This is the second time that McCarthy has been named District I Coach-of-the-Year. He was previously honored with the award in 1998 by the NJCAA.

“This award is really an acknowledgement of what the collective efforts of what our players, coaching staff, support personnel and fans have accomplished this season,” said McCarthy. “It has been a very special season for all of us involved with Fighting Tiger basketball which is bigger than any one individual. In my time here we’ve created something that is very special in terms of basketball and I am very proud of all that we’ve accomplished during this time.”  

During McCarthy’s tenure the Fighting Tigers have posted a 292-103 overall record establishing a SUNY System record for most consecutive 20-win seasons currently standing at eleven while making 13 consecutive post-season tournament appearances capturing Region III Championships in 1998 and 2005. The Fighting Tigers advanced to the NJCAA “Final Four” in 1998 and the “Elite Eight” in 2005. Under his direction the Fighting Tigers have won three Mountain Valley Conference Western Division titles and two overall Mountain Valley Conference Championships and have been nationally ranked in every Final Season NJCAA Division III National Poll since 1994. Cobleskill has spent a combined total of ten weeks ranked number one in the nation during this time.
  
No stranger to coaching and administrative honors, McCarthy has been named Mountain Valley Conference Coach-of-the-Year three times and NJCAA Region III Division III Coach-of-the-Year twice. In 2004 the Fighting Tiger mentor was honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches with the organization’s Guardian of the Game Award for Education becoming the first junior college coach ever honored with a Guardian Award. Also in 2004 the Fighting Tiger mentor was honored by the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors as the Northeastern District recipient of the General Sports TURF Systems Athletic Director-of-the-Year Award.