COBLESKILL’S MCCARTHY TO COACH JUNIOR COLLEGE ALL-STAR TEAM

The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) announced today that SUNY Cobleskill Head Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin McCarthy has been selected to coach in an NJCAA sanctioned all-star game to be held in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four to be held in St. Louis, MO from April 2nd through April 4th. McCarthy will coach Team USA versus Team Illinois in a contest that will take place on Sunday April 3rd at McKendree College in Lebanon, IL beginning at 6:00 PM (CST).

McCarthy was recently named as the 2005 NJCAA Division III District I Coach-of-the-Year by the NJCAA. Under his direction the Fighting Tigers advanced to the NJCAA “Elite Eight” for the second time in school history after winning the 2005 Region III Division III Championship placing seventh in the tournament 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 Fighting Tiger Head Coach had been named District I Coach-of-the-Year. He was previously honored with the award in 1998 by the NJCAA.

“I usually take it easy at the Final Four, relax, enjoy the games and second guess everybody else’s coaching decisions,” said McCarthy. “But when you’re given an opportunity to work with some of the best players in country in a venue like this, how can you refuse? I guess that I’m like every other coach in American that I’m always looking for a sideline.”

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.