SUNY COBLESKILL’S MCCARTHY ANNOUNCES LEAVE OF ABSENCE
AS MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH

SUNY Cobleskill Head Men’s basketball coach Kevin McCarthy announced today that he is relinquishing his basketball coaching duties for the 2005-06 season at the institution after a13 year tenure as the college’s head men’s coach. McCarthy will remain as the school’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics as well the Chairman of the Department of Physical Education/Recreation & Sports Studies. This past season McCarthy led the Fighting Tigers to a 30-6 record, while the team captured the 2005 NJCAA Region III Division III Championship and advanced to the “Elite Eight” of the NJCAA Division III National Tournament. He was named the 2005 NJCAA District I Coach-of-the-Year by the NJCAA Coaches Association for his team efforts during the 2004-05 campaign which saw Cobleskill post its eleventh consecutive 20-win season and make its thirteenth consecutive trip to post-season play.

“I need to take some time off to recharge myself after 28 years of basketball coaching so I will be taking a sabbatical from coaching this season. “My son Brennan is going to be a senior at Cobleskill-Richmondville High School and I would like to see him play this season. As Athletic Director and Physical Education Chairman I am responsible for the athletic department’s transition to the NCAA; and this time away from basketball will give me an opportunity to devote time to these endeavors.
Cobleskill as an institution and we as an athletic department remain committed to the continued success of our men’s basketball program as well as to the success of our 20 sport intercollegiate program.”

Upon his arrival in 1992 McCarthy inherited a program that had compiled a 3-77 overall record in the three seasons preceding his arrival and had posted only two winning seasons in a span of time from 1967 through 1992. The transformation of the program to national prominence took a relatively short period of time under his direction. This is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that the Fighting Tigers have been nationally ranked in every NJCAA Division III National Poll since December of 1994. Cobleskill has spent a combined total of ten weeks ranked number one in the nation during this time.

With McCarthy at the helm the Fighting Tigers have won three Mountain Valley Conference Western Division titles and two overall Mountain Valley Conference Championships. Cobleskill has made thirteen consecutive NJCAA Division III Region III Play-off appearances highlighted by Region III Championships in 1998 and 2005. The Fighting Tigers advanced to NJCAA Division III Final Four in 1998 and the Elite Eight in 2005. The program also currently holds the SUNY System record for the most consecutive 20-win seasons with 11 in a row and has an active string of 13 consecutive post-season appearances. 

McCarthy has been named Mountain Valley Conference Coach-of-the-Year three times, NJCAA Region III Division III Coach-of-the-Year twice and was named the NJCAA District I Coach-of-the-Year in 1998 and 2005. During his time heading the program 30 Fighting Tigers have been earned All-Mountain Valley Conference recognition, 29 have been named to the All-Region III team and nine have been selected as NJCAA Division III All-Americans. 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.

With his leave as head coach, McCarthy in his role as Director of Athletics will begin the search for an interim coach immediately. “We will look at all possible options that are available to us at this time. I expect that we will have a new staff in place ready to get to work in the very near future.”

Interested parties may contact McCarthy at 518-255-5127.