Bard chooses TJ Kostecky to lead men's soccer program

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College Department of Athletics and Recreation has announced that veteran NCAA Div. I coach TJ Kostecky has been chosen to lead the Bard College men's soccer program. Kostecky comes to Bard after 20 years as the head coach at LIU-Brooklyn. The Blackbirds were in the midst of a nine-game winning streak this past fall when the school announced that it was selling the soccer field and merging the LIU-Brooklyn team with the one from Div. II LIU-Post. "I am thrilled to be the new men's soccer coach at Bard," Kostecky said, "and I can't wait to get started with building a successful program which the Bard community will be proud of." Kostecky, the 2018 and 2015 NEC Coach of the Year, has a proven track record of rebuilding programs, having engineered successful turnarounds at each of his prior coaching stops. Before taking the job at LIU-Brooklyn, he took over a struggling program at Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. The Mountaineers snapped a four-year streak of losing seasons in Kostecky's one season there, going 13-8, and he was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year. Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, N.C., had suffered eight straight losing seasons when he took over in 1994, and the squad went 46-25-7 in his three seasons there. He was the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Coach of the Year in 1997. He began his collegiate coaching career at New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he led the Highlanders from 1988-93. NJIT compiled a 67-37-11 mark in his six seasons, capturing conference titles in 1991 and 1992. "Starting with Athletic Director Kris Hall, it was clear that everyone from faculty to staff cares deeply about the welfare of the students at Bard," Kostecky said. "I discovered that the college's vision, commitment to civic engagement, and enriching culture mirrors my own personal ethos." "We are fortunate that a coach of TJ's caliber and experience has decided to join us at Bard," Kris Hall said. "He's a man of great character and integrity, with a clear vision of what the student-athlete experience should be here. We really believe that his presence will benefit not only the men's soccer program, but the Athletic Department and the campus community as well." "My short-term goal is to learn more about the league and to implement a culture and standard that will permit us to improve every day," Kostecky said. "For the long term, I plan to recruit talented student-athletes who will enrich the Bard community and help us compete for Liberty League Championships every year."