NCAA Division III Arcadia University has announced the hiring of Mike Kokoszka as the school’s new head men’s and women’s swimming coach. He replaces Nate Parsley, who was named the 2020 Middle Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year in his 3rd season at the helm.
Parsley recently took a job as the first full-time assistant softball coach at Rowan University. He previously was a student assistant and part-time softball coach at Rowan from 2009-2016 and a full-time assistant at Radford for one year form 2016-2017 before he began his swim coaching career.
Kokoszka comes to Arcadia after spending 9 seasons on the coaching staff at Hunter College in New York, which includes the last 3 as head coach. He begins as head coach officially on May 18th. Hunter College is also a Division III program.
Last season, the Arcadia men’s team finished 3rd at the Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship meet, led by senior TJ Dalton. Dalton was the first swimmer in program history to be named the conference’s Men’s Swimmer of the Year. The Arcadia women also finished 3rd at the MAC Championship meet.
Kokoszka’s previous program, Hunter College, won the CUNYAC women’s conference championship last season and finished 7th at the Metropolitan Championships: a super-conference meet for teams in the New York City area.
SwimSwam’s Swimulator tool shows that Arcadia was the better team last season – they would have won a head-to-head matchup based on season-best times by almost double, so this will be a significant step-up in competition for Kokoszka.
“While it’s bittersweet to leave the swim program at Hunter College where I’ve spent the last nine years, I knew from the moment I interacted with members of the Arcadia Athletics Department and student-athletes during the interview process that Arcadia was an ideal fit for the next chapter of my life and coaching career,” said Kokoszka. “I look forward to being a part of the Knight family, working hard to create the best possible student-athlete experience and leading the program into the future. Thank you to Executive Director of Athletics, Brian Granata, and the rest of the search committee for this amazing opportunity.”
Full Press Release from Arcadia
GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Arcadia University Department of Athletics and Recreation has announced the hiring of Mike Kokoszka as the next men’s and women’s swimming head coach. Kokoszka arrives in Glenside after nine seasons on the women’s swimming and diving coaching staff at Hunter College (N.Y.), including the last three years as the program’s head coach. Kokoszka begins his new role on May 18.
“While it’s bittersweet to leave the swim program at Hunter College where I’ve spent the last nine years, I knew from the moment I interacted with members of the Arcadia Athletics Department and student-athletes during the interview process that Arcadia was an ideal fit for the next chapter of my life and coaching career,” said Kokoszka. “I look forward to being a part of the Knight family, working hard to create the best possible student-athlete experience and leading the program into the future. Thank you to Executive Director of Athletics, Brian Granata, and the rest of the search committee for this amazing opportunity.”
Kokoszka joins the Knights following a very successful run while at Hunter, having earned City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Coach of the Year honors in each of his three seasons as head coach. In each of those three seasons, the Hawks were crowned CUNYAC regular season champions and were named a College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America Team – maintaining a 3.5 team GPA – while coaching 18 CUNYAC All-Stars and two CUNYAC Rookie of the Year honorees. Additionally, Kokoszka’s Hawks posted a 26-7 overall dual meet record with a perfect 18-0 mark in CUNYAC meets while overseeing eight program records.
Kokoszka led the Hawks to runner-up finishes at the conference championship meet in his first two seasons before claiming the 2020 CUNYAC title this past season, as he coached six Hawks to CUNYAC All-Star recognition and the CUNYAC Rookie of the Year in Sarah Decker. Kokoszka capped his final season at Hunter by leading the Hawks to their best finish in program history at the Metropolitan (MET) Championships, placing seventh in the 16-team field.
“We are fortunate to have Coach Kokoszka join the Arcadia Athletics family,” Executive Director of Athletics Brian Granata said. “Given his prior experience as a head coach and understanding of the ideals of Division III, we feel he is uniquely positioned to lead our program as we look to challenge the best teams in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) and region. He is a solid communicator who relates well to student-athletes and places great emphasis on team culture.”
Prior to his promotion to head coach in 2017, Kokoszka served six seasons as an assistant coach for the Hawks, overseeing 41 CUNYAC All-Stars and 12 program records. Kokoszka was also named a 2016 CollegeSwimming.com Assistant Coach of the Year Finalist.
Before arriving at Hunter, he was an assistant coach for the Cross Island YMCA Age Group Swim Team, mentoring and preparing New York State YMCA champions and YMCA national qualifiers. Kokoszka was no stranger to the Cross Island YMCA program, having been a YMCA National Qualifier himself during his competition days. He was also a New York state championships qualifier for Chaminade High School.
Kokoszka earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Columbia University in 2009 where he was a four-year member of the Lions’ NCAA Division I lightweight rowing team. He also founded the Columbia University Triathlon Club and was an Age Group All-American Triathlete and the 2009 Ivy League Triathlon Champion at the New York City Triathlon.
Kokoszka went on to earn his M.S. in Environmental Engineering from New York University in 2013 as a Presidential Scholar.
Is this an announcement of Nate leaving or Mike’s announcement. I think the bigger story here is the new hire.
This looks like an April Fool’s joke but in the middle of May… regardless, good luck my dude!