2007-08 Media Guides
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HEAD COACH PAUL KOSTACOPOULOS 2008 NAVY BASEBALL Year-by-Year Record #15 Paul Kostacopoulos Year School W L T Pct. 1990 Providence 27 21 0 .563 Head Coach 1991 Providence 35 16 1 .683 1992 Providence 29 23 0 .558 Third Year at Navy (19th Overall) 1993 Providence 21 24 0 .467 Record at Navy: 67-41-1 (.619) 1994 Providence 32 21 0 .604 1995 Providence 44 15 0 .746 Career Record: 571-373-3 (.605) 1996 Providence 32 17 1 .650 Providence ’87 1997 Maine 24 27 0 .471 1998 Maine 24 26 0 .480 1999 Maine 28 28 0 .500 Within his first two-plus years at Navy, head coach Paul Kostacopoulos has helped resurrect a baseball pro- gram that has won more than 60 percent of its games all-time. This should not come as a surprise to those in the 2000 Maine 25 24 0 .510 college baseball ranks, as success has been synonymous with Kostacopoulos during his career. 2001 Maine 36 15 0 .706 Entering his 19th season as a head coach, Kostacopoulos owns a 571-373-3 (.605) career record. He has 2002 Maine 40 17 0 .702 won more than 30 games in each of his last-seven years and 11 times during his career. The native of Middleton, 2003 Maine 38 18 0 .679 Conn., has boasted a winning percentage of .500 or better in each of his last-nine campaigns and 15 times in his 2004 Maine 34 21 0 .618 career. 2005 Maine 35 19 0 .648 Kostacopoulos’s .619 winning percentage courtesy of his 67-41-1 record at Navy ranks third in program his- 2006 Navy 32 21 1 .602 tory among coaches with at least 50 wins, behind only legendary skippers Max Bishop (.669, 1937-61) and Joe 2007 Navy 35 20 0 .636 Duff (.645, 1962-93). He reached the 50-win mark at Navy in just his 81st game with the Mids, only four games at Providence (9 Years) 220 137 2 .616 more than Duff needed in being the quickest in school history. Under Kostacopoulos’s direction, Navy has boasted back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time in the program’s 112-year history. at Maine (7 Years) 284 195 0 .593 Last year, Mitch Harris and Jonathan Johnston were both drafted in the MLB First-Year Player Draft. at Navy (2 Years) 67 41 1 .619 Kostacopoulos has guided several players that went on to play in the professional ranks, including Toronto Blue Career Total (18 Years) 571 373 3 .605 Jays shortstop John McDonald and major league infielder Lou Merloni. In just his second season in Annapolis, Kostacopoulos directed the Midshipmen to a school-record 35-win campaign and their first Patriot League Tournament appearance since 2003. Navy also smashed the program Coaching Honors record for home wins with 22 and posted winning streaks of four games or more on four occasions. The pitching N ABCA Northeast Coach of the Year, 1992 and’ 95 staff excelled with a 3.88 team ERA, the lowest in 12 years and 34th-best mark in the country on the year. N New England Coach of the Year in 1995 and ’01 Inheriting a team that won only 12 games in 2005, Kostacopoulos engineered a team that went 32-21-1 in N America East Coach of the Year in 1997 and ’01 2006, then the second-highest win total in school history and most by a first-year Navy skipper. The 20 victories N Big East Coach of the Year in 1995 over the previous season’s mark ranks as the best turnaround in school history and tied for the largest win- N NCAA Tournament appearances in 2002 and ’05 improvement in Patriot League history. Navy’s 24 victories in non-league contests also established a school record. with Maine and in 1992 and ’95 with Providence Kostacopoulos and the Midshipmen opened the 2006 slate with tremendous success, going 8-2-1 in the month of February, including a win over Old Dominion, who opened the year with a 30-4 record. Navy claimed the Service Academy Spring Classic title by defeating Indiana State, Air Force and Memphis. Right-handed pitcher Personal Mitch Harris became the first Navy baseball player in over a decade to earn All-America honors. N Birthdate: Nov. 28, 1964 Prior to his arrival in Annapolis, Kostacopoulos coached Maine to a 284-195 (.593) mark over nine years in N Hometown: Middletown, Conn. Orono. He led the team to a 35-19 record in 2005, as the Black Bears won the America East Championship and N Alma Mater: Providence ‘87 earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in his tenure. At the NCAA Regional in Oxford, Miss., N Family: Wife - Joanie Powers; Daughter - Annie Maine defeated Southern Miss, 12-2, giving the school its first NCAA Tournament baseball win since 1991. Kostacopoulos, 42, came to Maine after seven years at Providence College where he led his squads to a (6); Son - Matthew (4) record of 220-137-2 (.616). In 1995, his Friars were 44-15 and won a school-record 16 Big East games. After win- ning the regular-season Big East Championship, the Friars finished as the tournament runner-up and received an Players Drafted Under at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Providence was 29-23 in 1992 and won the Big East Tournament to advance to the NCAA South I Regional. Kostacopoulos at Navy Kostacopoulos served as an assistant at Providence for two seasons before 1990, when at age 25, he became the youngest Division I head coach in the country. He was named the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Northeast Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1995, and received both Big East and New England Coach-of- the-Year honors in 1995. In 1997, Kostacopoulos took over a struggling Maine program and brought instant success. The Black Bears finished with a 24-27 mark, a five-win improvement over the previous season. Maine's 16-8 league record earned Kostacopoulos America East Coach-of-the-Year honors. The 2001 team turned in a 36-15 record, the fifth-highest win total in program history at the time, and finished second in the America East with a 20-8 league record. He was named America East Coach of the Year - the third time he has earned a league coach-of-the-year award. Kostacopoulos's 2002 squad finished with the first 40-win season at Maine since 1991, and only the third in school history. The Black Bears also won the school's 12th conference title and made an appearance in the NCAA Regional. Kostacopoulos earned his bachelor's degree from Providence College in 1987, capping a four-year career as a member of the Friar baseball team. He played 139 games and batted .260. As a senior, he was both captain and defensive player of the year. He comes from a family steeped in New England baseball; his father, Peter Kostacopoulos, recorded over 400 wins in 27 seasons as head baseball coach at Wesleyan University, and his brother, Pete, head coach at the Worcester Academy, has held coaching positions at Colby College, Dartmouth 2007 MLB FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT: College, and Wesleyan. He is married to former Providence College basketball standout Joanie Powers, and has a daughter, Annie Mitch Harris (left): 24th round - Atlanta (6) and a son, Matthew (4). Jonathan Johnston (right): 43rd round - Oakland w w w . N a v y S p o r t s . c o m • 3 COACHING STAFF 2008 NAVY BASEBALL #39 Scott Friedholm #25 Matt Reynolds Assistant Coach Assistant Coach Third Year at Navy First Year at Navy Providence ’98 UMass ’05 Scott Friedholm enters his third season Coaching History Matt Reynolds is in his first season as Coaching History as an assistant coach of the Navy baseball 2006-pres. Navy an assistant coach with the Navy baseball pro- 2008-pres. Navy program in 2008, working with the pitchers. Assistant Coach gram. He will work with the outfielders, hitters Assistant Coach With Friedholm keeping a careful eye 2002-05 Maine and help with recruiting. 2005-07 UMass over the pitching staff, Navy has produced a Assistant Coach "I have known Matt for many years and Graduate Assistant Coach 4.04 ERA over the last-two campaigns, the 2000-01 Bryant he will be a great fit here at the Naval lowest two-year mark for the Mids since 1989- Assistant Coach Academy," stated Navy head coach Playing History 90. Kostacopoulos. "He has proven himself as a Last year, Friedholm developed a staff highly accomplished coach at UMass for three 2003-04 UMass that ranked 20th in strikeouts per nine innings Playing History years, both in recruiting and on the field." Infielder (8.0) and 34th in ERA (3.88). Navy was one of 1998-99 Tampa Bay farm sys. "Having the opportunity to work at the 2001-02 Maine only 14 schools in the nation to rank among Catcher Naval Academy, an extremely prestigious Infielder the top 35 in both categories, with 12 of those 1995-98 Providence institution, is something I'm quite excited teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament Catcher about," said Reynolds. "I am looking forward to be a part of a baseball program that is and seven going in as the top seed in their steeped in a tradition of success." regions. For the past three seasons, Reynolds served as a graduate assistant coach at Navy’s 3.88 ERA in 2007 was the lowest by a Midshipmen pitching staff since UMass, where he worked with the infielders, hitters and helped in recruiting.