The 2015 Northeast Conference Coach of the Year TJ Kostecky begins his 20th season as the head men's soccer coach of LIU Brooklyn in 2018.
Kostecky put together one of the best seasons of any Northeast Conference men's soccer program in 2015, as his Blackbirds went undefeated and untied to claim the regular-season title. The unblemished mark of 7-0-0 was just the third time in the league's history that the feat had been accomplished.
Led by NEC Rookie of the Year Rasmus Hansen and NEC Tournament MVP Logan Keys, LIU went on to earn a pair of thrilling penalty-kick wins in the NEC Tournament to advance to the NCAA College Cup for the first time since 2004. The Blackbirds went toe-to-toe with Big Ten foe Rutgers in the opening round before a penalty shootout loss ended their season.
The prior season saw LIU Brooklyn return to the NEC Tournament for the first time in a decade, earning the league's fourth seed thanks in part to a perfect 3-0-0 record against NEC opponents at LIU Field. The Blackbirds withstood frigid temperatures to put a scare into top-seeded Saint Francis U., before falling 1-0 in the NEC Tournament semifinals.
In 2004, Kostecky led the Blackbirds to their first NCAA College Cup berth since 1986. The trip to the tournament, and the Northeast Conference Championship that preceded it, capped a season which had been anticipated since Kostecky and his squad began a steady climb in the conference standings when he assumed control of the program. LIU reached the NEC title contest in 2001 and 2002 – losing on a penalty kick both times – before capturing the championship with a 1-0 win over Fairleigh Dickinson.
As successful as his teams have been on the pitch, Kostecky’s squads are also devoted in the classroom. His 2003 & 2012 teams posted the highest team grade point average in the nation. The 2008 & 2015 squads was awarded the NEC Team Academic Award for posting the highest GPA among men’s soccer teams in the conference. The 2011 & 2013 teams were distinguished by the conference with the NEC Sportsmanship Award.
Kostecky is the second-winningest coach in the program’s history and posted four winning seasons in his first six campaigns at LIU, including an impressive 11-6-3 mark in 2002. That squad rang up an 8-1-1 mark in conference play, is the program-standard for league wins since the Blackbirds joined the NEC.
Kostecky has a proven track record of rebuilding programs, having engineered successful turnarounds at each of his prior coaching stops. Prior to LIU, he took over an Appalachian State program in Boone, N.C., that had suffered four consecutive losing seasons prior to Kostecky’s hiring in 1998. In his only season at the school, he led the Mountaineers to a 13-8 mark in 1998, marking the best first-year record for a coach in the program’s history of over 40 years. For his efforts, he was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year.
Kostecky arrived in Boone following a successful run as head coach and director of athletics at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, N.C., from 1994-97. He was handed the reins of a program that had suffered eight straight losing seasons before he led the team to a 46-25-7 record and captured two Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference championships. Kostecky was named CVAC Coach of the Year in 1997 and mentored one All-American and nine all-conference honorees during his tenure.
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 years, capturing conference championships in 1991 and 1992 and making four ECAC postseason trips. Kostecky’s accomplishments at NJIT came in his native New Jersey, where he starred scholastically at Woodbridge Township High School.
In 1979 at age 20, Kostecky was named varsity coach at Jefferson Township (N.J.) High School. He founded and became president of the Jefferson Township Youth Soccer Club and today serves as director of coaching for Vision Training Soccer Academy.
Kostecky credits the success he has accumulated on the sidelines to his philosophies on game preparation and the involvement of his coaching staff and players in the program.
“My approach to coaching is based on the fact that soccer is different from other American sports. It is really a player-directed game,” he said. “Most coaching is done in preparation for the game as opposed to in-game coaching. By game time, it is usually too late to accomplish anything.
“I also encourage players and coaching staff to evaluate all aspects of the program and to give me feedback. I am only one person and the players may have a different read on what is happening with the team.”
Tactically, Kostecky’s attacking practice sessions involve a system called Vision Training that he and business partner Len Bilous developed several years ago. This method helps players make smart, well-informed decisions by improving their field vision.
A featured clinician around the world, Kostecky conducted a coaching seminar in Masku, Finland, in March of 2005 on Vision Training. In early 2005, he released a DVD under the same name for players and coaches to use. Since its release, it has become one of the most requested coaching DVDs in the country and abroad.
Throughout his career, Kostecky has been an instrumental figure in facilitating the growth of soccer in America. From 1987-94 he was a coach for New Jersey’s Olympic Development Team and was responsible for the training and selection of the state’s top players for the United States National Team. When he accepted his post at Pfeiffer, he filled a similar role with North Carolina’s Olympic Development squad. Several of the players he mentored have played succeeded at the international level, including former U.S. National Team captain Claudio Reyna, and moved onto professional leagues such as Major League Soccer.
Kostecky has also worked with U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Team members, including Julie Foudy, a captain of the 1999 Women’s World Cup Champions. He conducted an instructional clinic for inner city children at the 1998 NCAA Division I Championships in Richmond, Va., for the NCAA Youth Education Through Sports Program and was again a guest clinician for YES at the 1999 and 2000 NCAA Championships.
In 1989, Kostecky founded Soccer Start, a youth soccer program for inner city children. He served as the program’s National Chairman until 1993. The program continues to identify and cultivate the abundance of talent in the inner-cities. He was appointed World Cup ’94 Committee Chair by then New Jersey Governor Jim Florio and coordinated training site activities in the Metropolitan area for each international team.
Kostecky is holder of an “A” license from the United States Soccer Federation and the “Premier Diploma” from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, which are the highest coaching licenses given in the U.S. Kostecky’s professional career began in 1981 as camp director for the Vision Training Soccer Camps. He serves as vice president of the camps that are running successfully throughout the East Coast. Last year marked the 31st anniversary of the Vision Training Soccer Camps.
A former all-state performer at Woodbridge, he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1995. He played midfield on the men’s soccer team at East Stroudsburg University and received a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 1983. He completed his master’s degree at East Stroudsburg in the same field in 1992. Kostecky serves as adjunct professor in the Department of Sports Science at Long Island University.
Kostecky resides in Brooklyn, and has two daughters, Kate and Caroline.
Kostecky's Year-by-Year Record
|
Year
|
School |
Record |
Conf. Record |
| 1988 |
NJIT1 |
13-5-2 |
- - |
| 1989 |
NJIT |
9-10-1 |
- - |
| 1990 |
NJIT1 |
12-5-1 |
- - |
| 1991 |
NJIT1 |
14-6-1 |
- - |
| 1992 |
NJIT1 |
10-7-2 |
- - |
| 1993 |
NJIT |
9-5-4 |
2-1-2 2/3-0-1 3 |
| Totals (six seasons) |
67-38-11 |
2-1-2 2/3-0-1 3 |
| 1994 |
Pfeiffer4 6 |
14-5-3 |
- - |
| 1995 |
Pfeiffer |
11-6-3 |
5-2-3 CVAC |
| 1996 |
Pfeiffer |
10-8-1 |
4-5-1 CVAC |
| 1997 |
Pfeiffer |
11-6-0 |
8-1-0 CVAC |
| Totals (four seasons) |
46-25-7 |
17-8-4 CVAC |
| 1998 |
Appalachian State |
13-8-0 |
4-4-0 SoCon |
| 1999 |
LIU Brooklyn |
6-9-2 |
3-5-2 NEC |
| 2000 |
LIU Brooklyn |
3-14-1 |
3-7-0 NEC |
| 2001 |
LIU Brooklyn |
8-7-4 |
5-2-3 NEC |
| 2002 |
LIU Brooklyn |
11-6-3 |
8-1-1 NEC |
| 2003 |
LIU Brooklyn |
9-6-4 |
6-2-1 NEC |
| 2004 |
LIU Brooklyn 6 7 |
9-6-4 |
6-2-1 NEC |
| 2005 |
LIU Brooklyn |
6-9-1 |
3-5-1 NEC |
| 2006 |
LIU Brooklyn |
4-11-2 |
2-5-2 NEC |
| 2007 |
LIU Brooklyn |
5-8-4 |
2-4-3 NEC |
| 2008 |
LIU Brooklyn |
8-9-1 |
3-5-1 NEC |
| 2009 |
LIU Brooklyn |
6-12-0 |
3-7-0 NEC |
| 2010 |
LIU Brooklyn |
7-10-1 |
4-5-1 NEC |
| 2011 |
LIU Brooklyn |
5-10-3 |
3-6-1 NEC |
| 2012 |
LIU Brooklyn |
2-14-2 |
1-8-1 NEC |
| 2013 |
LIU Brooklyn |
5-10-2 |
2-4-1 NEC |
| 2014 |
LIU Brooklyn |
5-12-0 |
4-3-0 NEC |
| 2015 |
LIU Brooklyn5 6 7 |
11-5-5 |
7-0-0 NEC |
| LIU totals (17 seasons) |
110-158-39 |
65-71-19 NEC |
| Career (28 seasons) |
236-229-57 |
| 1 ECAC Tournament |
| 2 Independent Athletic Conference |
| 3 Skyline Conference |
| 4 Carolinas-Virginia Conference Champions |
| 5 Northeast Conference Coach of the Year |
| 6 Northeast Conference Champions |
| 7 NCAA Tournament |