Navy Names New Baseball Coach (2024)

(Photo: Scout.com)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet
Gladchuk announced Saturday that Paul Kostacopoulos will be the 12th head
baseball coach at the Naval Academy. Kostacopoulos comes to the Naval
Academy from Maine, wherehe had been the head coach for the past nine
years.

"Paul brings to Navy a wealth of experience as a Division I head
coach," said Gladchuk. "Sixteen years of success speaks for itself.
His personality, work ethic, organizational skills, leadership, vision and
family values make him a perfect fit for the Academy. I am certain he will
reenergize our baseball program, midshipmen and fans as he leads us to new
levels of excitement for Navy Baseball. To meet him is to immediately like
him, and we welcome "Coach Kosty" and his beautiful family to
Annapolis."

"It's a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to coach at
the Naval Academy and work with the nation's finest young men. It's a
dream come true for me and my family," said Kostacopoulos. "We are going
to work very hard to be successful on the baseball field, in Bancroft Hall and
in the classroom. The Naval Academy has a rich baseball tradition and I'm
excited to have the opportunity to be a part of this great program."

He
led Maine to a 35-19 (.648) record this past season as the Black Bears won the
America East Championship and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the
second time in his tenure. At the NCAA Regional in Oxford, Miss., Maine
defeated Southern Miss, 12-2, giving the school its first NCAA Tournament
baseball win since 1991.

Kostacopoulos, 40, came to Maine after seven
years at Providence College where he led his squads to a record of 220-137
(.616). In 1995, his Friars were 44-15 and won a school-record 16 Big East
games. After winning the regular-season Big East championship, the Friars
finished as the tournament runner-up and received an 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 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.

While at Providence, 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. In his first season in Orono, the Black
Bears finished with a 24-27 overall 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 Black Bears finished the 2000 season
with a 25-24 record - the first above-.500 record since 1993 - and the program
had its second All-American in as many seasons.

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' 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 received 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 College, and Wesleyan.

He is married to
former Providence College basketball standout Joanie Powers, and has a daughter,
Annie (4) and a son, Matthew (2.).

The Kostacopoulos
Capsule