MONTCLAIR--Montclair State Assistant Director of Athletics and head softball coach Anita Kubicka was presented with one of the two Honor Awards at the New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (NJAIAW) National Girls and Women in Sport Day Celebration which was held at Seton Hall University on February 7. Kubicka becomes the fourth Montclair State honoree joining Carol Blazejowski, former softball coach Donna Olson and current Director of Athletics Holly Gera as recipients of the award.
Entering her 20th season at the helm of the Red Hawks program in 2010, Kubicka has accumulated 616 victories and a .732 winning percentage – both which rank in the Top 15 among active coaches in Division III. Thirteen times her teams have won 30-plus games, including nine of the last 11 campaigns, and she has led the Red Hawks to 10 NCAA Tournaments. In those 10 appearances are two trips to the national championship tournament where in 1997, MSU finished as the runner-up. Montclair has also won seven ECAC championships under Kubicka’s watch and she has earned several NJAC and Regional Coach of the Year honors.
In addition to her coaching success, Kubicka has played a major role in the construction of the MSU Softball Stadium which opened in 2004 The stadium served as the home to the NY/NJ Juggernaut of the National Pro Fastpitch in 2004 and in May 2009 was the site for the NCAA Division III Softball Championship. It marked the first time that Montclair hosted a national championship tournament and it was the first appearance in the East by the tournament in 20 years.
Among the list of 55 players to be named All-American at MSU, Kubicka had coached 35 of them – 15 First-Team selections, including 1992 NCAA Division III Player of the Year Lois Fyfe. Kubicka’s teams have also excelled in the classroom raking among the top academic athletic teams at Montclair State and place several players each year on the NJAC’s All-Academic Team. In 2008, Jackie Ferranti became the first female and the fifth student-athlete in school history to be named Academic All-America.
Kubicka, a 1984 graduate of Trenton State, is well acquainted with winning traditions. During her career, she played on the Lions’ 1983 National Championship squad, the first for the school after having finished runner-up in both its 1982 and 1984 NCAA Division III Softball Championship campaigns.