Montclair State University Athletics

In the rich tradition of Montclair State Athletics, there have been many great and successful coaches that have roamed the sidelines of their respective sports and sitting atop that list is Anita Kubicka. Entering her 25th season at the Red Hawk helm in 2015, Kubicka has fashioned quite a coaching resume – 796 victories, a .742 winning percentage – both which rank in the Top 10 among active coaches in Division III. Sixteen times her teams have won 30-plus games, including 12 of the last 15 campaigns, and she has led the Red Hawks to 14 NCAA Tournaments overall. In those 14 appearances are five trips to the national championship tournament where in 1997 Montclair finished as the runner-up in addition to third-place finishes in 1992 and 2012. Montclair State has also won seven ECAC championships under Kubicka’s watch and she has earned several NJAC and Regional Coach of the Year honors. Kubicka came to Montclair State in 1991 and a year later she had the Red Hawks in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship as Montclair made a “Cinderella” run to a third-place showing. Kubicka became the all-time winningest coach during the 1997 season as she surpassed Willie Rucker for the top spot with her 210th victory, a 3-2 triumph against Rowan in the NCAA Regional Tournament. She joins recently retired baseball coach Norm Schoenig and former basketball coach Ollie Gelston as the only Montclair State coaches to win 300 contests. In 2000 Kubicka collected her 500th victory in April 2006 as MSU topped Richard Stockton, 4-3. Her 600th victory came four years later in 2010 and she surpassed the 700-win mark in 2012 when Montclair blanked Ramapo 5-0 in the opening round of the NJAC Softball Championship. But Kubicka’s legacy in Montclair State softball history goes beyond the records and accolades on the field. She played a major role in the construction of the MSU Softball that gave her team a first-class facility that matched it success on the field. The stadium opened in 2004 to raved reviews and is one of the premier softball-only complexes in the East Region. 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 56 players to be named All-American at MSU, Kubicka had coached 38 of them – 19 First-Team selections, including 1992 NCAA Division III Player of the Year Lois Fyfe.