Lewis University Athletics

Mitchell Tomaszkiewicz graduated from Lewis in 1985 with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. He earned his master's degree from Loyola-Chicago in 1989. 
 
Tomaszkiewicz got his start as the student manager for the Lewis men's basketball program. After graduation, Tomaszkiewicz became the head fifth and sixth grade basketball coach and assistant eighth grade coach at St. Albert the Great Elementary School in Burbank, Illinois.
 
"I am grateful and honored to Chuck Schwartz and Paul Ruddy, without them I would not be in this position," Tomaszkiewicz said. "I want to thank my mentors, the Lewis Athletics Staff and the Lewis University staff for this honor."
 
When Lewis Hall of Famer Chuck Schwarz became the Athletic Director at Loyola University of Chicago, Tomaszkiewicz thought he was going to be the graduate assistant in equipment and contest management for women's basketball. However, women's basketball was changed to women's softball so he became a Division I softball coach.
 
After graduate school, Tomaszkiewicz served as an assistant men's basketball coach at University of Chicago and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. After his time there, he was the Athletic Director/men's basketball coach at Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois.
 
Tomaszkiewicz then proceeded to SUNY Cobleskill in 1992 where he has been ever since. He began as an assistant men's basketball coach and then coached cross country in 1993. He is the longest serving head coach in SUNY Cobleskill's Cross-Country history. Tomaszkiewicz was involved in the program's move from the NJCAA to the NCAA level of competition in 2008.
 
During his tenure the Fighting Tiger men's and women's teams have won 108 invitational victories including the 2000 NJCAA Division III Women's National Championship. They have placed second 103 times in invitational competition including four NJCAA Division III National runner-up finishes. The Fighting Tiger men's and women's teams have perennially been in the North Eastern Athletic Conference's (NEAC) top programs with the men winning league titles in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2019 then capturing the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) title in 2021. The Cobleskill women have posted NEAC conference titles in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. 
 
Individually, the men's team has produced 67 All-NEAC Conference Team honorees, five All-NAC honorees, seven All-Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Team honorees, two All-New York State Collegiate Track Conference (NYSCTC) honorees, two NCAA Division III All-Atlantic Region Team honorees and three NCAA Division III All-Niagara Region Team selections. Additionally, the Fighting Tigers have had five NEAC men's champions along with a NAC men's champion, five NEAC male Runners-of-the-Years and one NEAC Men's Rookie of the Year with one NAC Male Runner ofthe Year and a NAC Male-Rookie-of-the-Year.
 
For his team's accomplishments Tomaszkiewicz has been honored by the NAC as the conference's Men's Coach-of-the-Year in 2021 and by the NEAC as the league's Men's Coach-of-the-Year in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019. He earned the league's Women's Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019 after a junior college career that saw him honored as Mountain Valley Conference Men's Coach of the Year in 1997 and Women's Coach of the Year in 2000, 2003 and 2007. He was also named the NJCAA Region III Women's Coach of the Year in 2000, 2007 and 2008 as well as the NJCAA Division III National Coach of the Year in 2000. In 2021 he was honored by the Mountain Eagle newspapers as one of the publication's Regional Person's of the Year. ? ?
 
Tomaszkiewicz revived a program and turned the Fighting Tigers into one of the premier programs in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III ranks producing 37 individual NJCAA Division III All-Americans and 33 individual NJCAA Academic All-Americans. In 2003 and1998 the Fighting Tigers won the Pepsi Challenge for the best overall combined finish by men's and women's teams at the NJCAA Division III National Championships.?
 
In 1997 Tomaszkiewicz's Fighting Tiger men's squad captured the Mountain Valley Conference Championship earning, him Mountain Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors, and then placed second at the NJCAA Division III National Championships. The Fighting Tigers also placed second at the 2004 National Championships. Under his direction Cobleskill men's teams also placed third at the NJCAA Division III National Championships in 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2003, fourth in 2000 and fifth in 2005. The Cobleskill men made fifteen national appearances under his guidance compiling an impressive fifteen top ten finishes.??
 
During the 2000 season the Fighting Tiger women's team posted an undefeated season on the way to capturing the Mountain Valley Conference Championship, the NJCAA Region III Championship and the program's first NJCAA Division III National Championship earning Tomaszkiewicz conference, regional and national coach of the year honors. During the 2003 and 2006 Cobleskill also captured the Mountain Valley Conference Championship earning Tomaszkiewicz conference Coach of the Year honors, while winning the 2006 NJCAA Region III Championship earning him regional Coach of the Year honors and placed second at the 2003 & 2006 NJCAA Division III National Championships. He was also named the NJCAA Region III Division III Women's Coach-of-the-Year in 2007. 
 
Under his direction the women's program also placed third at the NJCAA Division III National Championships in 1997, 1998, 1999 and fourth in 2002 and 2007. The Fighting Tiger women's team was also named the NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Academic Team of the Year in 1997, 1998 and in 2000 under his direction.