TJ Kostecky enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Bard College men’s soccer program in 2025.
During the 2024 season, the Raptors had 16 Liberty League All-Academic Team members, including six Raptors that were named to the CSC Div. III Academic All-District Team. The team earned its 15th consecutive United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award.
During the 2023 season, the Raptors had its best season, winning six games in a season since the 2016 season. Also, the Raptors earned their first points in the Liberty League with the tie against Vassar College. It was the first Liberty League points for the Raptors since the tie against Hobart in 2017. It also marks the first shutout in program history against Vassar after 23 matches since 1994.
Kostecky had two Raptors named to the All-Liberty League Team. Sam Gerber and Mateo Betelu were both named to the All-Liberty League Honorable Mention. 11 Raptors were named to the Liberty League All-Academic Team, including four Raptors that were named to the 2023 Division III College Sports Communications Academic All-District. Coach Kostecky was named head coach for EXACT 11 International Program by EXACT Sports. Kostecky wrote a book called “Eyes Up” that was published on Feb. 6, 2024.
Under Kostecky, the Raptors have been active in the community and with fundraising, such as hosting a Miles of Hope Breast Cancer Foundation game, the team partnering with the Ramapo for Children and raising money for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The Raptors have earned the Team Academic Award from the United Soccer Coach for 14 consecutive years.
The 2022 season saw the Raptors have 13 players named to the Liberty League All-Academic Team; Ben Steketee was named Scholar All-America Award by United Soccer Coaches; and Robeiro a repeat All-Liberty League Second Team. Coach Kostekcy was also voted top coach at Showcase Camp with EXACT Sports.
In 2021, the Raptors launched a fundraising campaign to battle pediatric brain tumors and raised $6,365. 11 Raptors were named to the Liberty League All-Academic Team. Kostecky had one Raptor named All-Liberty League Second Team, Caleb Ribeiro. Ribeiro then went on to play for the Kingston Stockade FC during the summer.
In 2020, during the COVID year, Kostecky was inducted into the Ukrainian Sports Hall of Fame. 13 Raptors were named to the Liberty League All-Academic Team. Kostecky was also featured in “The Captains Coach” podcast called: Coach TJ Kostecky - Founder of ‘Vision Training for Life’ on Principles of Program Integrity.
In his debut season at the helm, Kostecky had six Raptors named to the Liberty League All-Academic Team. He also had Logan Leppo named to the All-Liberty League Honorable Mention.
TJ Kostecky arrived at Bard in July of 2019.
He came to Bard after 20 years as the head coach at Div. I LIU-Brooklyn, where he led the Blackbirds to the 2018 NCAA Tournament in his final season there. During his tenure there, he won three Northeast Conference titles, made three NCAA Tournament appearances and was the NEC Coach of the Year in 2015 and 2018.
As successful as his teams have been on the pitch, Kostecky’s squads were also devoted in the classroom. His 2003 & 2012 teams posted the highest team grade point average in the nation. The 2008 & 2015 squads were 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 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.
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.
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.
