Inside Athletics

Michael Kobylanski is in his third year as Director of Athletics at Albertus Magnus College, having been appointed to the role on July 11, 2022. He is in his 24th year in collegiate athletics administration and seventh as an Athletic Director. His first two years at Albertus have been a success academically, athletically and within the campus and local communities. 

Kobylanski has also immediately engaged as an active member of the campus community. He serves as a member of the College’s Mental Health Coalition and JED Campus Team. Kobylanski also represents the athletic department on the Retention, New Student Orientation, Homecoming, Commencement and Dominican Mission and Ministries Committees. Kobylanski is also a co-chair of the Athletics Centennial Subcommittee.

The 2023-24 academic year saw 13 programs close with an average team GPA of 3.0 or higher, and an average student-athlete GPA of 3.22. The Falcons registered a total of 224 Dean’s List selections, with 79 honorees to the GNAC All-Academic Team. Logan Bateman of the men’s ice hockey team was named just the fourth College Sports Communicators Academic All-American in school history, while the men’s ice hockey team led all of Division III in ACHA Academic All-American Scholars for the second year in a row.

On the athletic front, Albertus Magnus’ teams posted eight postseason berths, with 16 All-GNAC selections, one GNAC Defensive Player of the Year and one Division III Independent Player of the Year.

Kobylanski’s second year also featured an emphasis on athletics fundraising efforts. The first-ever Albertus Magnus College Athletics Golf Tournament raised nearly $30,000. The department’s coaches and staff also collaborated with the Advancement Office for several new initiatives, which resulted in record athletics donor and gift totals during the 2024 fiscal year.

The department also continued its exceptional work in the realm of community service, volunteering more than 1,000 hours for the 13th straight year. Kobylanski himself volunteered over 100 hours, and was one of just 36 College Sports Communicators members – and the only NCAA Division III Athletic Director – to reach this mark.

Also noteworthy from the 2023-24 academic year was Kobylanski’s efforts in securing membership in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference for the Falcons’ men’s and women’s ice hockey teams. Both programs will join the UCHC for the 2025-26 season. He also oversaw the addition of women’s golf as the 18th intercollegiate sport at the College.

During Kobylanski’s initial year at the helm in 2022-23, the department posted an average student-athlete grade point average of 3.29, with 12 teams posting a GPA of 3.0 or higher. In total, 212 student-athletes were named to the College’s Dean’s List and 82 tabbed for the GNAC All-Academic Team.

Athletically, the 2022-23 year featured postseason appearances by seven teams. The men’s basketball team claimed the 2023 GNAC Tournament title by knocking off No. 1 nationally ranked and previously undefeated University of St. Joseph to secure the eighth NCAA Tournament bid in program history. The fall season was highlighted by a Great Northeast Athletic Conference runner-up finish by the men’s golf squad, and postseason appearances by the women’s and men’s soccer teams. The women’s basketball squad claimed the top spot in the GNAC South Division and No. 1 overall seed in the league’s postseason tournament, while the men’s ice hockey squad received votes in the USCHO.com National Poll throughout the year and set a new program single-season record for victories.

Kobylanski also helped the men’s and women’s ice hockey programs gain acceptance into the prestigious New England Hockey Conference for the 2024-25 season. He also oversaw the hiring of five new head coaches and staff members in his first nine months in the role.

Prior to his appointment at Albertus, Kobylanski was the Athletics Director at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point in Groton. In this role, he was a member of the campus Senior Leadership Team and was responsible for all aspects of the intercollegiate athletics program, along with campus waterfront programming, recreation, and intramurals.  There, he developed and fostered a culture of academic success amongst the student-athletes, which peaked with an average cumulative student-athlete academic year GPA of 3.3. Kobylanski also developed numerous initiatives within the UConn Avery Point athletic department and the larger campus community, while also forging ahead with several new partnerships in Southeastern Connecticut.

Kobylanski spent 11-plus years as Associate Director of Athletics at Southern Connecticut State University prior to taking the Athletic Director role at UConn Avery Point. Kobylanski began his career by serving both Assistant Athletic Director and Sports Information Director at Quinnipiac University for six years.

Kobylanski was instrumental in developing key initiatives and elevating the internal and external communications efforts during his time at SCSU. His areas of oversight included media relations, social media, broadcast production, publications, marketing, promotions, community relations, CHAMPS Life Skills, licensing, and corporate sponsorship. He also served as the sports supervisor for several programs.

Extremely active within the local community, Kobylanski is a former co-chair of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Sports Council Steering Committee and a past co-chair of the March of Dimes’ annual ‘Elm City Legends’ event. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and a former member of the New Haven YMCA Youth Center Board of Managers. Kobylanski has also been a volunteer within Cheshire Youth Baseball for several years.

He has been recognized for his volunteer work by the College Sports Communicators (formerly College Sports Information Directors of America) for the last 10 years (2015-24). Kobylanski is a current member of the CSC Career Services Committee, where he assists with providing mentorship to aspiring professionals in the field. He has also participated in the CSC Mentoring Program as a mentor.

In addition, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation lauded him as one of “New Haven’s Finest” in the summer of 2016 for his cumulative professional and personal efforts.

A proven mentor, Kobylanski has guided nearly 40 young professionals to various positions across all three NCAA Divisions, the NJCAA, MLB, NHL, and NFL franchises, along with local and regional media outlets, and Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.

A member of both CSC and National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), Kobylanski was also elected to a pair of two-year terms as chair of the Northeast Conference Sports Information Directors Committee during his time at Quinnipiac. He also served as the Assistant Men’s Regional Director and Treasurer for Region XXI of the NJCAA.

Kobylanski graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University in 2005 and was awarded a second master’s degree in management of sport industries from the University of New Haven in 2008.