Inside Athletics

Michael Kobylanski is in his fourth year as Director of Athletics at Albertus Magnus College, having been appointed to the role on July 11, 2022. He is in his 25th year in collegiate athletics administration and eighth as an Athletic Director. 

Since joining the Albertus campus community, Kobylanski has become intricately immersed on a variety of fronts. He serves as a member of the College’s Mental Health Coalition and JED Campus Team. Kobylanski also represents the athletic department on the New Student Orientation, Homecoming and Commencement committees, and he previously served on the Retention and Dominican Mission and Ministries Committees. Kobylanski is also a co-chair of the Athletics Centennial Subcommittee.

Outside of Albertus, he has represented the College as Chair of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference’s Men’s Golf Committee as well as the GNAC Women’s Volleyball Committee. In addition, Kobylanski was appointed to a four-year term on the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Committee that will run through August, 2029. 

He is also an active member of the College Sports Communicators (CSC) organization and has been recognized for his volunteer work by the organization in each of the last the last 11 years (2015-25). 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.

Kobylanski’s first three years at Albertus have been a success academically, athletically and within the campus and local communities. Specifically, the department has reached new heights with regards to academic performance, recruiting and fundraising metrics.

Since Kobylanski’s arrival in 2022, the Falcons have launched new intercollegiate programs in women’s ice hockey, men’s swimming, women’s golf and most recently, a cheerleading club. The athletic department brought in its largest incoming class in the College’s history for the Fall, 2025 semester. Leading with an emphasis on ongoing communication, mentoring and strategic benchmarking has resulted in prospective student-athlete applications increasing by 100% during his tenure.

Furthermore, the formation of the annual Albertus Magnus College Athletics Golf Tournament has generated nearly $100,000 in its first three years. The Falcons have also secured grants through either the NCAA, the GNAC or other collegiate membership organizations in each year since his arrival.

Kobylanski has also helped Albertus navigate the changing NCAA Division III landscape. Effective with the 2025-26 academic year, all of the Falcons’ intercollegiate programs have conference membership and automatic bid access to the NCAA Championships. Thirteen of the Falcons’ teams are proud members of the GNAC. The women’s and men’s ice hockey programs joined the United Collegiate Hockey Conference for 2025-26. The women’s golf team secured membership in the Northeast Women’s Golf Conference, while the women’s and men’s tennis teams are the newest associate members of the City University of New York Athletic Conference.

The 2024-25 academic year was a success in all facets, but most notably in the classroom. An astounding 17 of 18 intercollegiate programs finished the year with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher – with four teams honored by their respective national coaching organizations for academic success. Albertus’ student-athletes closed the year with a record-setting 3.39 average student-athlete GPA, including a record-setting semester tally of 3.45 in the Spring, 2025 term.

The department produced 295 Dean’s List selections, 82 GNAC All-Academic Team picks and 27 CSC Academic All-District performers. The men’s ice hockey team also led all of Division III in ACHA Academic All-American Scholars for the third year in a row. Senior Tyler Ignazzitto of the men’s ice hockey team was also a recipient of a NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship.

Albertus teams garnered 10 postseason appearances during the academic year, up from eight the year prior. Individually, the department had one GNAC Defensive Player of the Year, two GNAC Rookies of the Year, five All-Region or All-New England selections and 21 All-Conference picks.

The Falcons’ student-athletes, coaches and staff members collectively gathered to volunteer more than 1,000 hours for the 14th straight year. Once again, Kobylanski was recognized by the CSC with its annual ‘Volunteer 15’ honor for his work on campus and in his local community.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.