Bio

Since coming to Erie Community College in 2006, Craig Starzynski has guided the women’s volleyball team from a struggling program to a team that is consistently near the top of the regional standings.

Starzynski led the Kats to a Region 3 Championship and in the Spring 2021 season. The Kats competed in the NJCAA Division 2 East District Championship Tournament that season 

Starzynski has led the Kats to three straight regional tournaments, posting a 12-14 record in 2018, a 21-8 mark in 2017 and a 17-12 record in 2016.

The longest tenured volleyball coach in program history, Starzynski is second in career wins with a 250-243-2 record.

He paced the Kats to a 35-7 overall record in 2009 and they posted a 21-4 record in Region III competition. The 35 wins were the program's third-most wins in a single season. The Kats were ranked as high as sixth in the 2009 NJCAA national polls and were ranked in the Top 10 for four straight weeks.

The success continued in 2011 as the Kats were ranked for eight straight weeks and Rylie Bean became the program's first-ever NJCAA Division III first-team All-America selection. The Kats went 29-4 and were the Region III Tournament runners-up. Bean, the Region III Player of the Year, was joined on the all-region team by Katie Russi and Danielle Aurellio-Clark, who led the nation with 1,068 assists, a school record. In conference play, Bean and Russi were first-team picks while Starzynski was the Coach of the Year.

Starzynski's previous coaching experience included positions at Mt. Mercy Academy, Niagara Frontier Volleyball Club, Western New York Storm Cluband the Boys Southtowns Club.

A graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College with a degree in physical education and health education, Starzynski played at the high school and collegiate levels, winning a state championship for Frontier High School in 1998 and serving as captain for the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets men's team.

STARZYNSKI YEAR BY YEAR

2023....18-5

2022....20-9

2021 (Fall)....16-9

2021 (spring)....4-2   Region 3 Champion

2019....8-21

2018....12-14

2017....21-8

2016....17-12

2015....8-20-2

2014....8-17

2013....6-19

2012....21-11

2011....29-4

2010....16-17

2009....35-7

2008....7-19

2007....3-26

2006....1-23