Coaches

Frank Marcinek, Head Coach
(570) 372-4230 - marcinek@susqu.edu

Frank Marcinek begins his 20th season on the sidelines in the 2008-09 season as the winningest head coach in the Susquehanna University men's basketball team's 104-season history.

When the Crusaders defeated Penn State-Altoona, 89-77 in the 2003-04 season opener, Marcinek surpassed the mark of 201 wins set by his predecessor -- longtime head coach and director of athletics Don Harnum. His 258-219 career record also translates into the best winning percentage in program history at .541.

During his tenure, Marcinek has guided 11 of his 19 teams to a playoffs berth, including the 2007-08 squad, with 14 of those teams finishing with winning records.

In 2002-03, his efforts were recognized by his colleagues as Marcinek was named Middle Atlantic Commonwealth Conference Coach of the Year for the first time after leading the Crusaders to an 18-8 record and the Commonwealth regular-season championship.

The Crusaders have made two trips to the NCAA Division III playoffs (1991-92 and 1993-94) under Marcinek, won MAC overall titles in 1989-90 and 1992-93, captured the MAC Northern Division crown in 1991-92, won Commonwealth Conference regular-season titles in 1995-96 and 2002-03 and claimed the first-ever Landmark Conference regular-season championship in 2007-08.

Prior to becoming Susquehanna's head coach, Marcinek served five years as an assistant coach under Harnum. During that time, the Crusaders made three trips to the Division III playoffs and won two MAC Northern Division titles. Marcinek was also an assistant for two seasons (1986-88) at Ithaca College while he earned his Master of Science degree in physical education.

In addition to his coaching duties, Marcinek has served as an assistant director of athletics at SU since September 2003.

A 1981 graduate of Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, Marcinek and his wife, Cindy, live in Shamokin, Pa., with their sons, Scott and Frank Jr. Frank Jr. is a member of the Crusaders men's basketball team.

Chad Bailey, Assistant Coach

Chad Bailey begins his eighth season on the Crusaders coaching staff in 2008-09 and is involved in all aspects of recruiting.

A native of Mifflinburg, Pa., and a 1988 graduate of Mifflinburg High School, Bailey began his collegiate playing career at Division III York College of Pennsylvania before transferring to Division III Lycoming College. He graduated in 1992 from Lycoming with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and began his coaching career at Athens Area High School (Pa.) that fall.

After coaching junior varsity high school basketball at Athens for one year, Bailey coached junior high school basketball at Milton Middle School for several years before becoming an assistant coach at the Pennsylvania College of Technology for the 1999-2000 season.

During the 2000-01 season, Bailey returned to Lycoming and served as an assistant basketball coach before coming to Susquehanna University for the 2001-02 season.

Bailey is an eighth-grade math teacher at Milton Area Middle School (Pa.) and is also the head golf coach there. He resides in Lewisburg, Pa., with his wife, Jocelyn.

Matthew Blue, Assistant Coach

Matthew Blue became an assistant men's basketball coach at Susquehanna University in September 2008.

Blue has been the owner of Elite Athletic Training in Bellingham, Mass., where he has run camps and clinics as well as designed individual, group and team workouts, since the winter of 2007. He was also an assistant coach with the Bellingham High School varsity boys' basketball team while substitute teaching in the Town of Bellingham school district during the 2007-08 academic year.

Blue has also been the owner and director of the Elite Shooting Basketball Camp in Bellingham since the summer of 2005. He was a coach at the Superstar Basketball School from 2002 to 2007.

He was the captain of St. Lawrence University's men's basketball team during the 2006-07 season. He played four seasons for the Division III Saints and graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 2007.

Brent Ferko, Assistant Coach

Brent Ferko joins the Crusaders staff for his first season as an assistant coach in the 2007-08 season.

Ferko worked as a counselor at various summer basketball camps for the Freeport Area (Pa.) basketball coaches association from 2004 to 2006. Among his responsibilities at the camps were the general supervision of student-athletes, instruction of basketball fundamentals and refeering summer league games.

Ferko is a former captain of the Division III Juniata College men's basketball team. While enrolled at Juniata, he also worked as a Little Eagles Basketball Camp counselor, where he introduced many young children to the basics of basketball. He graduated from Juniata with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business in 2008.