Kachinko retiring

To the King’s Community:

 

King’s women’s volleyball coach Bernie Kachinko has announced he is retiring after 21 years at the helm of the Lady Monarch program. Kachinko said he is stepping down as King’s coach to spend more time with his wife Marina and three-year old son Lukas.

 

During his career, Kachinko developed King's volleyball into one of the top programs in the Middle Atlantic Conference. He took over a struggling Lady Monarch program in 1989 and instituted a rebuilding plan. Four years later, he led King’s to its  first-ever Freedom Conference championship. The team was a consistent playoff qualifier ever since.

In 2000, King's enjoyed a brilliant season with a 34-3 record, the MAC Freedom Conference title, and an NCAA Division III National Tournament berth.  In 2001 Lady Monarchs then went 29-4 and finished second in the conference playoffs.  In 2002, Kachinko’s squad enjoyed its best season ever with a 39-2 record, posting the second-best winning percentage of any collegiate volleyball team at the NCAA Division I, II, or III levels. King's won their third MAC Freedom title and advanced to the NCAA Division III National Tournament "Sweet 16" for the first time in school history.

 

King’s would earn additional berths in the Freedom Conference tournament berths in 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2008.  His 2009 team finished with a 19-11 record and fell just one win short of reaching the conference playoffs.  During his final season, Kachinko won his 400^th career match with a 3-0 victory over rival Scranton on October 8. He concludes his career as King’s all-time winningest coach with a 403-261 overall record, including 31 tournament championships. He was named the MAC Freedom "Coach of the Year" in 1993, 2000, and 2002.

 

In his 21 years at King’s, Kachinko produced 42 MAC all-star performers while a total of 56 of Kachinko’s players who were additionally named to the MAC All-Academic Team. Since 2003, Kachinko has served as a voting member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 National Rankings Committee.

 

Best of luck to Bernie and his family as they continue the next chapter of their lives.