Mike Kosich was promoted to his current role of Assistant Coach/Chief of staff in September of 2023. During his first year in the position, the Jaguars finished the season 16-16; while winning six of their last eight games. This marked six straight non-losing seasons for the program, the first time since the 1983-1989 seasons for South Alabama. In January 2024, Kosich was named to the Silver Waves Media “50 Next Up – Men’s College Basketball List.” Additionally, he was one of 50 coaches in the nation invited to attend the 2024 NCAA Coaches Academy at the NCAA National Offices in Indianapolis, IN.
In the 2022/23 campaign, the Jaguars finished the season 19-16. South Alabama won 11 of their last 14 games of the season, culminating with a run to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship. During this run, the team took down regular season conference champions, Southern Miss University, twice. First on 2/16/2024 in Mobile 85-54, and second in the SBC Tournament 78-61. South Alabama had multiple All-Conference honors during the season; Isiah Moore (First Team All-Conference) and Kevin Samuel (Third Team All-Conference). Kevin Samuel also earned Defensive Player of the Year.
During the 2021-22 season, the Jaguars finished tied for the most overall wins in the Sun Belt Conference with a record of 21-12, which was the second time the team has reached 20+ victories with Kosich on staff. This was the most of a Jaguar team since the 2007-08 season. Kosich helped the Jaguars to a Final Four appearance in The Basketball Classic Tournament and the program’s first postseason win since 1989. It was also just the second time in program history (1981) that the Jaguars won two post-season tournament games. South Alabama had 2 Second Team All-Conference Players (Jay Jay Chandler and Charles Manning) and 1 Third Team All-Conference player (Javon Franklin).
Following the 2019-20 season — which saw the Jaguars finish with a 20-11 mark overall, and 13-7 Sun Belt Conference record, and a spot in the Sun Belt Tournament Semi-Finals before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June of 2020, Kosich was named to the 2020 Under Armour 30-Under-30 Team, announced by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, representing the most outstanding men’s college basketball coaches under the age of 30.
He joined the program at South prior to the 2018-19 season as the special assistant to the head coach after spending time as an assistant men’s basketball coach for the NCAA Division III St. Mary’s College of Maryland Seahawks. In his first season at South, Kosich organized the practice calendar, handled meals during road trips, took care of office administrative duties, and created all recruiting graphic design content for the men's basketball program. He has since taken over the team's day-to-day operations, program budget, and travel, the program’s liaison to the athletic department, and community service. While serving in that role, South Alabama has been Top 3 in community service in the country every year.
At St. Mary’s, Kosich primarily assisted with program operations, travel logistics, opponent scheduling, fundraising, community engagement, graphic design, and financial procurement, in addition to basketball responsibilities. He made his way to SMCM after spending time away from the basketball court, coaching around the world on the professional tennis tour. While on the St. Mary’s staff, Kosich helped develop two All-Capital Athletic Conference second-team student-athletes (Tanner Brooks ’16, and Delaszo Smith ’16 & ‘17).
During his time at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Kosich helped guide the Seahawks to a pair of Capital Athletic Conference Tournament bids, including a 2016 semifinal appearance.
In his time away from basketball, Kosich traveled with Olga Puchkova on a professional tennis tour. During this stint, Puchkova had wins over top-ranked players; Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Daniela Hantuchova, and Karolina Pliskova. Puchkova reached the third round of the US Open Grand Slam tournament and the second round of The Championships at Wimbledon. Puchkova had a career-high of 32 in the world.
Prior to SMCM, he served as the team manager/student assistant for the Montana State-Billings men’s basketball program. He assisted the coaching staff with a variety of tasks, including his primary duties, dealing with practice and game day operations, travel preparations, working with the coaching staff during individual player workouts, scouting reports, and in-game-specific stat tracking.
During his time with the Yellowjacket program, Kosich helped the team to a pair of winning records, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament championship in 2012, and an NCAA tournament bid. The Yellowjackets produced two All-GNAC First-Team student-athletes (Antonie Proctor ’12 and Jerrell Crayton ’13) as well as four All-GNAC Honorable Mention student-athletes (Jaxson Myaer ’12, David Arnold ’13, Omar McDade ’13, and Kalob Hatcher ’13) during those seasons.
Prior to MSUB, Kosich was a co-head manager for the men’s basketball program at La Salle. He was one of two managers to primarily travel with the Explorers during the season.
His primary duties at La Salle included assisting the director of basketball operations, assembling the necessary practice and game materials at home and on the road, locker room maintenance, practice participation, and shooting workouts with individual players, including the Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year (Steve Weingarten) and all-Rookie Team honoree (Tyreek Duren).
Kosich is involved with “Grow The Game,” an organization started by student managers for student managers. GTG helps managers gain connections and mentorship with current college basketball staff members, to grow and learn more about the world of college basketball while they are currently working as managers.
While an undergraduate student, Kosich was a scholarship student-athlete, playing tennis at La Salle and Montana State Billings. He competed at No. 1 singles for both institutions. During his time as a student-athlete, Kosich was also a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at both schools.
The Highlands Ranch, Colorado native graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. degree in Business Administration from Montana State University-Billings. He has also completed an Ivy League certificate in Sports Industry Essentials from Columbia University, and a M.S. degree in Sports Management from the University of South Alabama. Kosich is also currently a member of the Coaching Mentor Circle program established by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and can be followed on Twitter @CoachKosich and Instagram @Mikekosich14.
