Mike Jagacki enters his second season as Assistant Coach with the New Paltz Men’s Basketball team for the 2023-24 season.
While on staff during the 2023-24 season, Jagacki helped the Hawks to their winningest season to date. The team finished with its first 20-win season at 20-8 overall, the No. 2 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament and hoisted the program's first ever SUNYAC Championship title after upsetting No. 5 nationally ranked Oswego on their home floor.
Prior to arriving at New Paltz, Jagacki spent 3 years at Hofstra University helping the Pride to a Semi-Finals appearance in the CAA Tournament and the first Top 5 conference finish in 5 years. Jagacki played a crucial role in overseeing the Pride’s defense which finished 1st and 3rd in Defensive Efficiency and 1st and 2nd in Steals in the CAA conference during his time. Jagacki served multiple positions at Hofstra, starting as Video Coordinator and working his way to Assistant coach, allowing him to touch and oversee many aspects of the program including opponent preparation, academic oversight, recruiting, skill development and support staff management.
Jagacki is also the creator of Lockdown Defense which has amassed over 4 million views on YouTube, over 27,000 subscribers and is the author of Lockdown Defense: Developing Elite Defenders which has reached Amazon’s Top 12 Best Basketball Books and has sold over 1000 copies worldwide.
Before Hofstra, Jagacki spent time as Associate Head Coach at Combine Academy, a Post-Grad program in North Carolina. In his one year at Combine Academy, the program saw its first nationally ranked wins beating #5 IMG Academy and #12 Tennessee Prep on the road. Combine also saw Jagacki and Head Coach Lee Deforest bring in the largest recruiting class as well as the most successful one; helping 7 kids reach their Division 1 scholarship dreams and placing 84% of those recruits in college programs. Five of those seven Division 1 players went on to start in their freshman year. Jagacki was responsible for all aspects of skill development, off court conduct, logistical oversight and oversaw the Combine Cares program, organizing volunteering efforts in the community.
Jagacki started his career as an Assistant Coach at his alma mater, Middlesex High School. The Blue Jays saw an improved record in all 4 years of Jagacki’ tenure. During this time Jagacki also opened his own AAU Program, TrueHoops.
Jagacki graduated Cum Laude from Rutgers University in 2016 with dual bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Journalism.
