Caldwell's Mark Corino, NJ's winningest men's basketball coach, to retire after 38 seasons
The winningest men's college basketball coach in New Jersey history is retiring.
Mark A. Corino, who led teams to 606 wins during a 38-year career, will retire from the head coaching position Caldwell University at the end of September. The school announced his retirement in a press release on Monday.
Corino went 511-443 in 33 seasons at Caldwell after five seasons at Bloomfield College. He will remain at Caldwell as the Assistant Vice President/Director of Athletics.
"With my added role as Assistant Vice President, that workload became a little bit more," Corino said Tuesday. "As I thought about it over the summer, I wanted what was best for everybody in this institution. I gave myself a lot of time and I am very comfortable with the decision I have made."
Corino said hundreds of people have called or messaged him to offer well wishes since the news of his retirement came out Monday. He calls and messages have come from former and current administrators and players, as well as rival coaches.
"I've tried to take the time to answer each of them back," Corino said. "I've spoken to people that I haven't talked to in quite some time and it has been wonderful."
When Corino joined the Cougars in 1988, the school was known as Caldwell College and had recently become co-ed and started sponsoring men's athletics. Corino was hired as men's basketball coach and as the school's first full-time athletic director, and he helped mold the small Catholic institution into a growing university.
"I never realized when I came here that I would still be here more than 30 years later," Corino said. "This is a wonderful institution that has grown from three or four sports when I came, to 17 athletic programs now today. More than what I did on the court, I am most proud of the growth of the institution."
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Caldwell gained university status in 2013 and changed its name a year later. Corino helped to grow the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference (CACC) into what it looks like today, with 13 full members. As athletic director, he oversaw the school's growth and upgrades in facilities, including the building of the George A. Newman Center, which holds the basketball court now named in Corino's honor.
"People would tell me that the school would never build an athletic complex for me and my program," Corino said. "Fortunately, I had big dreams and those big dreams came true."
On the court, Corino was named CACC Coach of the Year four times and was named the Division II Coach of the Year by the Met Basketball Writers in 1998. Corino led Caldwell to seven CACC regular season championships, six CACC tournament titles and five trips to the NAIA tournament. Caldwell has also appeared twice in the NCAA DIvision II Tournament under Corino, earning its first tournament win during the COVID-shortened 2021 season.
A native of Essex County, Corino is the youngest of three brothers, all of whom found a calling in coaching. One of his brothers, Jimmy, became an educator and a state-championship-winning basketball coach at Lyndhurst High School. His other brother, Carl, went on to coach softball at Belleville High School, becoming one of the state's winningest coaches in the sport.
"I came from a family where my father was in construction," Corino said. "Our father was an athlete in his day, but he never had the opportunity he provided to us. My mother and father worked their tails off to let my brothers and I earn an education. That was never lost upon any of us and we have put that effort into the work we have given back to our communities over the years."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Mark Carino: Caldwell University NJ basketball coach retires
