By Annelise Durkin
Assistant Coach Mark Jurczak has been playing baseball since he was 4 years old. He always knew baseball was his passion, and he had to pursue that. “I have baby pictures of me holding a ball. Always been my favorite thing,” said Jurczak.
Mark Jurczak, Purchase baseball assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. (Photo via Purchase Athletics)
Originally, Jurczak planned to become the baseball coach at Post University where he
had worked in admissions. Unfortunately, he was declined the position. After that setback, he continued to coach summer youth baseball.
“All I ever really wanted to do was be a college baseball coach, involved in athletics, somebody who can give back and give student-athletes the same experience that I had,” said Jurczak.
One of Jurczak’s “best friends in the world” Adam Taraska was hired to be the head coach of baseball at Purchase College. “I was his first call and he called me right away to be his head assistant and I took it right away and have been here ever since,” said Jurczak.
Taraska and Jurczak played college baseball together and have been friends since then. They got to reconnect and do what they love together. “We have coached together here for 11 years—that's cycles and cycles of alumni,” said Taraska. “I guarantee they all have good memories of the time they spent with Jurz and the guidance and friendship he offered them.”
Taraska continued, “I knew what he would bring to the table—an expert knowledge on pitching and the game in general, a desire to work hard to improve the program, but most importantly, the relationships and trust he would create with the players.”
Jurczak’s goal is to make student-athletes feel comfortable with him and be able to trust
and talk to him. “As a struggling sophomore transfer, he stood behind me and helped me become the senior pitcher I am today,” said Justin Lorenzo, a senior pitcher and economics major. “Coach Jurczak put his utmost trust in me in tough situations, whether failure or success.”
Jurczak wears many different hats around the campus, but his main focus is giving the student-athletes the best experience possible. “He genuinely cares about our student-athletes and staff. He is always looking to lend a helping hand and make others’ lives easier,” said Taraska.
He has respect for all of the “blood, sweat, and tears that go along with trying to manage
time and be a good student.” Jurczak tries his best to always make sure that everyone’s hard work is seen and appreciated.
“In other ways he’s like an older cousin to all of us. We have lots of fun talking to him and we can confide in him, so it feels great to have that,” said Philip Dragovich, a junior and economics major.
As the pitching coach, Jurczak has created close bonds with many of his players. He
wants his players to focus on their sport but also not forget to have fun during the process.
“Coach Jurczak and I have grown a great relationship over the years and remain close. I can say that he has taught me all of what I know on how to pitch in college and how to grow into a better person,” said Lorenzo.
The baseball team at Parents’ Day 2024. (Photo by Sam Erlich)
Being that baseball has always been his passion he is able to pass this onto many players.
Jurczak said, “Seeing a freshman come in and watching their growth as a young person is truly amazing and rewarding. Seeing young men I coached get good jobs, get married, and have great lives after coming through our program is such an amazing thing.”
As the internal operations assistant Jurczak is very involved in athletics. For example, he
oversees every team’s equipment and gives them access when needed. “He’s in charge of all our equipment so the back door belongs to him. So, you gotta get in to put equipment away or get it out when we need it he's the man,” said the Women’s Soccer Coach, Nick Malvai.
Jurczak is also the game day administrator for many of the games. He makes sure
everything runs smoothly. He is also a site supervisor. “I kind of babysit the building. I open and close the building and have off hours that other people don't really wanna work, late nights, weekends, stuff like that,” said Jurczak.
The biggest part of his job is managing the rentals. “Without outside rentals of our
college we wouldn’t be able to fund our athletic program,” said Jurczak. Renting out all the
different fields and courts is a crucial part of his job, helping to fund the different sports that are available at Purchase.
After starting to coach youth baseball, he knew exactly what he always wanted to do and
what he had to accomplish to become a college coach. “Mark’s like having a good friend around that you need anything he always available” said Malvai.
Jurczak’s focus when becoming a college coach was to make sure all student-athletes get the opportunity to have the experience he had at the collegiate level. Coach Jurczak sets an example for his student-athletes.
“I want to give student athletes the same experience that I had because it really changed my life, and it means everything to me,” Jurczak added.
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