The College of Staten Island Athletics Department has named former Yale University Assistant Coach Eric Kraut as it's new Head Coach for Softball and Student-Athlete Academic Success Coordinator.  Kraut will join the unit immediately as it undergoes for the fall portion of their season and will initialize operation in the facility's Academic Success Center, assisting CSI's entire student-athlete body in a new role at the College. 

"The athletic department is enthusiastic about the hiring of Eric Kraut as our Academic Success Coordinator/Head Softball Coach," said CSI Director of Athletics Charles Gomes. "Filling this role allows the department to address several priorities within the College's Strategic Plan, most notably student success. By serving all student-athletes as an academic liaison, Eric will help ensure they meet the academic performance measures required with the college's recent acceptance to NCAA Division II. In his role as head softball coach, Eric will help make CSI a destination campus by recruiting quality student-athletes to a program that we expect to be highly competitive in the ECC."

A Connecticut native, Kraut had been traveling to New Haven, Connecticut, since 2016, for nine months out of the year to serve as the Assistant Coach for Softball at Yale University, where he had helped build a Bulldogs unit that has improved in a host of offensive and defensive categories since his tenure, and their best Ivy League win total in nearly a decade.  Kraut's primary responsibilities included devising game strategies and scouting, along with comprehensive recruiting in-line to meet the University's academic and athletic thresholds.  He is very excited to be closer to home, helping champion what is now a budding NCAA Division II program at the College of Staten Island.  

"I'm excited for this new opportunity at the College of Staten Island," Kraut said.  "From the moment I met with the people in the athletic department, I felt at home.  I'm glad to be able to be a part of their team.  I'm looking forward to not only continuing the winning ways, but also taking the program to the next level as we move to Division II."

A new role within the department, as CSI's Student-Athlete Academic Success Coordinator, Kraut will be charged with monitoring and administering programs that assist the entire student-athlete body with good academic standing and successful progress towards degree requirements, to include academic tracking and progress reports, institution and monitoring of Study Hall, and academic advising specific for student-athletes.  For Kraut, the responsibilities go hand-in-hand with contributing to student-athlete success and well-being while being enrolled and competing at the NCAA level.

"I have always believed that coaching athletics is not only about performance on the field but it's about building overall character," Kraut noted.  "It's about learning on and off the field and being open to learning, growing, and helping others around you.  This new role will allow me to be able to connect these pursuits more closely, enabling a more holistic way to help our student-athletes."

Well versed in the NCAA compliance world at the Division I level and the Ivy League, Kraut also has Division II experience as a former standout baseball player at St. Anselm College, where he set the NCAA Division I & II records for home runs in a single game with four.  The tremendous collegiate playing acumen landed him in the Cincinnati Reds' Minor League system post-graduation as well.  

Kraut immersed himself immediately in the softball world post-graduation as well, spending seven years as the head coach of the Arctic Blast club softball program in Minnesota. Kraut guided the Blast to four Minnesota state championships (2009, 2010, 2014, 2015) and two appearances in the national tournament (2014, 2015).  He also served as Director of Player Development for the Eden Prairie Fastpitch Association.  In addition, Kraut has experience in health and sports conditioning, working as the Manager of Group and Personal Training at the Elk River, Minnesota YMCA during his time there leading up to his appointment at Yale.  His diverse experiences hope to serve him well at his first collegiate head coaching stop at CSI.
 

"What I am looking to bring to the College of Staten Island is my passion for softball along with a high energy approach to constant improvement," he said.  "I'm committed to helping each player be their best self and set up for success in all they do here at school and after."

A 1994 graduate of St. Anselm's with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in International Relations, Kraut lives in New York city with his wife of 13 years, Karen.  He has two step-children, Jack, a Chicago music producer, and Natalie, a senior at Carleton College, who is captain of the Knights' softball team