The Italian-American Police Officers Society of New Jersey (IAPSNJ) has selected Mark A. Corino, Caldwell University’s Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics, as its 2026 Man of the Year Award recipient, the organization announced today.
Corino, who is in his 38th year at Caldwell, will be honored at the IAPSNJ’s Annual Gala on Saturday, March 21 at The Fiesta in Wood-Ridge, N.J.
Additionally, Corino enjoyed tremendous success as the Cougars’ head men’s basketball coach from 1988 through 2022, posting 511 victories in 34 seasons. Combined with 95 victories he earned at Bloomfield College from 1983-88, his 606 victories are the most by any collegiate coach in New Jersey history, a feat noted as the borough of Caldwell’s “Sports Claim to Fame” by NJ.com in 2025.
“I am truly humbled to be recognized by such a prestigious organization that holds such a close place in my heart,” Corino, a native of nearby Belleville, N.J., said in a press release. “The true heroes are the police officers who put their lives on the line every day, and it will be the supreme honor to stand alongside these men and women at the Gala.”
This remarkable event draws hundreds of New Jersey’s most distinguished Italian Americans and prominent government leaders, and it regularly reaches full capacity.
Corino–a Cedar Grove, N.J., resident–came to Caldwell as the university’s first full-time athletics director in 1988. In his first year, Corino headed a department that had just three programs and no conference affiliation.
Remarkably, entering 2025-26, Caldwell has grown to 16 intercollegiate athletic programs that compete in the CACC (14 teams), the Collegiate Sprint Football League (sprint football), and the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (acrobatics & tumbling).
Plus, Corino oversaw the university’s transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II, a process that began in 1998 and was completed in 2002. From 2011-2025, Caldwell added nine new sports under Corino’s leadership that includes women’s track and field, women’s lacrosse, men’s cross country and track and field, women’s bowling, sprint football, men’s lacrosse, acrobatics & tumbling and, coming in 2026-27, women’s flag football.
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Photos: Caldwell University Athletics Department.
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