NJIT

Lenny Kaplan
Director of Athletics

Phone: 973-596-3638
Email: kaplan@njit.edu
Alma Mater:
Experience:

Since taking over as head of NJIT’s division of physical education and athletics in August 2000, Lenny Kaplan has been instrumental in guiding NJIT’s momentous reclassification to NCAA Division I from Division II,

 

Upon his arrival at NJIT, Kaplan helped stabilize and expand a program that was entering its fourth year in Division II when he arrived in Newark. In late 2002, after discussions with university President Dr. Robert A. Altenkirch and Vice President Dr. Joel Bloom, Kaplan took on the task of steering NJIT’s programs into Division I, a process that is set to reach fruition with full championship eligibility in 2009-10.

 

Throughout Kaplan’s tenure, NJIT has enhanced the athletics program, particularly in areas that benefit the student-athletes directly.

 

The sports offerings have expanded to 19 varsity programs and since 2004, NJIT has renovated its two main on-campus venues—Lubetkin Field and the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. The school also signed a 10-year partnership to play all home baseball in the professional Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium and later agreed to host basketball in the new Prudential Center, downtown Newark home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

 

In 2005-06, NJIT’s outstanding home facilities allowed it to host two ECAC Division II postseason championships—women’s soccer in the fall and baseball in the spring.

 

Under Kaplan’s leadership, many teams achieved regional and national Division II ranking. Success for several women’s teams was unprecedented, with basketball, tennis and soccer all reaching postseason play for the first time in his administration,

 

Additionally, men’s volleyball captured a 2007 divisional championship in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and the next year reached the EIVA playoff semifinals hosted by eventual 2008 national champion Penn State.

 

As active NCAA Division I status and postseason eligibility in all sports for the 2009-10 academic year nears, Kaplan guided the Highlanders toward further stability with membership in the newly-expanded all-sports Great West Conference, which will offer a conference home for 11 of NJIT’s 19 varsity sports.

 

Before coming to NJIT, Lenny Kaplan served 11 years at Manhattan College, where he began as Manhattan’s director of operations and then advanced to assistant athletics director from 1991-2000.

 

Kaplan, a 1988 graduate of St. John’s University with a degree in athletics administration, resides in Merrick, NY, with his wife, Nancy, and their sons, Michael and Joshua.

 

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