Tom Rudzinski is entering his tenth season as assistant coach for the Lackawanna College Softball team in 2025.
"Coach Tom" came to the Falcons for the start of the 2016 season, and his arrival coincided with a marked improvement in Lackawanna's overall performance, as the Falcons lept forward, going 25-14 and finishing above .500 for the first time in a long time. The Falcons won nine straight at one point, and made the Region XIX playoffs.
That was the first year in a string of seasons where the Falcons won 20+ games, and grabbed a Region XIX championship in 2017.
After an 8-3 start in 2020 was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then a 17-11 record in 2021 during a shortened season due to the pandemic, Rudzinski helped the Falcons to a 31-22 record in 2022, getting the Falcons back to the Region XIX tournament. In 2023, the Falcons went 28-19, once again qualifying for the Region XIX tournament.
The 2024 Falcons won 35 games, the second-most wins in program history, and made the Region XIX DII tournament.
Prior to his time at Lackawanna College, Rudzinski had built a Hall-of-Fame career in sports in Northeast Pennsylvania. Rudzinski took over the Lakeland HS Chiefs softball program in 2001, transforming Lakeland into a regional power by guiding the Chiefs to the 2006 PIAA Class 2A state championship game, the first appearance in school history. His team made the District 2 championship game in five straight seasons, and he retired from Lakeland after the 2007 season, finishing with an impressive 117-22 overall record.
Rudzinski came back to coaching in 2013, taking over the Mountain View HS softball program, and once again taking them to respectability in his two seasons there, before coming to Lackawanna College.
Rudzinski, a fixture in sports in Northeast PA and a softball player/coach with 40+ years of experience, played his college baseball at the University of Scranton and also played in amateur softball leagues throughout the Scranton area. In 2011, Rudzinski was inducted into the Semi-Pro Football Hall Of Fame in Canton Ohio as a referee. Tom’s 2015 and 2016 season saw him inducted into the Northeast PA softball Hall Of Fame and was selected as the softball Coach of the Year by the Scranton Times-Tribune. During his coaching career Tom coached three different high schools to league and district championships. Rudzinski is considered by many to be the premier pitching coach in Northeast PA. He is currently working with 50+ pitchers within the high school and college level.
Tom is a graduate of St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, New York. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies form the University of Scranton. He currently resides in Throop, PA.
