Mark Schusterman
Gulliver Preparatory School
Impact Statement
Schusterman made an impact to many after 39 years of coaching. He led Gulliver to six state championships and owns over 700 career victories.
Biography
The second NHSCA National Coach of the Year from Gulliver Prep in as many years, Schusterman is a 32-year coaching veteran in five sports.
Schusterman has led the Raiders to five state championships, including the last three in a row. Gulliver Prep won 3A state titles in 1998, 2001, 2010 and 2011, becoming the first Miami-Dade County school to win back-to-back softball state titles, and finished second in state in 2007. The Raiders (27-5) moved up to 4A and made it three straight this season, and were 85-10 over that title run.
Named National Coach of the Year by ESPN Rise in 2011, Schusterman also became Gulliver Prep’s athletic director in 2007 after 13 years as athletic director at Gulliver Middle School, where he expanded the program by adding lacrosse, water polo, boys golf, and sixth-grade football and basketball.
A native of Atlantic City, N.J., Schusterman is a graduate of Florida International University. He began his coaching career in 1980 as an assistant basketball coach at Miami Killian High. He became the head basketball coach at Miami LaSalle High in 1984, moved to Gulliver Prep the next year as the boys basketball and cross country coach, and became the softball coach the following year. He was named Miami-Dade Male Coach of the Year, an all-sports award, by The Miami Herald in 2001.
Schusterman is the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) state softball chairman and is a member of the Florida High School Athletic Association softball advisory committee. He was inducted into the FACA Hall of Fame in 2009.
Since being honored, Schusterman continued to lead Gulliver’s softball program. In 2017, Schusterman was inducted into the FHSAA Hall of Fame. On March 17, 2018, he coached his team to his 700th career victory. Schusterman announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2019 season.