Kraig was an All-Catholic lineman and captain of the Crusader grid team that defeated St. Joe's in 1982, earning All-Western New and All-State honors. As first baseman on Mr. Mack's diamond Crusaders, he helped defeat Timon in War Memorial Stadium for the Georgetown Cup.
After Canisius, Kraig played college football for two years each at Johns Hopkins University and St. Lawrence University; he earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from St. Lawrence in 1989 before obtaining his master’s in education in earth sciences from Buffalo State in 1993.
After graduating from St. Lawrence University, Kraig embarked on teaching and coaching career, several Western New York public schools beforing making a stop back to Canisius High School were he spearhead a turn around of the program from 2001-2003.Â
Kraig left his biggest mark as a coach when he was the Head Coach of the Williamsville South High School football head coach. At Williamsville South, Kurzanski won five league titles and coached 67 players who went on to play college football, including seven in Division I. Two of those players were 2011 Connolly Cup winner Joe Licata and 2015 Trench Trophy winner Jake Fuzak (both who went on to the University at Buffalo). Kurzanski coached three All-Western New York first-teamers in 2021.
He has been named Coach of the Year seven times in his career and he has earned the Buffalo Bills Coach of the Week Award four times.
Kurzanski’s coaching career began with a 52-28-2 record over nine seasons at Oakfield-Alabama of Section V (Rochester area). Prior to Kurzanski’s arrival, O-A had four straight losing seasons; his teams won five league titles and made a sectional final.
Following his first stop at Canisius, and one year prior to starting at South, he coached the 2006 season at St. Mary’s of Lancaster, where he led the Lancers to a 7-2 record and a berth in the Monsignor Martin Small School title game.
Kurzanski has also been a successful baseball coach at Oakfield-Alabama (seven league titles and one sectional championship in eight seasons) and Williamsville South (one state championship game appearance in eight seasons).
Kurzanski’s wife of 33 years, Mary Clare, is the daughter of the late Andrew Meaney Jr. ’43, who is also a member of the Canisius Athletic Hall of Fame; Meaney was inducted in 1997, also for his achievements in football and baseball.
Kraig and Mary Clare are parents to two adult children: Kathryn, 29, is the head field hockey coach at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts; Molly, 27, works in logistics in Albany.
