Joseph Slowinski is in his fourth year as the director of bowling at Lincoln Memorial University. He currently serves as the president of the NCAA women’s bowling coaches association, the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA).
In the program’s third season in 2018-19, LMU women’s bowling truly emerged as a national power with multiple wins over traditional powerhouses Nebraska and Arkansas State, as well as victories over McKendree and then reigning national champion Vanderbilt. The Lady Railsplitters finished the season near the top of multiple statistical categories nationally across all NCAA women’s bowling divisions, ranking third in 10th frame Baker double-strike percentage (30.58%), third in set-up strike percentage (48.91%), sixth in overall strike percentage (44.9%), seventh in Baker double percentage (44.89%) and eighth in overall scoring (192.2).
LMU returned to the conference championship final for a third consecutive year, being upset in the title match and just missing back-to-back conference titles after dominating the conference tournament. Over the last two seasons, the Lady Railsplitters are 17-3 in the East Coast Conference tournament and 22-8 in program history at the league’s annual championship. The team garnered ECC Bowler of the Year accolades, placed three on the All-ECC First Team and had two second-team all-conference selections. LMU ended its 2018-19 campaign with a 53-47 record, ranking 16th in the nation among all divisions and fourth in the country in Division II/III bowling.
In 2017-18, Slowinski was tabbed as the NTCA Division II/III Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Railsplitters to the 2018 ECC Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Women’s Bowling Championship. LMU defeated Texas Southern at Hillcrest Lanes in the first-ever opening-round match of the NCAA Women’s Bowling Championship to advance to the NCAA championship’s final site near St. Louis. All told, the Lady Railsplitters went 72-52, which included a 25-7 closing stretch, to make a 31-win improvement from LMU’s inaugural 2016-17 campaign. The team ranked 17th in the final national poll and third in the Division II/III rankings.
Slowinski guided the Lady Railsplitters to a 42-79 record in the program’s inaugural season of NCAA competition, leading the women’s squad to a second-place finish at the 2017 ECC Tournament. The team ended the season ranked sixth nationally in the NTCA Division II/III coaches poll and notched 12 wins against teams that finished in the top 15 of the final Division II/III rankings. Four of Slowinski’s women’s bowlers earned NTCA All-Academic honors and the team was selected as a NTCA All-Academic squad. Additionally, five student-athletes were named to the ECC Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Following his first season leading the LMU women’s bowling program, Slowinski was a finalist for NTCA Division II/III Coach of the Year.
On the men’s side, Slowinski has experienced similar success. In just the third year of the program’s existence in 2018-19, Slowinski led the Railsplitters to their first team title at LMU’s own Railsplitter Baker Kick-Off tournament at the Hillcrest Lanes in Harrogate. Finishing first out of a seven-team field, the Railsplitters knocked down 7,232 total pins, averaging a game score of 200.88 over 36 Baker games. The championship was one of four-straight top-four placements for LMU to begin the season. The Railsplitters also finished within the top four at the Brunswick Southern Intercollegiate in Smyrna, Georgia, as freshman Jorge Rodriguez made a run to an individual national title at the 2019 United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Singles Championship in Dayton, Ohio. Rodriguez averaged a stunning 228.75 for 12 games at the national championship tournament, completing qualifying as the No. 3 seed.
In 2017-18, LMU fell just shy of qualifying for the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships with a heartbreaking fifth-place performance. The Railsplitters finished only 50 pins out of fourth place, which would have qualified the team for the national championship tournament.
However, freshman Hunter Kempton placed fourth out of 175 competitors to earn a spot in the USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championship, becoming the first bowler in program history to accomplish that feat. At the national championship event, Kempton qualified third overall and was tabbed as an All-American Second Team selection.
In LMU’s first season of competition in 2016-17, the men earned a trip to USBC Intercollegiate Team Sectionals. Competing at the Smyrna, Tennessee, USBC Sectional, one of four sectional sites nationwide, the Railsplitters finished ninth out of 18 teams and flirted with a trip to nationals after sitting in sixth place following three blocks of four Baker games. Individually, three bowlers finished in the top 31 out of 171 total bowlers (8th, 20th ,31st) at the USBC Intercollegiate Singles Sectional with two narrowly missing a trip to the national tournament.
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Joseph Slowinski - A Life in Bowling}
Slowinski spent the three years prior to joining LMU as an international bowling coach, working with players of all skill levels as well as teams and clubs in many countries, including Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland and the United States. In 2013, Slowinski visited 19 countries on three continents.
He has served as a coach for five different national teams over the course of his career, winning a gold medal with Brazil at the 2015 Pan American Games, while also taking fifth place in the 2013 World Championships with Team Mexico. Mingled around those stints, Slowinski was on staff for the Egypt, Lithuania, Serbia and Romania national squads.
Slowinski's professional credentials include a USBC Gold Level coaching certification, which is the highest possible bowling certification in the world. Slowinski is also a Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) member, an International Bowling Pro Shop & Instructors Association Certified Professional and a USBC International Ambassador.
A native of Scarborough, Maine, Slowinski is familiar with the process of building a collegiate program, as he constructed a championship caliber team at Webber International University, where he served as the head coach from 2008-12. During his tenure in Babson Park, Florida, Slowinski led the Warriors to three national championship appearances, where Webber International made it to the semifinals in his first season and later lost to Fresno State in the 2011 finals. In 2010, he was tabbed as the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association (NCBCA) Men's Bowling Coach of the Year.
Slowinski has seen a number of his students accomplish tremendous goals. In 2015, he coached Alessandro Silletti to the Polish National Championship, while Marwan Aernoudt won two bronze medals at the European Youth Championships in 2014. His Bulgarian student, Mariana Meteksinova, won four consecutive national tour titles that same year. In 2013, his pupil Mats Maggi broke the AMF World Cup six-game record with a 1,599, while his Serbian mentees Bojan Kovacic and Vladimir Strbac won their country's national doubles title.
On multiple occasions, Slowinski has been recognized as a Bowlers Journal International Top 100 coach. His articles on physical and mental training, in-game strategy and all aspects of bowling have been published in numerous journals and magazines internationally.
Slowinski graduated from the University of Maine in 1990 with Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and philosophy. He later earned his master's degree in educational supervision and administration from Bowling Green State University in 1997.
He is married to Monika Cox and the two have a son, Max.
