Bernhardt's Balancing Act
Aug 27 | Men's Lacrosse
By Frankie Kineavy
ScarletKnights.com
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Rutgers men's lacrosse assistant coach Jesse Bernhardt is giving new meaning to the term two-way player. A 2013 graduate of Maryland who roamed the midfield for the Terps' national championship team, Bernhardt gave his coaching whistle some time off this summer and broke out the lacrosse stick.
The Longwood, Fla., native is winding down his third summer playing Major League Lacrosse.
Bernhardt grew up in a coaching family. His father was a longtime college football coach and his brother is currently coaching in the high school ranks. Naturally, when it came time to graduate the desire to continue in the family tradition was there.
"I've been interested in coaching for a very long time. It kind of runs in my blood," he said. "My dad has been a football coach for almost 40 years with my older brother coaching at the high school level as well. I've always been around it and just knew it was what I wanted to do."
As his senior year in college was winding down, Bernhardt was putting MLL franchises on notice that he could be a force to be reckoned with. Following the national championship run, the Chesapeake Bayhawks selected him fourth overall in the 2013 MLL draft. Simultaneously, Bernhardt started his coaching career as a volunteer at the high school level before returning to Maryland as a graduate assistant.
The Major League Lacrosse season runs the length of the summer when most of the student-athletes are off campus. But the summer is prime recruiting time for Division 1 lacrosse coaches. This makes for a busy schedule for the 24-year-old.
"It does become hectic and just takes a lot of organizing and pre-planning to try and coordinate recruiting events and my games," Bernhardt said.
This summer, Bernhardt totaled 44 ground balls for the Bayhawks, with the team contending for a playoff spot before falling two games short. Off the field Bernhardt hit the recruiting trail hard for Rutgers head coach Brian Brecht, securing key players for Rutgers and continuing that momentum during his talent search for next year.
The unique opportunity Bernhardt has -- while time consuming -- does have some significant advantages for the young coach. Playing professional lacrosse while coaching has given him a perspective that not many of his colleagues have, allowing him to relate to players on several different levels.
"I think it helps with communicating with our players and having the point of view that I still am put in similar lacrosse situations and can use my experiences to teach them," Bernhardt said. "It gives me a feel of some things that I may not see just standing and observing but that I get to actually do and can see if they work or not."
"I also believe still being a part of a team in the aspect of a player gives me an outlook on both sides of the fence, which is pretty neat."
Bernhardt doesn't know how long he could keep this lifestyle up. Much of it depends on your head coach, which is why he was able to do both, he said.
"(Coach Brecht) gave me the flexibility to be able to try and balance both, which I very much appreciate," he said.
As for now, Bernhardt is just focusing on helping build an up-and-coming program that showed promise last year.
"We have Big Ten type of players and continue to bring those caliber players in which will only help us compete at the highest level," he said. "Some of those players were young but gained a lot of experience last year. That will help us grow not only on the field but also as a program off the field in developing great student-athletes."
