Neil Berkman spent the past five season at Archbishop Curley in Baltimore. He led Curley to a 19-7 record last season.
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Principal Tim Hamer announced today that Mr. Neil Berkman has been hired as Bishop Ireton’s new boys basketball coach. Berkman will also join the faculty as a mathematics teacher. Coach Berkman was introduced to the school and his prospective players today.

Cardinals’ Athletic Director Bill Simmons commented “We had a superb group of extremely qualified applicants, including a number of head coaches and coaches with college experience.  We not only got both with Neil, but a great teacher as well.”

Berkman was the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Regional Teacher of the Year in 2005. He comes to Bishop Ireton after five years as the head coach at Archbishop Curley in Baltimore, where his teams qualified for the playoffs in three of the five years after years of struggling, including the most recent 19-7 season.  A Maryland alum, Berkman coached at the Bullis School before moving to the college ranks as an assistant at Coastal Carolina, Cornell and Siena before taking the helm at Curley.

Pete Strickland, currently at NC State, was the Coastal Carolina head coach during Berkman’s tenure there.  He remarked, “no one sacrificed more, no one was thirstier than Neil. He was enthusiastic and devoted to the players as people as well as athletes.  You got a hard worker and guy who cares about the kids under his charge. I think you are going to really like him!”

Berkman will assume his duties at Bishop Ireton full time beginning July 1, 2009.