Bernards’ current athletic director and former football, basketball, and baseball head coach Michael Hoppe has been elected into the NJSIAA Hall of Fame. Mr. Hoppe coached Bernards’ varsity baseball team from 1984 to 2003, and he now serves as the school’s Athletic Director and as an Assistant Principal. He coached three students were drafted into Major League Baseball, and he won three sectional championships. His son, Mike, is a junior at Bernards and is a member of the varsity baseball team. With all of these achievements, he was surprised to be inducted into the Hall. “It was a complete surprise seeing that I stopped coaching ten years ago,” he said. “It is so nice to be recognized in this way.” The three students drafted into the MLB were Steve Ferrante, Greg Peterson, and Kevin Chapman. They were drafted by the Minnesota Twins, Houston Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates, respectively.
In a press conference with the staff of The Crimson, Mr. Hoppe shared his favorite all-time memory from his time as a coach. “In 1989, we were losing to Keyport and it was the bottom of the 7th inning,” he said. “The first kid came up and hits a double, next kid up walks and we had runners on 1st and 3rd. We won our first sectional title after one of our kids stole home.”
Mr. Hoppe also offered some advice on coaching. “If you want to have success as a coach, you need to relate to the players,” he said. “The difference between good coaches and great coaches is their relationships with their athletes. There are coaches that it just comes naturally to.”
One of Mr. Hoppe’s most outstanding achievements doesn’t come in the form of a trophy or a plaque, but it is arguably one of the most impressive ones. In his 19 seasons as a coach, he never finished a season with a losing record. “It was pretty unusual so I’m pretty proud of how consistent we were,” he said.
Mr. Hoppe also commented on his time as a student at BHS. “I had an enjoyable experience in at BHS while in high school,” he said. “I was pretty close to my coaches and particularly close to Mr. Melitski, Mr. Poplowski, Mr. Preston, and Mr. LaSpada. They seemed to have a lot of ‘fun’ coaching and teaching so the career possibility was always in the back of my mind.”
After Mr. Hoppe finished college, he didn’t anticipate working with his high school. “It wasn’t in my original plans to come back to Bernards,” he said, “but when I started to look for a job after college, I ended up applying to Bernards. It was the only high school I applied to, I couldn’t imagine working at any other school.” He was hired immediately after college to coach football and baseball, and he later became the coach of the basketball team. “I think it was Mr. Milde that talked me into coaching basketball with him sometime in the 1990’s,” he said. “I could always shoot better than him.”
