Jared Bernhardt Brings Edge to Gators Lacrosse Offense
A historic matchup with 115 years of tension took place on an average Saturday in April 2017.
In front of a record-setting crowd of over 14,500, the Maryland Terrapins hosted the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays for “The Rivalry” – one of the country’s most iconic sports rivalries in college lacrosse.
Raising the stakes, Maryland looked to secure a Big Ten regular-season title at home while Johns Hopkins hoped to secure a bid in the Big Ten tournament.
The Terrapins prevailed,12-5, and team celebrations took over. The Maryland players could have relaxed, and even slept in, because there was no practice the next day.
For Jared Bernhardt, there was no sleeping in.
A freshman attacker at the time, Bernhardt woke up early the next day and went to work. A youth tournament took up the main practice field, so he worked by himself on his shooting throughout the morning.
No coaches and no players were present — just Jared, his stick and a motor to be better than the day before.
“That shows you how competitive and how invested he was,” said Maryland lacrosse coach John Tillman, who witnessed his work ethic that day. “Where most kids are celebrating and sleep until noon, Jared’s out there.”
Bernhardt is now in his first season as an assistant coach for the University of Florida’s women’s lacrosse team, focusing on the team’s offense. Riding an eight-game winning streak, the No. 5 Gators are the third-best offensive team in the country, averaging 15.92 goals a game, and the nation’s fifth-most efficient team, shooting 50.5% as they enter Wednesday’s match against Jacksonville .
His pipeline from playing college lacrosse to coaching the sport would be typical – if the four years in between were ignored. But Bernhardt did anything but take the conventional route to Gainesville.
From winning the Tewaarton Award as a Maryland Terrapin lacrosse attacker to playing in the NFL as a wide receiver, the former two-sport athlete has one of the most unusual timelines among all Gators lacrosse coaches — and he has his brother’s neighbor to partly thank.
Navy women’s lacrosse coach Cindy Timchal asked Jesse Bernhardt about Jared’s interest in coaching at Florida under Amanda O’Leary, her former Maryland colleague from the 1992 and 1993 seasons.
Jared saw the job opportunity as both a new challenge and the perfect chance to return to lacrosse after attempting to play football in Canada. Now, his goal is to point the Gators in the right direction and give them the keys to succeed.
In return, he knows and trusts the girls to put in the time and effort to execute during games.
“I was a player a lot longer than I was a coach, so I’m always for the players,” Jared said. “I’m not the one taking the shot or making the pass, right? So can I put them in good positions?”
Family and Fundamentals drive Jared’s Journey
Jared leans on his journey since growing up in Longwood to provide guidance. He switched sports after playing four seasons of lacrosse at Maryland because of his father, James “Jimmy” Bernhardt, who passed away when Jared turned 21.
During this time of mourning, Jared sent an email to Ferris State football coach Tony Annese about using his last year of eligibility with the Bulldogs, fulfilling his father’s dream of playing college football.
“It’s the perfect thing for me to feel a sense of warmth knowing he was doing that,” Annese said about Jared honoring his father. “I was a 21-year-old when my dad passed away, so it was one of those things that resonated with me.”
Throughout his journey, Jared has accumulated skills, techniques and life lessons from all the coaches he has worked with to craft his own unique coaching style in lacrosse. He has learned from coaches who have won national championships, conference titles and played at the highest level of their sport. His first coach, though, was his dad.
Jimmy was no stranger to sports. Similar to Jared, he played lacrosse and football in college at Hofstra University. His passion for sports drove him to coach at every level.
He brought the Long Beach Marines high school football team to the playoffs, coached at Hofstra, Brown, Central Florida and Penn State Universities and even gained experience coaching for the Houston Texans in the NFL.
Jimmy’s career bled into raising his three boys: Jake, Jesse and Jared.
“[My dad] sparked everything in me and my brothers’ journey into the sports world,” Jared said.
All three of the Bernhardt boys played lacrosse at the University of Maryland, and all the brothers are now coaching collegiate lacrosse at Jack Sandler Memorial (Jake), Maryland (Jesse) and Florida (Jared).
Born into the world of football and lacrosse, the Bernhardt boys were constantly taught life lessons and habits from their father. One of those lessons, and the biggest takeaway for Jared, was the emphasis on fundamentals.
No matter the sport or gender, his dad believed fundamentals remain superior to the game. Detail-oriented thinking and being good at the little things are some of the qualities that make a player fundamentally sound.
“Long before we were at Maryland and UF, those are things that in our household growing up were things that were held to a premium,” Jesse said.
But Jared did not grow up in a one-parent household. His character was also shaped by his mother.
Catherine Bernhardt — the boys’ “secret sauce,” according to Jesse – had the same competitive spirit as any player and always showed up to support the boys in all their games. She also reinforced the lessons her husband would teach the boys at home, fully being a part of the boys’ sports journeys.
“Dad was a very, very smart man and understood team dynamics,” Tillman said. “And his mom, just a great human being and great parent and great mentor. [They] just raised Jared the right way in terms of his character.”
Drive, Passion and Patience
Once Jared started playing lacrosse at Maryland, he began absorbing lessons from his coaches. From this, he drew on three qualities: drive, passion and patience.
Tillman, Jared’s first coach after high school, taught him the value of work ethic and drive.
But to Tillman, Jared already had that drive after knowing him for 15 years before committing to Maryland.
Jared was the youngest of two brothers, so naturally, he had to constantly compete and prove himself. As the third son in his own family, Tillman often related to Jared’s natural drive and worked to help him refine his existing skills.
“The biggest thing we tried to do was help him go where he wanted to go and just refine his skills because I knew he was going to put the time in,” Tillman said. “For me, it was a matter of not screwing him up.”
Tillman is not the only person who felt that Jared has always been a competitor. In everything he does, Jesse feels Jared has always been “uber competitive.”
Jared sometimes worries that this competitive nature comes across as too serious or mean, but his intention is simply to help the Gators perform at their best – but his intention has already been recognized.
Sophomore attacker Frannie Hahn felt that Jared’s intensity is exactly what the Gators have needed to elevate them to the next level.
“He holds us to the standard that’s like ‘We are in a top program,’” Hahn said. “The way he coaches has helped us be more accountable and work as hard as we can.”
Having already possessed a strong natural drive, Annese at Ferris State taught Jared what it means to have real passion for sports.
Annese focused on building lasting connections with his team, which he feels is the coach’s purpose. While it takes more time and effort, he’d often invite his players to his house to meet his wife and family to establish a more personal bond.
Because of Annese, Jared began to see that coaching is about more than performance on the field—it’s about people. He learned that when players know their coach genuinely cares, they feel valued, a lesson he hopes to carry with him to Florida.
“It’s just showing that you care more about what you’re doing,” he said. “It’s not what you know until they know how much you care.”
Despite playing as a quarterback at Ferris State, Jared signed with the Atlanta Falcons in 2022 as a wide receiver. His running game has always been Jared’s strength, so the Falcons felt that ability could be better suited for a wide receiver.
Fortunately for Jared, another new coach entered the picture who helped him with the switch: TJ Yates. Yates’ patient coaching and “slow drip process” guided Jared through the new position, and he gained immense respect for Yates.
Jared adapted Yates’ coaching style to perfecting fundamentals. He often feels players get bored focusing on rudimentary skills, but he feels re-teaching the basics of to throw with a good overhand or how to set your feet shows players different ways to score and expands their game.
“You open up that bag, and now you have, ‘Well, I can do this. I can do that,” he said. “Now you’re building more of the IQ and creativity within the game.”
Learned Lessons to Application
Now, he has begun learning under O’Leary. Her expertise in women’s lacrosse is teaching Jared how to adapt to the game’s nuances and communicate effectively with players—adjustments already reflected in Florida’s strong offensive start.
“Jared just brings a different perspective to the game,” O’Leary said. “Our players respect that and they know what they should be doing.”
That different perspective is already changing the game for the Gators, who are undefeated in Big 12 play at 3-0. Hahn explained that his ability to read defenses during games allows the Gators to make real-time offensive adjustments, helping them find better scoring opportunities. Specifically, she mentioned he is teaching them more ways to dodge and approach defenses to get their shots off.
Speaking for the team, Hahn added his experience, coaching IQ and success as a lacrosse player earned the players’ respect and they listen to him for those reasons.
In the short time he has with the girls before graduation, Jared wants to ensure he can prepare the Gators for the challenges on the field and off, as his parents and coaches have done for him.
“This is my first actual chance to be a coach,” he said. “I just care and want them to be at their very best.”
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Lacrosse
