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Brian Brecht

 
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Brian Brecht, who has over 20 seasons of collegiate coaching experience with 17 as a head coach, has spent 10 seasons as the head coach at Rutgers.

Brecht, who was named head coach of the Scarlet Knights on June 16, 2011, has made three NCAA Tournament appearances in his career as a head coach.

While at Rutgers, Brecht has coached 19 All-Americans: Adam Charalambides, Colin Kirst, Connor Kirst, Jaryd Jean-Felix, Ethan Rall, Shane Knobloch, David Sprock, Jules Heningburg (twice), Michael Rexrode (twice), Max Edelmann, Kieran Mullins, Kyle Pless, Christian Mazzone, Scott Bieda, Zack Sikora, Joe Nardella and Will Mangan. 23 players coached by Brecht at Rutgers have become members of professional lacrosse organizations following graduation.

Under Brecht, the program has maintained a tradition of strong academic performances. 16 of Brecht's players have been named Scholar All-Americans in the past six years. RU set records with 26 Academic All-Big Ten selections and 11 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars in 2020. RU has had 115 student-athletes named Academic All-Big Ten since joining the conference. The team had 16 student-athletes named to the Dean's List in 2020, with a cumulative spring GPA of 3.47.

A major milestone came in 2021 with the opening of the Gary and Barbara Rodkin Academic Success Center. The facility serves as the new home for the program with locker rooms and academic support.

In 2021, Brecht led Rutgers to the NCAA Tournament for the program's first NCAA appearance since 2004. He led the Scarlet Knights to a 12-5 opening round victory over Lehigh that was RU's first NCAA win since 1990. Brecht was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time in his career, his fifth career Coach of the Year award. Brecht led RU to five ranked wins in the course of the season (No. 6 Penn State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 14 Johns Hopkins, No. 14 Ohio State and No. 10 Lehigh) in a historic campaign for the program.

Adam Charalambides, Connor Kirst, Colin Kirst, Jaryd Jean-Felix, Ethan Rall, Shane Knobloch and David Sprock were named All-Americans, while Colin Kirst was named Big Ten Specialist of the Year. He also mentored Big Ten Freshman of the Year Shane Knobloch. Overall, RU had a record six Big Ten selections and five North/South game representatives.

In 2019, Brecht guided Rutgers to seven wins, including a victory at No. 4 Ohio State (14-6) that tied for the program's highest ever ranked road victory. With 37 wins over a four-year span, the Brecht-led senior class became the winningest class in program history.

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