Sports Academy at The Haverford School

Bernie Rogers has been head coach of the varsity basketball team at The Haverford School since 2015. In 2019, Rogers coached the Fords to a perfect 28-0 season, capturing an Inter-Ac title and a Pennsylvania Independent School State Championship with a win over Westtown School.

He spent 15 years at Archbishop Ryan High School, where he led his squad to two Philadelphia Catholic League Championship appearances. He was named Coach of the Year in 2001, 2002, 2007, and 2008 and currently holds the record for most wins in the school’s history. Rogers began his career as an assistant coach at Arcadia University working with Chris Mooney, the current head coach at the University of Richmond.

Rogers played college basketball and graduated from Ursinus College. In high school, Rogers was named the 1992 Catholic League Sportsman of the Year and still holds the record for most career assists at Archbishop Ryan.

Brendan Dawson is the head varsity lacrosse coach at The Haverford School and also serves as the assistant athletic director.

Before coming to Haverford, Dawson was the men's lacrosse head coach at Haverford College, where he was the 2018 Centennial Conference Coach of the Year. He led the college to its first postseason appearance in seven years in 2018; the team was ranked in the top 15 nationally.

Prior to Haverford College, Dawson spent five years as head coach at Widener. His teams made the Commonwealth playoffs during each of his years at the helm, with two appearances in the conference finals. He was named the Commonwealth Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2016. Dawson also started men’s lacrosse at Aurora University in Illinois. Named head coach prior to the 2009-10 academic year, he led Aurora to 11 wins in its inaugural season on his way to being named the Midwest Lacrosse Conference Coach of the Year.

Dawson had a four-year career at Salisbury, helping the team to Division III National Championships in 2003 and 2004 when he served as team captain. He was named first-team All-Capital Athletic Conference in 2002 and was a member of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Over his four seasons as a student-athlete, the Sea Gulls notched a 58-7 cumulative record.

Dawson graduated from Salisbury in 2004 with a B.A. in history and political science. He earned an M.A. in teaching from Salisbury in 2008.

Andrew Poolman has worked at the Haverford School since 2007 and has coached in various roles in the soccer program. He has assisted Haverford’s three most recent varsity coaches, Kevin Tryon, Bill Brady, and Dan Keefe, earning Inter-Ac titles in 2011, 2012, and 2018 and PAISSAA state titles in 2011 and 2012. In other years, he led Haverford’s JV and third soccer teams. His soccer background outside of Haverford includes a USSF level C equivalent coaching license, and he has been a volunteer coach for the Lower Merion Soccer Club for the past three years. As a student at Haverford College, he was a four-year soccer player and team captain in his final season. 

In his other capacities at school, he is the Chair of the Modern and Classical Language Department, the Director of the Global Studies Program, and an upper school Spanish teacher. He also led Haverford’s squash program for 7 years from 2009 to 2016. 

Brian Martin has been coaching football for 17 years at Haverford and took the reins from Mike Murphy in fall 2020 as head varsity football coach. Martin served as defensive coordinator during the most successful run of Haverford School Football from 2009-2015. During that time, the Fords captured five Inter-Ac titles in seven years, including three straight titles from 2013-2015.

Martin is a 16-year faculty member in the Physical Education Department and has coached lacrosse and Strength & Conditioning at Haverford. 

Michael Toomey has been coaching at the high school, collegiate, and open levels for more than 23 years and comes to Haverford from George School. As George School’s head cross-country and track coach, he led both the boys and girls to strong finishes in league and state competitions. Prior to George School, Toomey coached at Kents Hill School in Maine where his team won back to back New England cross-country titles in 2015 and 2016. At the high school level, he has had numerous state, regional, and national level runners. In the open and masters divisions, he has worked with individuals of all levels as well as charity teams, including The American Cancer Society Miami Marathon Team and the Franklin Park Zoo Boston Marathon Team. He is a USA Track and Field Level 1 and Level 2 Endurance Coach and has also served as Chairman for USA Track & Field New England, with the primary goal being to promote the sport of track and field in New England at all levels and abilities.

Toomey’s personal competitive running career started in high school where he was the State Champion in the mile and was named the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald All-Scholastic in cross-country. He was inducted into his high school Hall of Fame in 2015. He went on to run at UMass Lowell and had a successful career there as well. Toomey was part of the NCAA Cross-Country Championship Team in 1991 while earning All-American status, the ECAC Steeple Champion in 1992, the team captain in cross-country, indoor track, and outdoor track from '93-'95, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006. After college, Toomey went on to run for Reebok Boston as a middle distance runner and was fortunate to be coached by Bob Sevene, one of the USA’s top coaches. After Reebok Boston he moved out to Flagstaff, AZ and worked with coaching legend Jack Daniels. 

Alex Stait is the Director of the Squash Program at The Haverford School. Stait has had a long career as both a player and a coach, most recently coaching at The Agnes Irwin School, where he led the team to its first league title since 1995 and a second-place finish at the High School Nationals. He is the National Head Coach of the USA Junior Men’s Team and the 2018 recipient of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Coach of the Year award.