Acclaimed PGA Director of Golf Bernie Herceg begins his 18th season as Binghamton’s head golf coach in 2025-26.
Herceg, who began coaching at Binghamton during the 2008-09 season, has compiled an outstanding tournament record of 1,163-1,117-18 (.510) at the helm. During his guidance, the Bearcats have won 17 tournaments, including four Cornell Invitational team crowns and a pair of titles at their home fall event, the Matthews Auto Collegiate Golf Invitational.
During his tenure, Herceg's teams have strung together five of the lowest team scoring averages in school history, most notably the 2018-19 season when his squad had a program-record scoring average of 294.3 (program-record). He has coached 16 individual tournament winners, three Big Sky All-Conference honorees, four America Sky all-conference selections, two All-Northeast Conference selections and a back-to-back America Sky Player of the Year award winner (Jake Katz).
Herceg has been the PGA Director of Golf at Binghamton’s home course - The Links at Hiawatha Landing - for more than 10 years. At the start of the 2010 academic year, Herceg was named the PGA Director of Instruction at The Links in response to becoming full-time at Binghamton University.
The Links, located in nearby Apalachin, N.Y., has been most recently ranked the third-best public access course in New York State by Golfweek Magazine, and Herceg served as its head pro since 1996.
As the PGA Director of Golf at Hiawatha, Herceg had full oversight of membership, communications and marketing, pro shop operations, tournaments and player development programs, among other management duties.
Herceg’s junior golf initiatives and private instruction have earned him a reputation as one of the finest and most innovative teachers in the region. He received a Junior Leader Award from the Central New York PGA Section in 2004 and also has been nominated for CNYPGA Teacher of the Year honors.
A former collegiate golfer and accomplished player in his own right (he qualified and played in the 1993 B.C. Open, a PGA Tour event, and also won the 2000 Boilermaker Open in Utica, N.Y.), Herceg is determined to use his PGA training and management acumen to continue the success of the Bearcats’ golf program.
Herceg played at Elmira College, earning Academic All-America honors before graduating magna cum laude in business management in 1987. He was elected to his PGA Membership in 1999, and also has an associate’s degree from Broome Community College, where he graduated with honors in 1985. He was inducted into the Elmira College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
Bernie resides in Apalachin with his wife, Rachael, and their two daughters Alexis and Isabella.
