Associate Head Volleyball Coach Jeffrey "CJ" Werneke enters his fourth year with the Bearcats in 2025.
Werneke began as the lead volleyball assistant in 2022 and was promoted to associate head coach 2024. In his first season at Binghamton, he and head coach Allie Yaeger were named America East Coaching Staff of the Year after guiding the Bearcats to an historic season.
A coaching veteran, Werneke has seen time as an assistant and head coach in the BIG EAST, BIG TEN, MAAC, Ivy League and Southern Conference.
“The knowledge and passion that CJ brings to each program that he has worked with is exactly what I was looking for in my assistant,” head coach Allie Yaeger said at the time of his hiring. “His experience alone is something I am looking forward to learning from myself and I can't wait for him to help guide this program to many successful seasons. CJ has proved time and time again that he has a great eye for talent and is a top of the line recruiter.”
In his first season at Binghamton last fall, the Bearcats went 17-9 and the team's 17-7 regular-season record was its best regular season win percentage (.708) in the program's D-I history. The 17 wins represent a +10 improvement from 2021 (7-17). Werneke helped lead Binghamton to more wins in 2022 than the last four years combined (13), and the most in a season since 2005. Binghamton went 8-2 in conference play, which is the team's second highest AE win percentage (.800). The Bearcats also had five all-conference selections, the most in its America East history. Binghamton also hosted the America East Championship for the first time.
Werneke arrived at Binghamton following a stint at Columbia, where he served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the 2021 season. Prior to his work in New York, he was the head coach for Rutgers for more than a decade (2008-2019).
In his final season at Rutgers, the 2019 season, the Scarlet Knights collected a pair of Big Ten wins, including a five-set victory over Northwestern. Werneke also led the Scarlet Knights to a straight-set win over the eventual Ivy League Champion Princeton Tigers. The best season under Werneke was an 18-win campaign in 2012 that saw notable wins over Syracuse, St. John’s and DePaul.
At Rutgers, his student-athletes excelled in the classroom, earning several academic awards from the AVCA, BIG TEN and BIG EAST. His team in 2018-19 had the most improved GPA out of all Scarlet Knight athletic programs.
Before his time at Rutgers, Werneke excelled at Fairfield. In 2007, Werneke broke the 100-win plateau for his career. He was named the 2006 and 2007 MAAC Coach of the Year, and led the Stags to four consecutive MAAC regular season titles. In 2007, Fairfield finished with a 21-13 overall record and a 17-1 mark in conference play.
Werneke also coached 11 All-MAAC honorees, two MAAC Rookies of the Year, a MAAC Offensive Player of the Year and back-to-back Setters of the Year while with the Stags.
Before his tenure with the Stags, Werneke was an assistant coach at Rutgers. In those years, he served as the recruiting coordinator, handled all scouting and handled all game day and travel operations. The team put together three winning seasons over that time, with a 55-27 overall record.
Werneke graduated from Samford University in 1996 and has also coached at East Tennessee State, Samford and the University of Montevallo.
Werneke married the former Jennifer Smith on January 20, 2007. The Wernekes are parents of three children - daughters Rylie and Parker, and son Noah.
