Andy Bernatow - Athletic Director
Andy Bernatow enters his sixth year as Athletic Director at Mount Marty University (MMU) for the 2026–27 academic year, following an 18-year tenure as the head baseball coach. A proud MMU alumnus, Bernatow has built a lasting legacy within the Lancer community through decades of leadership, service, and vision.
As head coach of Lancer Baseball, Bernatow amassed 444 career wins, becoming the all-time wins leader in Mount Marty Athletics history and the only coach in program history to surpass the 400-win milestone. Under his guidance, the Lancers claimed the 2012 GPAC Tournament Championship and the 2010 GPAC Regular-Season Championship, a record-setting season with 39 wins that ended just one game shy of the NAIA World Series. For his accomplishments, he was named the 2010 GPAC Coach of the Year.
Bernatow’s coaching career was defined not only by wins but also by academic and individual success. He mentored over 200 Academic All-Conference athletes, 117 GPAC All-Conference players, 106 Daktronics Scholar-Athletes, numerous GPAC Gold Glove winners, and several All-Americans and Players of the Year. His teams consistently earned NAIA Baseball Scholar Team recognition, and his final three seasons were honored with the ABCA Academic Excellence Team Award. In addition, he served MMU as the Sports Information Director for 15 years.
Since transitioning to Athletic Director in 2021, Bernatow has spearheaded a wide range of facility upgrades and program enhancements. Recent milestones include:
- 2022: Completion of a new indoor Hitting Room for Baseball, Softball, and Golf.
- 2023: Partnership with the City of Yankton and Yankton Baseball Association to complete major Riverside Field enhancements, including dugouts, fencing, press box upgrades, and turfing the warning track.
- 2023 (Fall): Creation of a new Athletics Meeting Room.
- 2024 (Spring): Installation of a 7-camera system in the Ruth Donohoe Fieldhouse to stream indoor track meets, and a new video board in Cimpl Arena.
- 2024 (Summer): Replacement of the Cimpl Arena wood floor, a new video board and scoreboard at Crane Youngworth Field in collaboration with the Yankton School District, and refurbishment of the Athletics Hall of Fame area featuring a digital display and updated signage.
- 2025 (Fall): Implementation of a meet-day big-screen monitor system for track and field results.
- 2026 (Spring): Installation of a new videoboard in the Ruth Donohoe Fieldhouse.
He also played a key role in the launch of the GPAC Network in the summer of 2024, a landmark streaming project for the conference.
Under Bernatow’s leadership, Mount Marty Athletics has seen quality growth in competitiveness. From 2021 to 2026, multiple programs set records for wins and achieved historic milestones. Breakthrough seasons have been recorded across numerous sports, including Football, Volleyball, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, Men’s Basketball, Softball, Baseball, and Tennis. Notably, Track and Field produced the university’s first-ever NAIA National Champions in 2024, and Archery achieved a program-best 5th-place national finish.
Academically, MMU Athletics has reached historic heights under his watch. All programs in the athletic department achieved a milestone with every single sports program recording a team GPA over 3.0 for the third consecutive year this past year, highlighted by every program achieving over a 3.25 team GPA for the 2025–26 school year.
Bernatow’s widespread impact has been recognized with numerous honors, including GPAC Athletic Director of the Year (2024–25), the Distinguished Service to Mount Marty Award (2021), the Mount Marty Distinguished Achievement Award (2018), the MMU Alumni Coach of the Year Award (2012), and the Yankton Press & Dakotan Newsmaker of the Year (2022), where he was praised as “MMU’s Very Special Leader.”
He currently serves the GPAC as Chair of the Conduct and Ethics Committee and as the liaison to baseball. Expanding his leadership to the national level, Bernatow began serving on the NAIA ADA Board of Directors and became a member of the Membership Committee in the Fall of 2025.
Beyond MMU, Bernatow served as a teacher, coach, and Activities Director in the Gayville-Volin School District from 1999 to 2006, and was deeply involved with the Yankton Baseball Association from 1997 to 2024 in roles ranging from coach to program coordinator and board member. From 2013 to 2023, he also contributed to MVP Baseball in Montecito, California, organizing camps, leading showcases, and coaching teams at national tournaments.
Today, Bernatow continues to guide Mount Marty Athletics with the same values that defined his coaching career, discipline, humility, and commitment, while shaping a culture of academic achievement, competitive success, and long-term sustainability for the Lancers.
