Alumni Profile: Bernadette Laukaitis ’00

Bernadette Laukaitis ’00 already had a long history with Holy Family University before becoming the sixth head coach of the women’s basketball team in May 2019. She was a three-year team captain of the women’s basketball team, and her time as a studentathlete was followed by eight seasons as part of the coaching staff for the Tigers under the University’s head coachMike McLaughlin ’91, the same coach she played for as a Tiger.

After a year as head coach for Cabrini University and then continuing her career as an assistant coach under McLaughlin at the University of Pennsylvania, Laukaitis returned to Holy Family University to serve as head coach, a job that she calls “a dream come true.” Her first season was full of incredible highs for Laukaitis and the women’s basketball team.

But shortly after the women’s basketball team finished its 2019-2020 season after advancing to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship game on March 8, 2020, the Tigers — and all of the Holy Family University community — were faced with unexpected challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affecting the immediate future of Holy Family University Athletics.

Laukaitis soon shifted her coaching mindset to lead her team under very different circumstances. She explains, “I asked myself, ‘What are the things that we can do right now as coaches?’ Because Xs and Os are off the table now. It’s more about the mental health of everyone.”

Coach Bernadette Laukitias during the Tigers’ game against Thomas Jefferson University on December 21, 2019.

One of those activities that the student-athletes realized that they could do is service to others in the community. As an advisor to the Holy Family University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Laukaitis has seen participation increase in the community service program since the start of the pandemic and it has served as a way for athletes to unite for off-field and off-court for service projects like toy, book, and coat drives and adopting a family.

To help motivate her team after the announcement that the 20202021 basketball season was canceled in December, Laukaitis delivered bracelets inscribed with “Above It All” as part of care packages to each member of her team that included items that also they could use to help with their workouts. Laukaitis has also been there for her athletes to help them process the emotional challenges that have come with this tumultuous year. She reflects, “The big thing for me is that I’m allowing them to feel and to communicate that to me, not to hold it in and be ashamed of it. My challenge is to continue to have them focus on what they can do it. Whether it is balancing online learning to home stuff going on, they’re going through their own struggles. I’m unbelievably proud of them. They’re definitely persevering through them all.”

Though many Holy Family student-athletes look up to Laukaitis for her leadership, she is quick to give credit to the assistance she receives from Director of Athletics Tim Hamill ’04, M’08 and the entire Athletic Department.

She says, “I am grateful for Jami Hughes doing all of the Daily Operations, Greg Pellegrino our Director of Sports Information and social media guru, Erin Goodman our Compliance Officer and problem solver, Robin Arnold who has helped these student-athletes with all of their academic needs, our amazing training staff Sara Miraglia, Janet Panek M’11, and John Gary for treating these athletes and their injuries each day, and the wonderful coaches that I work alongside. We are truly so lucky to have them leading us all.”