The fencing team is preparing for NCAA Regionals without a permanent head coach, shifting much of the team’s administration onto volunteers and marking the program’s second leadership vacancy in four years.
The team has taken on two competitions without a permanent head coach since Dayn DeRose’s early December resignation.
“The team is handling it pretty well,” senior epee Tyler Morse said. “We’ve gotten used to relying on each other as a team, and if something’s going wrong, we can count on one another to pull things back together and keep moving.”
With no full‑time head coach in place, much of the day‑to‑day structure of the program has shifted onto the remaining staff and athletes. Volunteer assistant coach Jennifer Hergert, the mother of fencing alum Benito Hergert ‘25, is currently the team’s sole coach during the transition.
“She’s been absolutely wonderful dealing with all of the administrative work we can’t really take on,” Morse said. “She puts in a lot of time and effort to keep the program running.”
Hergert stepped into a volunteer coaching position when DeRose was hired in 2022 to help him get settled and to provide additional stability for the team as it adjusted to new leadership.
“When Dayn came in, I asked how I could support the team,” Hergert said about a conversation with Senior Associate Athletic Director Andrew Foster. “And said, ‘Just make me the official assistant volunteer coach so you can give me the work without feeling guilty.’”
Hergert was unable to attend last weekend’s meet, prompting DeRose to return as a volunteer coach to support the team at the competition.
“I would say that it was almost a calmer environment,” freshman foil Margaret Narula said. “Everyone was able to focus on their fencing, and they didn’t have to worry about if the ref made a bad call, that they would have to fight for their point.”
This is the second instance in the last four years in which Lafayette’s head fencing coach has resigned from the position, after Greg Rupp left in 2022 to accept the head coaching position at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
“The coach who recruited me ended up quitting, so we spent that semester looking for a new one,” Morse said. “Now I’m going through that process again, only this time I’m nearing the end of my college career, so it’s been a bit of a funny full‑circle moment.”
Morse also noted that the interview process is focused on finding people who are “planning on sticking around.”
“It could give us that long-term stability that we’ve been missing,” Morse said.
According to an email from athletics spokesman Phil LaBella, the search for a new head coach is underway, and administrators expect to finalize the hiring process in the near future.
“I will certainly be happy to continue supporting the new coach once they come on board,” Hergert said. “There’s a strong sense of friendship and culture within the team, and they really support one another. I’m quite pleased with how well they’ve gelled together, even without a head coach right now.”
Dan Sullivan ‘27 contributed reporting.