For the last seven years, Brad Posner worked as the head coach at Division III Susquehanna, earning more than 140 wins along the way during that time. The River Hawks won a pair of conference championships and made two trips to the NCAA tournament under his shepherding.
In mid-August, Posner joined the coaching staff at Bucknell. Moving up to the Division I ranks for the first time in his coaching career, Posner only had to move about twenty minutes down the road, staying put in the Pennsylvania region that already served him well as a head coach.
A few weeks after joining the Bison staff, Posner sat down with Extra Inning Softball to talk about his career and his forecast for what’s in store for the Bucknell program.
Extra Inning Softball: When did you know that you wanted to pursue coaching as your career path?
Brad Posner: It sort of just snuck up on me. I got into coaching in my early twenties because it was something I enjoyed. A few years in, I realized I could see myself doing it as a career and really began dedicating myself to it.
Extra Inning Softball: Describe your coaching style. What do you feel are your biggest strengths as a coach?
Brad Posner: I believe that has changed over time. Experience is a great teacher. My desire to win, along with my knowledge of the game, are things I think anyone can see. I have always believed programs should be built on character, academics, relationships, and competitiveness. Finding ways to help develop those within teams I’ve been a part of, whether it was as a head coach or as an assistant, is something I believe I do well.
Extra Inning Softball: Tell me about transitioning from being a head coach to being an assistant. Do you feel like that transition will be difficult in any way; do you expect it to be fairly easy on your part?
Brad Posner: I am really excited about this change. I spent the first 12 years of my career as an assistant, and am very much looking forward to be able to focus on the things I do best. I am grateful to Coach Si (Sarah Caffrey) for this opportunity and am really excited to work for her and help this team. I also believe my time as a head coach will allow me to be an even better assistant than I was before.
Extra Inning Softball: What drew you to the Bucknell position and made it attractive to you?
Brad Posner: I had coached up the road for the last seven years and knew a little about Bucknell. I love the exceptional academics here and appreciate what these student athletes are faced with being both a student and an athlete. I wanted to go somewhere that I felt I could help, and also a place where we could win. I’ve always wanted the opportunity to coach against some of the best teams in the country and succeed too. As I got to know Coach Si, I really appreciated her drive and vision for the program, and I believe all the things I was looking for were right here. From there, everything seemed to fall in place.
Extra Inning Softball: Having so recently been a successful coach in the same region as your new job, how big of a benefit for you is that regional familiarity, especially from a recruiting perspective?
Brad Posner: I’m hoping it will be a big asset. I’ve been talking with coaches I am familiar with, and I now have the ability to recruit some players I may have seen in the past but would have had difficulty getting to come to my previous institution. Maintaining relationships with coaches will prove very beneficial to this program.
Extra Inning Softball: The last couple of years have not been easy for anyone in the coaching world… how have the challenges of the mid-pandemic times affected and influenced you and how you do what you do as a coach?
Brad Posner: Look, it was definitely hard, but at the end of the day, I felt worse for the student athletes than I did for myself. I’m entering my 24th season coaching in college. To lose a year or two was nowhere near as impactful as it was for student athletes who lost as much as half their careers. My heart hurt for them. That being said, it was a difficult time for all coaches. There was no playbook or speakers who could tell you best practices for dealing with that. You did the best you could and tried to keep pushing through until the pandemic was over.
Extra Inning Softball: Let’s say we’re having this conversation one year from now, once you have a full season at Bucknell under your belt. What needs to have happened during that season for you to be able to say ‘this was a successful year’?
Brad Posner: Making significant strides from last year to this year along with winning are the obvious answers. Feeling like I was an asset to Coach Si and this team would be really important to me. Coach Si has entrusted me with leading the offense, so developing an offensive identity and instilling a belief system in these players so they can become the best versions of themselves would be another way to measure success.
