Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Although head coaches are the ones who get credit for wins and losses, any head coach will tell you that their assistants deserve some of the credit.

In the case of assistants like Tony Bernardi, they deserve a ton of credit.
Bernardi served as an assistant on the IUP men's basketball staff for 13 years under three successful head coaches - Herm Sledzik, Carl Davis and Tom Beck.

Each of those coaches attributed a lot of their success to Bernardi, who was a key component to teaching the fundamentals of defense.

Bernardi served two years under Sledzik from 1967-69 and returned to IUP in 1973 to be on Davis' staff. Bernardi rejoined Davis from 1978-83 before spending the following five seasons under Beck.

Bernardi, a native of Midland, graduated from Geneva in 1958 and later earned a master's degree in counseling and career services from IUP in 1968 while on the coaching staff. During his two seasons working with Sledzik, IUP had a record of 40-8.
Davis was starting his fourth season as IUP coach in 1973 when he hired Bernardi as an assistant coach. That year IUP compiled a 21-8 record on its way to the NAIA quarterfinals.

After a brief absence, Bernardi rejoined Davis' staff in 1978 and was put in charge of the junior varsity squad in addition to being the varsity's defensive coach.
 In 1983-84, Beck became IUP's head coach after 17 years as an assistant, and if anybody knows the value of an assistant, it's Beck.

"Tony is invaluable," said Beck in the mid-1980s. "We play good defense and he certainly has a lot to do with that. He's a very loyal and dedicated coach. I can't say enough about him." In Bernardi's 13 years as an assistant he helped IUP to 195 victories.

Bernardi played basketball and baseball for four years at Geneva and was captain of the 1957-58 basketball squad that played in the NAIA district championship game.
He coached the Boys basketball team at Shannock Valley High School for 13 years, had a record of 197-80, won four section titles and was the WPIAL Class A runner-up in 1977-78. Bernardi was the Indiana Area Coach of the Year and the WPIAL Section Coach of the Year four times each.

He taught at Shannock Valley for 37 years and was a guidance counselor for 31 before retiring in 1997. He served in the U.S. Army from 1958-60.

Bernardi is a member of the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame and was selected one of the Top 50 basketball players in Geneva history. Bernardi and his wife, Rose, are the parents of a son, Pasquale, and daughters Margaret, Adele and Angelica.