Greg Bamberger was named Director of Athletics at Fairmont State University on August 3, 2020. He will be entering his fifth year leading the department in 2024-25.
Bamberger has elevated the Fairmont State Athletics department to new heights during his time as director of athletics. The Fighting Falcons claimed their third-consecutive third place finish in the 2023-24 Mountain East Conference Commissioner’s Cup. Fairmont State earned an MEC Tournament Championship (women’s basketball) and two regular season championships (women's basketball and acrobatics & tumbling) in the 2023-24 campaign. Under Bamberger’s direction, three teams (women’s basketball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis) earned spots in the NCAA Tournament, with the Fairmont State acrobatics & tumbling qualifying and hosting the NCATA National Championships.
Fairmont State student-athletes have continued to succeed both in the classroom and in competition during Bamberger’s watch. 53 Fairmont State student-athletes garnered All-MEC honors during the 2022-23 academic year. 198 Falcons were named to the MEC Academic Awards list with 49 Fairmont State student-athletes achieving College Sports Communicators Academic All-District recognition. Bamberger mentored two coaches who were named MEC Coach of the Year in 2022-23 (Gennaro Bonaventura and Terry Deremer). Deremer was later named the 2023 ITA Division II Men’s Tennis National Coach of the Year.
During the 2021-22 season, Bamberger saw 78 student-athletes earn MEC Academic Honors in fall of 2021. Two programs (Acrobatics & Tumbling and softball) won Mountain East Conference Tournament Championships with baseball being recognized as MEC North Division Co-Champions. Fairmont State Acrobatics & Tumbling also made their ninth trip to the NCATA National Championships and were recognized as national quarterfinalist.
Bamberger also serves on the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics. The mission of the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics is to provide leadership and assistance to the association in its efforts to provide equitable opportunities, fair treatment and respect for all women in all aspects of intercollegiate athletics. The committee seeks to expand and promote opportunities for female student-athletes, administrators, coaches and officiating personnel. Bamberger will serve on the committee through August 31, 2025.
No stranger to DII administration and the Atlantic Region, Bamberger served 15 years as the Director of Athletics at Kutztown University, a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, prior to arriving at Fairmont State.
"The Fairmont State Fighting Falcons have always been a strong player in the former WVIAC and now the Mountain East Conference. I am excited to help lead this department and this University as we build on the foundation that has already been created. During my tenure as an AD in the Atlantic Region, I have had the opportunity to observe Fairmont athletics teams in action many times and they have always represented themselves admirably," Bamberger stated.
After arriving at Kutztown on May 1, 2005, Bamberger presided over one of the most successful eras of Golden Bear Athletics. Under Bamberger's leadership, Kutztown won its only Dixon Trophy in 2005-06. The trophy is presented annually to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's most successful institution based on league playoffs and/or regular season finish.
Bamberger was also at the helm for KU's highest Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings finish ever, when it placed 16th in 2009-10. The Golden Bears have finished in the top 50 of the Learfield standings five times under his guidance. Kutztown Athletics also won 15 PSAC Championships under Bamberger's leadership.
Bamberger's successes at Kutztown included seven athletics programs that each made multiple NCAA Tournament appearances during his tenure, including five NCAA Division II playoff appearances for the football program. Prior to Bamberger taking over as Athletics Director in 2005, the football program was over .500 just five times and didn't record more than seven wins in a season during a 10-year stretch from 1995 to 2004.
Bamberger was inducted into the Tri-County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame during the fall of 2011. His induction was the result of a standout football playing career at Phoenixville High School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he was a two-time co-captain, and an all-state and Big 33 selection his senior year.
Prior to his move to administration, Bamberger was an assistant football coach and lecturer at Glenville State for three semesters before taking over as director of athletics. He was the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Pioneers. From 1997-2000, Bamberger had a short exit from athletics to serve as a district sales coordinator for AFLAC.
Bamberger also previously served as assistant football coach at the Virginia Military Institute (1985-88) and Southeast Missouri State (1989-96).
Bamberger earned his master's degree in sports administration from Temple University in 1989. He is also a 1982 graduate of Duke University with a bachelor's degree in management sciences. He was a three-year starter for the Blue Devils' football team, serving as co-captain in 1981.
Bamberger was born in Abington, Pennsylvania. He and wife, Bernadette, are the parents of three children: Caitlin, Gregory (wife, Abby), Kendra. And granddaughter Oaklee.
