Justin Bishop
Varsity Head Coach

The 2008-09 season marks the 3rd year for Justin Bishop as the head baseball coach at Berkmar High School and his 8th year overall as a head coach.

Prior to coming to Berkmar, Coach Bishop began his teaching/coaching career at Clarkston High School in DeKalb County in 2001-02 where he stayed for two years. At Clarkston, Bishop was the head fast-pitch softball coach and the head baseball coach. In 2002, his fast-pitch softball team won the region 5-AAAA championship, set a school record for wins in a season (16), and qualified for the state tournament. Bishop was named region 5-AAAA Coach of the Year by the GACA for his team’s accomplishments

In the fall of 2003, Coach Bishop took another position in DeKalb at Lithonia High School. While at Lithonia, Coach Bishop worked as an assistant football coach for one season (03), the head fast-pitch softball coach for two seasons (04 and 05), and the head baseball coach for three seasons (04-06). Under his direction, the Bulldogs baseball team won 54 games in three years and went to the state playoffs twice (2005 and 2006). In 2005, Bishop’s team tied for the region 2-AAAAA championship and set a school record with 22 wins during the season. Bishop was named the 2005 DeKalb County Baseball Coach of the Year by the DeKalb County Dugout Club and the DeKalb Neighbor News. Coach Bishop’s fast-pitch softball team finished as region runner-up and qualified for the state tournament in both of his seasons as head coach.

Before beginning his career as an educator, Coach Bishop spent one year at LaGrange College as an assistant coach for the Panthers. His pitchers at LaGrange set many school records that still stand today and the team won the first ever GSAC conference regular season and tournament championships. That year the Panthers set a school record for most wins in a season (35). While coaching at LaGrange, Bishop also earned his Master’s of the Arts in Teaching.

Coach Bishop did his undergraduate work at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. He graduated from Berry in 1999 with a Bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education/Sports Performance. At Berry, Coach Bishop was a four-year letterman as a pitcher for the Vikings. During those four years, the Vikings captured one conference tournament championship and competed in three NAIA regional tournaments

As a high school student-athlete, Coach Bishop attended Chamblee High School in Chamblee, Georgia where he earned ten varsity letters (3 football, 3 basketball, and 4 baseball). He graduated from Chamblee in 1994.

At Berkmar, Bishop teaches Health and Physical Education. Along with his duties as head baseball coach, he is also an assistant football coach/freshman head coach for the Patriots.

In seven years as a head coach, Bishop has sent 17 student-athletes from his programs to compete at the collegiate level.

Coach Bishop is married to the former Catherine Royal of Stockbridge, GA. They have a newborn daughter, Avery, and the family resides in Lilburn.

Graham Tucker
Junior Varsity Head Coach/Varsity Assistant

The 2009 season will be Coach Tucker’s third year at Berkmar. Coach Tucker spent the 2007 season as an assistant coach for both the varsity and junior varsity in charge of the Patriot outfielders.

Previously he has served for one season (2003) as an assistant coach at Carrollton High School, in Carrollton, Georgia where he helped the Trojans to reach the state play-offs.

Coach Tucker graduated in 1998 from South Gwinnett High School in Snellville, Georgia. In 2003 he received his degree in Physical Education from the University of West Georgia, and his Masters Degree in Physical Education from Auburn University in 2005.

Coach Tucker resides in Tucker, Georgia and is married to the former Laurel Krauth. 

Michael Clyne
Varsity/Junior Varsity Assistant Coach

The 2009 season will be the second for Michael Clyne with Berkmar Baseball and his third season as a coach of baseball.

Before arriving at Berkmar, Coach Clyne spent his entire life in the Northeast, particularly Connecticut. Coach Clyne has been fortunate to coach baseball before in Ridgefield, Connecticut as a coach for the local high school freshman baseball team in 2005. Coach Clyne also coached basketball in Connecticut, volunteering as a coach for a recreational league for eight graders.

Before coming to Georgia, Coach Clyne worked in many different capacities. Coach Clyne went to the University of Connecticut to study Sports Marketing and worked for the National Football League and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Clyne currently holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut in Sports Marketing and a master's degree in Education from Sacred Heart University.

Coach Clyne teaches fourth grade at Kanoheda Elementary School, a Berkmar cluster school. Clyne has begun his own after school program at Kanoheda which enables students to complete their homework and then participate in organized sporting activities as a group.

Coach Clyne currently resides in Suwanee, Georgia and is married to the former Sarah Egan.

Matt Gershon
Varsity Assistant

The 2009 season will be the first at Berkmar High School for Matt Gershon and his fifth season coaching high school baseball. Coach Gershon will oversee the varsity catchers and infielders during practice and will man the 1st base coach’s box during the Patriots’ games.

Coach Gershon began his coaching career at 4A Tempe High School in Tempe, Arizona in 2004-05 where he was the head freshman team coach and a varsity assistant, while teaching Physical Education at Gililland Middle School in Tempe. In 2006, Coach Gershon’s second season at Tempe High, the freshman team compiled a 14-4 record while the varsity team tripled the four wins they earned in 2005 to twelve and a region playoff appearance in 2006.

Coach Gershon moved on to 5A Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona for the 2006-07 school year. At Westwood, Gershon served as the catching instructor for the varsity and junior varsity programs, and spent time coaching the junior varsity team as well as assisting with the varsity team during games.

In the summer of 2007, Coach Gershon led the Tempe A’s of the Arizona Collegiate Wood Bat League (formerly the Arizona Summer Collegiate League) to a 27-7 overall record and a spot in the ACWBL championship game. The team included college players, mostly from the Phoenix area, who play at NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, and NJCAA schools. Two of Coach Gershon’s pitchers from the team, Kyle Hurst (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) and Adam Prange (St. Louis Cardinals), were drafted in the 2008 Major League Baseball draft and are currently playing minor league baseball.

Coach Gershon moved on to teach and coach at 5A baseball powerhouse Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, Arizona during the 2007-08 school year. Coach Gershon taught Physical Science and was appointed head freshman coach for the Thunder baseball program by Arizona Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer and Desert Vista Head Coach Stan Luketich. Coach Gershon led the Thunder freshman team to a 13-5 record, while the varsity team made the state playoffs for the eleventh time in the program’s 12 year existence.

After making the move to the Atlanta area in May of 2008, Coach Gershon spent his summer coaching the Mentium Athletics of the fledgling Great South League, a summer collegiate league with teams based throughout Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina. The Athletics were comprised of players from the University of Georgia, the University of Notre Dame, Georgia State University, and a variety of other universities and colleges.

Coach Gershon is a graduate of Arizona State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He also played one season of baseball at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills, California.

Coach Gershon has also worked as an instructor for the Arizona Diamondbacks Training Centers, as well as working for several years as a personal trainer, and is also certified as a fitness trainer through the American Council on Exercise and the International Sports Sciences Association.

Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Coach Gershon attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, California and graduated in 1995. Gershon earned four varsity baseball letters and earned All-Marmonte League honors. Gershon was also selected to play for then California Angels’ (currently the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) sponsored 818-805 team in the prestigious Area Code Games high school baseball showcase in the summer of 1994.

At Berkmar, Coach Gershon teaches in the Special Education department.

Coach Gershon is married to the former Sarah Allen of Seattle, Washington. Sarah is a professor in the Political Science department at Georgia State University in Atlanta. The couple currently has no children but does have a dog, Bessie. Their family resides in Decatur.