Behrman ready for first season at helm with Bucknell football
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First-year coach Jeff Behrman came into Bucknell on January 1 and, a day later, the transfer portal was open. That meant less than 24 hours to look at what Bucknell's roster had, try to assess to the best of his abilities what areas could use improvement, and attack the transfer portal to see who could help boost the team.
That's a challenging situation for any coach, but Behrman has proven himself to be a winner, and the Bison hope that winning attitude and coaching strategy pays off in Lewisburg.
Behram had success at John Carroll and Union prior to coming to Bucknell, and he attributes one thing to the success he had at his previous stops: people around him.
"The secret is the people. That's the bottom line, it's people always. That's what makes our experiences what they are. It's not necessarily who you are, it's who you're with," Behrman said at the Patriot League media day this year. "We value the people we're around, our staff and administration, but more importantly your players. Once you get people you want, it’s getting them to understand your process. ... It's a part of identifying the right people to bring into your culture and a school like Bucknell."
Behrman started off the media day availability by noting the academic and athletic success at Bucknell compared to other schools.
"The landscape of college athletics is changing on a daily basis, to add William & Mary and Villanova this year, Richmond last year, it truly is the top competitive academic conference in FCS football. As for us here, obviously this preseason is brand new to everybody," Behrman said. "The staff being here at Bucknell for the first time, 31 newcomers, but also for our veterans as well. They have not gone through a preseason training camp with myself and this coaching staff. It's very new. I will say there's an extreme intensity, excitement and hunger for these guys. They've embraced this coaching staff, our philosophy and our culture."
Behrman has been great at turning programs around and keeping them successful. He took over Union prior to the 2016 season and after going 3-7 that first year, he had Union reach at least seven wins each of the next five seasons, including an outstanding 11-1 campaign in 2019 which saw the Dutchmen win the Liberty League and reach the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
In his three years at John Carroll from 2023-25, the Blue Streaks went 8-2, 9-3 and 12-2, respectively, and reached the NCAA Division III playoffs each of the last two seasons, including the semifinals in 2025 in which John Carol won the North Coast Atlantic Conference with an 8-0 record after finishing second each of the two years prior in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
Where Behrman goes, winning follows suit and the Bison are hoping that's the case in Lewisburg.
"Our success at John Carroll led to interest level there, our season did go fairly deep last year and it was an opportunity that I just had to look into and once offered the position, I didn't want to pass down," Behrman said of taking the Bucknell job. "At this stage in my career, I don’t know how many opportunities like this will come around. I believe in who we are and what we are, I was able to bring a bunch of my staff with me from John Carroll, either directly or a year off. The ability to bring in people I know and trust and connected with before was really, really important."
"Any time you take over a program, this is the third one I've taken over now as head coach, you have to look at the roster and evaluate the roster," Behrman continued. "Determine what's in the program at the time you take it over and quickly assess your needs and recruit to fix those needs. We didn't have a lot of time to do that. … So we were trying to assess what was in the program, what the needs were, and move as quickly and urgently as we could."