Christner

After a lengthy search, Waynesburg has announced the hiring of Mark Christner as its new head men’s basketball coach.

He replaces Frank Ferraro, who compiled a 63-115 record in seven seasons with the Yellow Jackets following Rudy Marisa's decision to step down as coach and focus on his role as the school's athletic director. “We had over 150 applications from various parts of the country,” Marisa said. “We believe we have hired the right person for the job at this point in time.”

Christner spent the past eight years as an assistant men's coach and head men's junior varsity coach at Calvin, during which time the Knights went 158-73 and made four appearances in the NCAA Touranment. Over that same stretch, the Knights won three MIAA tournament titles and advanced to the Division III Final Four in 2005.

Prior to working with the men’s team, Christner broke in as a coach at Calvin with the women’s basketball team from 1999 to 2002, a time with included a trip to the Sweet 16. 
After spending a decade with winning collegiate hoops programs, Christner plans on bringing that winning formula to Waynesburg, both on and off the court. “Coming from Calvin and being used to succeeding, I plan on instilling that same work ethic and expectations of high character, which are hallmarks of successful programs,” Christner said. “It goes beyond wins and losses and can be seen off the court. I have a firm idea of where I want this program to go. You do it with integrity and you do it as hard as you can.”

A winning tradition is something that Christner will work to recapture with the Yellow Jackets, who are coming off of a 2-22 season. However, in 2006, the Jackets were one win away from capturing the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title. The program also gained national notoriety under Marisa for routinely making the NAIA national tournament in the 1980s.

“I’m very excited about coaching at Waynesburg,” Christner said. “There is a great tradition here and that was attractive to me. I want to get the program back to that level.”

Christner earned a bachelor's degree from Calvin in 1999, with a major in history and minor in physical education with emphasis in coaching. He went on to earn a master's in physical education with a pedagogy emphasis in 2005 from Western Michigan.