Brianna Balkin returns for her sixth season as Head Coach of the Bears Women's Bowling Team in 2023-24. Balkin led the Bears to the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championships in their debut season and will look to continue to build the program after a strong showing last season in the first year of Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) play.
Coach Balkin graduated from Nutley High School where she was a four year varsity starter. She was team captain from sophomore to senior year and earned second team All-NNJIL honors as a freshman and first team All-NNJIL honors as a sophomore, junior, and senior. Her team won the NNJIL Division A championship in her junior and senior years.
After graduating high school, Balkin attended Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) and was a member of the school’s first ever NCAA National Championship team in 2006. In 2007 and 2009, FDU earned trips to the NCAA Division I Tournament and were national semifinalists.
As a coach, Balkin began at Lyndhurst High School in 2013. In 5 seasons, her teams garnered four league championships, three Bergen County Group 1-2 championships, one Bergen County Overall Championship, two North 1A Group 1 championships, and one North 1A Group 2 championship. In 2015, they were Group 1 State Champions as well as the first ever team from North Jersey to win a New Jersey Tournament of Champions (TOC) title.
Balkin’s team was named Bergen County Small School Team of the Year from 2014-2017 and NJ.Com Team of the Year in 2015. They hold the North 1A State Sectional Title for team game (1233) and team series (3490). Brianna has coached both the 2015 North Jersey Boys Bowler of the Year and Girls Bowler of the Year. She coached 17 First-Team All League selections, 8 First-Team All County selections, and 2 First-Team All State selections.
In five seasons as head coach of the Golden Bears, Balkin boasts a record of 80-2 (.976). Her teams won 70 matches in a row and hold the longest win streak in New Jersey in any sport in league play (105 straight). She also coached them to four undefeated seasons in a row from 2014-2017. Brianna was named the NJIC Meadowlands Division Coach of the Year four times.
Coach Balkin graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and earned her teaching certificate from New Jersey City University. She currently resides in Nutley, NJ.
