Kernan enters his first season as a Volunteer Assistant Coach with the Hiram softball program in 2022, having joined the program after 19 seasons as the Head Softball Coach at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio.
Over 19 seasons with the Fighting Irish, Kernan helped Ursuline to a 373-149 record, 18 winning seasons, 17 Sectional Championships, eight District Championships, four Steel Valley Conference Championships and a trip to the Ohio Division 3 State Finals in 2009.
More than 40 student-athletes earned All-Northeast Ohio honors under Kernan's tenure, while 15 different student-athletes earned All-State honors, Ursuline's first-ever All-State honorees. I
In his final season with the program in 2021, Kernan coached the Fighting Irish to a 27-3 record and a regional final appearance and was named the Softball Coach of the Year by YSN.
During his time at Ursuline, Kernan also served as both a head and assistant women's basketball coach, helping the Fighting Irish to a State Championship in 2004.
In addition to his coaching experience at Ursuline, Kernan also coached two seasons of travel ball for the Ohio USSSA Pride Green Select Elite 16u, posting a 48-10-2 record from 2019-20.
Previously, Kernan also owned and operated Softball U Academy in Youngstown, Ohio from 2010-17, helping develop numerous young softball players, many of whom moved on to have successful collegiate careers.
A graduate of Hiram College, Kernan was a three-year letter winner and a three-time All-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) selection for the Terrier football team, earning Second-Team All-PAC honors in 1985, and First-Team All-PAC honors in 1986 and 1987. A 1987 Pizza Hut All-American, Kernan was inducted into the Hollinger Hall of Fame in 2005, and still can be found all across the Hiram football record book to this day.Â
Kernan earned his bachelor's degree in business management with a minor in computer science from Hiram College in 1988.
