Varsity Coaches

Mercy McAuley is thrilled to welcome Doug Robertson as the head varsity basketball coach for our 2020-21 season! Doug has over 15 years of basketball coaching experience and most recently served for two years as the varsity girls basketball coach and a social studies teacher at South Dearborn Community School Corporation. Prior to teaching and coaching at South Dearborn, he served as the varsity girls basketball coach for four years with Franklin County Community School Corporation, where he also taught social studies. Doug has also coached freshman girls basketball with Michigan City Area Schools, varsity girls basketball and softball with Covenant Christian Schools, varsity basketball and JV softball  at Bishop Noll Institute, and JV girls basketball at Andrean High School.

During Mercy McAuley's inaugural 2018-19 season, Coach Travis Nieman led the team in earning the GGCL Champion title. The team also won the GGCL Tournament and qualified for districts (team) and state (individual). Before joining Mercy McAuley's coaching staff, Coach Nieman served as the JV bowling coach at Mother of Mercy since 2016. During his two years as JV coach, the team finished with a record of 23-0, with three first place finishes in JV tournaments. He currently serves as a long-term substitute teacher at La Salle High School and as a part-time service assistant with Century Mechanical Solutions. He has also served as a long-term substitute teacher at St. Vivian Catholic School. He obtained the Eagle Scout with Palm Award and received the Outstanding Citizen in the Community Award for the city of Cheviot.

Coach Tim Bley has 12 years of experience coaching high school cross country and distance track and field, as well as high school classroom experience. In addition to over 38 years as an avid runner, Coach Bley is a certified personal trainer who has helped train athletes to run distance road races, and he has personally competed in 13 marathons.

Coach Bley is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and a Master of Arts in Education from the College of Mount Saint Joseph. He is also a Cincinnati Police officer who has had leadership roles in fitness training for the Police Academy and the Cincinnati Police department. Coach Bley and his family are active members of St. Jude parish, and his family has a strong commitment to Mercy education and the Mercy McAuley community.

Coach Kelly Fay is a Lead Dance Instructor at Emerge Dance Academy, where she enjoys teaching all ages. She designs outreach programs through Emerge and has been working as a lead instructor at Emerge for the past six years, with a total of about 14 years experience teaching dance. She has a significant amount of experience in dance competition, both as an instructor and participant. She was a member of the dance team in high school and as a student at Mount Saint Joseph. Coach Fay is excited to build and begin a dance program at Mercy McAuley High School. She is a graduate of Mount Saint Joseph University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.

During Mercy McAuley's inaugural season, Coach Ernie Petrie led the team in qualifying for Districts, and he was also named GGCL Coach of the Year. Prior to joining the coaching staff at Mercy McAuley, Coach Petrie served as McAuley’s varsity head coach for 21 years and as the JV coach for 20 years. Under his leadership, McAuley’s golf team had 19 winning seasons and ranked in the Top 10 of the coaches poll for 19 of 21 years. Coach Petrie's team earned GGCL Co-Champ and Coach of the Year titles in 2007. In 2015, one of his players qualified as an individual at the state competition, and the team qualified for the state tournament in 2016. His teams have qualified for the GGCL District tournament for 11 years, and four players qualified as individuals in other years. Several of his players have been named to the GGCL All-Star team each year.

Prior to joining Mercy McAuley, Coach Dave Joerger served as Mother of Mercy’s varsity lacrosse coach for 11 years and the Assistant Athletic Director and Physical Education teacher for six years. He also served as the head baseball coach for Panel Barn Baseball Club for 10 years. Coach Joerger also founded, coached and supervised Westside Lacrosse, a summer instructional program for girls in grades 8 – 12. He has also coached and supervised year-round instructional lacrosse clinics through River’s Edge for girls in grades 5 – 12.

During Mercy McAuley's inaugural season, Coach Mike Rust led the team in earning the GGCL Champion title. Prior to joining Mercy McAuley, Coach Rust coached soccer at both McAuley and Mother of Mercy High Schools and has been a club soccer coach for over 25 years. He was named GGCL Coach of the Year twice, was named Private School Coach of the Year, and received numerous Top 10 city rankings. As a coach with Kolping Soccer Club, his teams won five state cups, one Midwest Regional Championship and went to the finals eight consecutive times. He also led his teams to earn the Midwest Regional Runner Up and Midwest Regional Semifinalist titles. Fourteen of his Kolping players received college scholarships, and during his years at McAuley and Mother of Mercy, he helped numerous athletes also receive college scholarships.

During Mercy McAuley's inaugural 2018-19 season, Coach Karen Wiesman led the team in earning the GGCL Champion title, and she was also named GGCL Coach of the Year. Before joining Mercy McAuley’s coaching staff, she coached softball at McAuley, first as JV coach from 1997 – 2002, followed by head varsity coach from 2003 – 2018. While varsity coach, Coach Wiesman compiled a 241-115 win/loss record. In 2016, she received the Sportsmanship Ethic and Integrity Award, and she was named GGCL Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016. Coach Wiesman is also an art teacher at St. James School in White Oak.

During Mercy McAuley's inaugural 2018-19 season, the tennis team advanced to Sectionals under the leadership of Coach David Renick, who is also a social studies teacher at Mercy McAuley. Prior to joining Mercy McAuley's coaching staff, Coach Renick served as McAuley’s JV Tennis Coach in 2017. David also coached the women’s JV tennis team at Colerain High School from 2008 – 2012, as well as the men’s JV tennis team at Colerain from 2009 – 2016. In addition, he served as Colerain’s varsity chess coach from 2008 – 2016.

During Mercy McAuley's inaugural 2018-19 season, Coach Gordon Benning led the team in finishing second in the GGCL. Prior to joining the coaching staff at Mercy McAuley, Coach Benning served as McAuley High School’s track and field varsity coach during the 2017-18 school year. During this season, his track & field athletes won three GGCL championships, and one student won the GGCL Field Event Athlete of the Year. He also served as an assistant track and field coach at McAuley and St. Xavier, and was the head track and field coach at Summit Country Day for four years.

Coach Denise Harvey, a 1991 alumna of Mother of Mercy High School, will begin serving as head varsity volleyball coach in the 2019-20 season. Coach Harvey has over 20 years of secondary education experience in the classroom, as a school administrator, as a coach and in athletic administration. In addition to serving as the Head Volleyball Coach at Mercy McAuley, she is also Assistant Principal for Student Programs (including athletics). Prior to her roles at Mercy McAuley, Denise served as Mother of Mercy’s Head Varsity Volleyball Coach since 2000, where she earned a state title in 2007 and achieved her 300th win in 2017. She also served as Mother of Mercy’s Athletic Director since 2011 and Assistant Principal for Student Affairs since 2014.