Brian Wolverton’s head coaching era at Rutgers-Camden didn’t exactly start as he had hoped, but the Lady Raptors’ second-year mentor has been too busy building toward the future to worry about the past.

After two seasons as a Rutgers-Camden assistant coach, Wolverton inherited a depleted team by the time he took over the reigns in 2008. Most of the members who led the Raptors to a run of four straight NCAA tournament appearances were gone, and the result was reflected in the club’s record last year. Rutgers-Camden posted an 8-28-1 mark to set a program record for most defeats and suffer its first losing season since 1999 (7-10).

Wolverton immediately set out to recruit new talent, and he is confident the hard work will pay dividends during the 2008-09 scholastic year.

Prior to getting the head job, Wolverton spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at Rutgers-Camden, beginning with the program’s run to the NCAA Division III national title in 2006. Last year he stepped into the role vacated when long-time Head Coach Carl Taylor resigned in early August, 2007.

Wolverton is no stranger to coaching success. He was part of the Rutgers-Camden staff that earned honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association as the Speedline/NFCA Division III National Coaching Staff of the Year in 2006. On the scholastic level, he was the head coach of the Northern Burlington High School girls’ varsity team from 1997-2007, compiling a 193-71 record, including Burlington County League Liberty Division titles in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005. His team won both the South Jersey and state Group 2 titles in 2002, and captured the Central Jersey Group 3 sectional title in 2005. During both of those seasons he received honors as the area’s Softball Coach of the Year, being cited in 2002 by the Trentonian, the Burlington County Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and earning the honor from the Trenton Times in 2005.

Wolverton has placed over 30 players in college programs, including nine at Division I schools, and has coached numerous All-County, All-Area and All-South Jersey players. Eleven of his players were named to various All-State teams.

From 2005-07, Wolverton served as the head coach of the Burlington County team in the Carpenter Cup, the annual tournament sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies. He coached the South Jersey Senior All-Star team in 2002, 2005 and 2007.

Wolverton, who also has coached field hockey, football, basketball and track over the years, combines with Mike Medrick to run the annual “Play Like a Champ” softball camp at Cherokee and Northern Burlington High Schools. The camp has been serving South Jersey youth softball players for over 20 years. In 2008, Medrick joined Wolverton’s first coaching staff at Rutgers-Camden.

Wolverton was a Math Education major who graduated from Trenton State College (now known as The College of New Jersey) in 1995. In addition to coaching at Northern Burlington, he is a teacher of Mathematics and Computer Programming at the school. He was named Northern Burlington’s Teacher of the Year in both 2002 and 2004, and has served as the Department Chairperson for the Business, Practical Arts and Mathematics Departments since 2000.