Mishawaka Marian Fires Boys Basketball Coach Berger After IHSAA Violation

Robb Berger's tenure as head boys basketball coach at Mishawaka Marian High School ended March 25, when the school announced his termination after a disciplinary sequence that began with a self-reported rules violation earlier this month. Berger, a 19-year leader of the Knights program, had already served a one-game suspension that was self-imposed by Marian Athletics. He confirmed the firing to the media late Wednesday.

The school's statement was brief: "Robb Berger's service as coach of Marian's Varsity Boys Basketball team has concluded. Marian High School thanks him for his service."

The violation at the center of the discipline involved an unauthorized participant in practice. Berger allowed a non-member of the Knights' staff or roster to practice with the team, which multiple outlets characterized as a repeated IHSAA infraction. Marian Athletic Director Steve Ravotto confirmed the suspension to the South Bend Tribune. The school self-reported the violation to the IHSAA, and Marian Athletics self-imposed the one-game penalty rather than waiting for the association to act. The IHSAA, for its part, confirmed the suspension but declined to comment further.

The timing could not have been worse for the Knights. Marian went into its first boys basketball regional game since 2022 without its head coach. The one-game suspension covered the Class 3A regional championship on March 14 at Michigan City High School, where Marian faced East Chicago Central. Assistant Matt Sobieralski stepped in as acting head coach for that game. East Chicago Central won 78-74, ending Marian's season at 17-7 and making the reinstatement clause moot: Berger would have returned to the sideline immediately had the Knights advanced to semi-state, since the suspension covered only the single game.

Marian had reached the regional by claiming the Class 3A New Prairie sectional championship with a triple-overtime win over Culver Academies, a hard-fought run that made the circumstances surrounding the regional game all the more jarring for the program.

The firing came eleven days after that regional loss, with no direct statement from the school linking the termination explicitly to the IHSAA violation beyond the disciplinary context established earlier in March. No comment from Berger on the specifics of either the violation or the termination has been reported. The IHSAA has not issued a formal public sanction beyond acknowledging the school-imposed suspension.

Berger had been a fixture at Marian for nearly two decades. The program now heads into an offseason coaching search with the violation's circumstances, including the identity of the non-member who practiced with the team, still publicly unresolved.