Coach Info
Jason Henderson who has helped NJIT to multiple MACFA Conference individual and team titles during his time with the Highlander fencing programs, has been elevated to head coach Assistant Vice President/Director of Athletics Lenny Kaplan announced.
Henderson joined the NJIT fencing coaching staff as an assistant coach in summer of 2010, filling that role for nine seasons until being named head coach to succeed Yefim Litvan in September 2019.
"I have been very fortunate in being able to play a role in NJIT's growth from a brand new Division 1 team into a championship program with a state-of-the-art training facility," Henderson said. "I will always appreciate those first recruits who took a chance on our program, believed in our shared vision and helped lay the foundation for the heights we aspire towards today."
Litvan became head coach of the men's and women's fencing teams at NJIT in 2007, having coached internationally for the United States in two Olympic Games and a highly successful tenure as head coach at Rutgers University.
"Yefim is like a master teacher of the game," Kaplan said. "His passion for being a teacher and love for the sport was unmatched. He will be missed."
A star fencer for four years under the tutelage of Litvan at Rutgers, Henderson was reunited with his old coach in the summer of 2010. In 2015, Henderson was awarded the USFA National Team Champion Coach's Medal for Senior Team Women's Epee.
"I am grateful for the mentorship Coach Yefim Litvan has given me over the past 16 years," Henderson added. "I'm proud of what we have accomplished together and I am extremely excited to continue working with our bright and talented athletes. We have an exceptional freshmen class that will augment our championship team. I am truly grateful to be a part of this program, there isn't anywhere else I would rather work."
Henderson's recruiting and scheduling efforts have drastically improved the athletic caliber of the athletes and strength of the season. NJIT now competes against 18 of out of the top 25 programs in the country and seven out of the top 10.
Henderson guided the NJIT men's fencing team in capturing its third consecutive MACFA Championship title in 2022 while Cristian Candescu and Rourke Hillyer brought home gold in their respective weapons. NJIT picked up its third straight title and fourth overall (2016, 2019, 2020, 2022) team MACFA Championship title in the last seven years. The MACFA Championships were not held in 2021 due to COVID.
After leading the NJIT fencing programs to a fourth place team finish at the 2021 National Collegiate Fencing Championships, head coach Jason Henderson earned 2021 United States Fencing Coaches Association Men's Team Coach of the Year. In his second season at the helm of the Highlanders, Henderson joined three coaches as Men's Team Coach of the Year finalists -- Juan Ignacio Calderon (UC San Diego), Omar Elgeziry (Air Force) and Gia Kvaratskhelia (Notre Dame).
Henderson guided a program-best 11 fencers (six men; five women) to a fourth place team finish at the 2021 NCAA Fencing Championships. Between the two squads, the Highlanders racked up nine All-American accolades (five men; four women).
Junior Robert Hondor finished third in the men's epee competition, marking the best individual finish for a men's fencer at the NCAA Championships.
Women's fencer Marina Arrese was named the Elite 90 Award recipient of the Championships, becoming the second female Highlander to have earned the prestigious Elite 90 Award. Arrese was selected as the 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-America At Large Second Team (third Highlander student-athlete to earn the All-America honor).
Paula Zugasti represented Spain at the 2021 Junior World Championships in Cairo, Egypt, recording a second place team finish.
The NJIT men's and women's fencing teams earned 2021 USFCA Team Academic Recognition; 17 Highlanders were named to the USFCA All-Academic Team, including 10 recognized as a Scholar of Distinction
In 2018-19, the NJIT men's fencing team captured the 2019 MACFA Championship highlighted by a first-place finish by Brett Bogert in the men's epee for the second consecutive season and a program-best 21-6 overall mark.
Henderson won the 2017 MACFA Coach of the Year award and became the first assistant coach to win the honor.
In 2016, Julia Garcia was the recipient of the Elite 90 award for NCAA Division I Women's Fencing, presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships.
During the 2014-15 season NJIT gained national attention as it was ranked on the national coaches' poll for the first time in school history.
"If you can't have the teacher, you get the student," Kaplan added. "Jason was an All-American under Yefim's tutelage, and he learned from the best. Over the past nine years, it has been largely through Jason's efforts we have had a resurgence as a national name in NCAA fencing. He has been our primary recruiter, which has yielded multiple conference individual weapon and team championships, an Olympian, a number of men's and women's All-Americans, and a winner of the NCAA prestigious Elite 90 award."
Henderson, who graduated from Rutgers cum laude in January 2008, was a two-time NCAA All-American and four-time NCAA National Championship participant in a four-year career from 2003 to 2007.
"Fencing has a special place here at NJIT," Henderson commented. "The leadership team has continually challenged and supported our program. During every step along our journey, the administration has given us the tools to achieve our audacious goals, while challenging us to achieve success on the piste, in the classroom and beyond. It has been a privilege working together towards shared goals for the fencing team as an integral part of the strategic vision of our department."
A three-year team captain, Henderson graduated with a double major in sports management and philosophy, making the dean's list for eight semesters and earning numerous awards for academic excellence and leadership.
Henderson was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars; Rutgers Fencing MVP in 2004; Dean's Award for Co-Curricular Excellence; SAAC representative; Cap and Skull Honor Society; Athletic Director's Excellence Award; and, Chi Alpha Sigma—National Athlete Honor Society.
Out of more than 460,000 NCAA student-athletes, Henderson was one of only 174 recipients of the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, the first student-athlete from Rutgers University to earn the scholarship in three years. He went on to both graduate and law school, earning a Master of Management Studies in May 2010 from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and a Juris Doctorate in 2015 from Rutgers School of Law.
In addition to coaching at NJIT, Henderson is a full-time faculty member of the Sport Management program at Rutgers University and graduate faculty member of the Global Sports Business masters degree program at Rutgers University.
"I am confident with Jason at the helm, we will continue our rise in the collegiate fencing world," Lenny concluded.
