The Holy Family University Department of Athletics has nominated Mike McLaughlin and Bernadette Laukaitis for Division II's 50th Anniversary Gold Award.  
 
The award, which is part of the division's yearlong 50th anniversary celebration that launched Aug. 7 and will extend through the 2024 Division II Baseball Championship in June, will recognize two individuals (one individual who identifies as male and one who identifies as female) who have made a positive impact in Division II.
 
The nominees include current and former student-athletes, coaches, faculty members and administrators from active member schools and conferences who have helped shape Division II over time.
 
Conference offices will review the nominated individuals and select two conference winners (one individual who identifies as male and one who identifies as female) by Nov. 6.
 
The NCAA Division II Management Council Identity Subcommittee will then review the finalists and select the two overall winners, who will be recognized at the 2024 NCAA Convention in Phoenix.
 
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) nominations included McLaughlin, Laukaitis, current commissioner Dan Mara and Jefferson Assistant Vice President for Athletics/Head Women's Basketball Coach Tom Shirley. 
 
Mike McLaughlin (Former Student-Athlete/Women's Basketball Coach)
McLauglin became the fastest women's basketball coach in NCAA history to reach 400 wins, doing so in 459 games. 
 
He coached at Holy Family for 14 seasons, establishing the Tigers as one of the premier programs in the East Region after they transitioned to Division II in 2003-04. 
 
The Tigers would go on to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in each of the six seasons McLauglin led them in Division II, before he left to take the head coaching job at the University of Pennsylvania, a position he still holds.  
 
During his tenure, HFU went 407-61, won six CACC championships and qualified for the national tournament (eight NAIA Tournaments and six Division II Tournaments) every year.
 
The Tigers won five NCAA Tournament games, including advancing to the 2008 East Region Final to cap a 32-1 season in which they completed a perfect regular season, won the CACC championship and finished with a No. 4 national ranking. 
 
 
Holy Family went 168-23 during McLaughlin's six Division II seasons, including 124-2 in CACC play as the Tigers won his final 84 league games as part of an eventual 110-game conference winning streak. 
 
An eight-time CACC Coach of the Year, he coached 27 All-CACC honorees, five CACC Players of the Year and three CACC Rookies of the Year. Additionally, his rosters featured three NAIA All-Americans prior to the Tigers transitioning to Division II. 
 
McLaughlin began his career at HFU as a student-athlete on the men's basketball team, and to this day he holds the program records for 3-point percentage (60.2) and assists per game (8.9).
 
He is also second in program history in free throw percentage (86.0), third in assists (755), seventh in free throws made (351), eighth in points per game (17.4) and ninth in points (1,481).
 
Bernadette Laukaitis (Former Student-Athlete/Current Head Women's Basketball Coach and Assistant AD)
As a student-athlete, Laukaitis was a three-year team captain and ranks fifth in program history with 247 steals and ninth with 372 assists.
 
She began her coaching career at HFU as an assistant coach, helping lead the Tigers to five Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) titles in eight seasons. HFU advanced to the postseason every year, including three NAIA Tournaments and the program's first five NCAA Tournaments.
 
During those eight seasons Holy Family went 234-27.
 
Laukaitis returned to HFU as its head coach in May 2019 and proceeded to lead the Tigers to the CACC Tournament Championship Game in her first year. 
 
Holy Family has gone 52-34 in her first three seasons, advancing to the CACC Tournament Semifinals twice. 
 
As an administrator, Laukaitis was promoted to assistant athletic director in July 2023 because of her dedication to the student-athlete, including her role as advisor of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC)
 
The Tigers were awarded the 2022-23 CACC Community Engagement Award for a Trunk-or-Treat event hosted by HFU's SAAC.