Two decades ago, Jennifer never even saw full time coaching as a possibility until then-athletic director Bill Cleary ’56 approached her.

“At the time when I was interning, I was doing volleyball as kind of a side [job],” Jennifer said. “[Cleary] gave me the opportunity of a lifetime and…I [accepted]. I was, absolutely, at the right place at the right time.”

An awkward request for a pencil and dozens of runs along the Charles later, Jay and Jennifer were wedded, with Harvard athletics in the audience.

“We respected the administration here and they respected what we were doing with the programs,” Jennifer said. “And so, when we did get married in 1998, which was a good five years [after we had gotten here]…Cleary and all the administrators that hired us were there.”

TWO HALVES MAKE A WHOLE

Like any young coaches, the Weisses had their fair share of struggles and learning experiences. But the Crimson community was exactly the place for them to learn and grow through their mistakes and successes. Their colleagues, such as the late Harvard crew legend Harry Parker and Cleary, who was a former Harvard men’s ice hockey head, were fine coaching role models for the Weiss’.

“[At age] 25, I just wanted to win, win, win,” Jay said. “I was young and dumb and wanted to win. All I wanted to do was win and it was frustrating because it’s difficult. I kept saying this isn’t going to work, this isn’t going to work, but the more people around you talk to you, the more you understand what this place is about.”

Like the role models around them, the Weiss’ marriage taught the pair numerous lessons, such as to draw from each other’s strengths in order to develop their leadership abilities.

“My strength was definitely developing communication and people skills,” Jennifer said. “Between the two of us, [Jay] exudes passion all the time, which inspired me to develop as a coach or as a leader [who exudes that passion].”

The Crimson athletes who they have mentored over the seasons have felt the positive outputs of their relationship, as well.

“[The Weisses] complement one another in that I think they are equally ferocious competitors and just as nurturing, and they just have different approaches,” said two-time Ivy League Player of the Year Kaego Ogbechie ’05, who was one of five Ivy League Rookies of the Year Jennifer has coached. “I think they know their audience. They know people really well and that’s what they feed off one another.”

MORE THAN AN ATHLETE

As the years go by and the wins pile up, nothing is more important to the Weisses than seeing their student-athletes leave Harvard more responsible, caring, and ready to face the real-world challenges ahead of them than when they first arrived as recruits.

“If I’m saying my job is to make you a national champ and [just hope] to God you’re a better man in four years, then I shouldn’t be here,” Jay said.

In the process of what current wrestling captain Cameron Croy described as “making boys into men,” Jay has guided wrestlers to success on the national stage. In his first 20 years as coach, Jay has tutored 19 All-Americans, after the Crimson only had seven in the three quarters of a century prior to his arrival.