American Volleyball Coaches Association

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 9,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky.

The original members of the AVCA were intercollegiate coaches who banded together to form this particular coaching body. In 1986, during the San Francisco convention, the membership recognized the growing and developing high school and club communities. The name of the association was then changed to reflect these growing constituencies. The original Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association was renamed the American Volleyball Coaches Association with the intent of responding to and serving all volleyball coaches.

The organization also produces a weekly national poll for collegiate volleyball similar to how the Associated Press makes a poll for NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

History[edit]

Although incorporated as a non-profit in 1981, the AVCA began to grow and diversify, and a full-time executive director wasn't hired until July 1983. An associate director was hired in April 1986 and an administrative assistant in September 1988.

The Association moved from San Mateo, California, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in August 1992. The staff has increased to the following positions: executive director, assistant executive director, director of operations, assistant director of events and public relations, manager of awards and membership, manager of communications, sales manager, and awards and membership specialist.

In 1986, the board was increased to 13 members, due to new membership increases averaging out at about 150 per year. In 1988, a boom of 106% new memberships occurred. Since 1986, high school membership has more than tripled. The AVCA has members in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as, numerous international members. At the collegiate level, all major NCAA conferences are represented and membership among the club coaches has risen dramatically.

In July 2006 the association moved its headquarters to Lexington, Kentucky and entered into an association management partnership with Associations International (formally Host Communications then IMG College). The current president of the AVCA is Keegan Cook (head coach - University of Minnesota). The Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Jaime Gordon and the Chief Operating Officer is Jason Jones.

AVCA events[edit]

Beach volleyball championship[edit]

The beach volleyball championship was introduced to the women's collegiate scene by CBS College Sports with the Collegiate Nationals, an event founded by the network in the spring of 2006 to broadcast the national championships of several "action sports."^[1] The event was sponsored by the CBS College Sports Network, American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP).^[2]

In 2006, the AVP sanctioned a combine that selected 8 players from 8 colleges and paired them into teams (title was won by Bibiana Candelas (USC)/Paula Gentil (Minnesota)). In 2007 Nebraska (Jordan Larson/Sarah Pavan) won an invitational competition of 8 colleges, which featured only two players per school, as opposed to entire teams. 2008 saw Texas win an invitational, sponsored by AVCA and AVP, involving 6 schools with four doubles squads each. In 2009, USC prevailed over an invited field of 8 colleges with four doubles squads each. In 2010, the competition reverted to one doubles squad per school, with 12 colleges invited; it was won by Loyola Marymount (Emily Day/Heather Hughes). The two-player team format continued in 2011, except that players were paired with different partners from other schools for every match, until the semi-final winners were determined. That year there was also a men's competition in the same format.

In 2010 the NCAA categorized women's beach volleyball as an "emerging sport." Beginning in the spring of 2012 the AVCA began sponsoring a national championship tournament for women's collegiate beach volleyball. The AVCA has separate brackets for teams and for individual pairs. The champions of the team tournaments are:

2012 – Pepperdine
2013 – Long Beach State
2014 – Pepperdine
2015 – USC

The NCAA granted full sponsorship to beach volleyball in all three NCAA divisions, with the first NCAA championship being held in May, 2016.

AVCA Showcase tournament[edit]

From 1995 to 2012, the AVCA put on an annual tournament held in the beginning of each season, called the AVCA Showcase. Through 2011, four teams, usually ranked in the top 15, competed for the AVCA Showcase title. As of 2007, the showcase champion had gone on to the NCAA Final Four 10 times out of 13. The only time the winner failed to advance to the Final Four was Colorado State in 2000, Texas in 2006 and Nebraska in 2007. However, only twice has the showcase champion won the NCAA Championship: Long Beach State in 1998 and Southern California in 2003.

In 2012, the Showcase featured four collegiate teams competing in one match each against the Chinese Volleyball League champion, Jiangsu.

Past sponsors include NACWAA, Runza Restaurants, Rockvale Outlets and State Farm.

Both Big West volleyball and Big Ten Conference volleyball have been prominently featured in this tournament throughout the years.

AVCA Awards[edit]

Given out annually for Division I, II, and III women and Division I/II (combined) and III for men, the following is a list of past awards for both men and women.

National Coach of the Year – Women's teams[edit]

Key[edit]

†	AVCA Hall of Fame member
*	Won NCAA championship same year

List of winners[edit]

Division I National Coach of the Year
Year	Name	School
1982	Dave Shoji*†	Hawai'i
1983	Taras Liskevych†	Pacific
1984	Leilani Overstreet	Fresno State
1985	Mike Hebert†	Illinois
1986	Terry Pettit†	Nebraska
1987	Kathy DeBoer	Kentucky
1988	Lisa Love†	UTSA
1989	Andy Banachowski†	UCLA
1990	Russ Rose†	Penn State
1991	Don Shaw†	Stanford
1992	Mary Wise	Florida
1993	Kathy Gregory	UCSB
1994	Terry Pettit†	Nebraska
1995	Chuck Erbe†	Michigan State
1996	Mary Wise	Florida
1997	Russ Rose†	Penn State
1998	Brian Gimmillaro*†	Long Beach State
1999	Iradge-Ahrabi Fard†	Northern Iowa
2000	John Cook*†	Nebraska
2001	John Dunning*†	Stanford
2002	Bobbi Peterson	Northern Iowa
2003	Mick Haley*†	USC
2004	Jim McLaughlin†	Washington
2005	John Cook†	Nebraska
2006	Andy Banachowski†	UCLA
2007 2008	Russ Rose**†	Penn State
2009	Dave Shoji†	Hawai'i
2010	Rich Feller	California
2011	Michael Sealy*	UCLA
2012	Jerritt Elliott*	Texas
2013	Russ Rose†	Penn State
2014	Shawn Olmstead	BYU
2015	Hugh McCutcheon	Minnesota
2016	John Dunning*†	Stanford
2017	Mary Wise	Florida
2018	Heather Olmstead	BYU
2019	Ryan McGuyre	Baylor
2020	Craig Skinner*	Kentucky
2021	Dani Busboom Kelly	Louisville
2022	Jennifer Petrie	San Diego
2023	John Cook†	Nebraska

Winners by school[edit]

Penn State and Nebraska lead all schools with 5 winners. Stanford, UCLA, and Florida have 3 winners each. Hawai'i, Kentucky, BYU, and Northern Iowa follow with 2 winners each, while the remaining schools have had 1 winner.

School	Winners	Year(s)	Winning Coach(es)
Penn State	5	1990, 1997, 2007, 2008, 2013	Russ Rose (1990, 1997, 2007, 2008, 2013)
Nebraska	5	1986, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2023	Terry Pettit (1986, 1994) John Cook (2000, 2005, 2023)
Florida	3	1992,e 1996, 2017	Mary Wise (1992, 1996, 2017)
Stanford		1991, 2001, 2016	Don Shaw (1991) John Dunning (2001, 2016)
UCLA		1989, 2006, 2011	Andy Banachowski (1989, 2006) Michael Sealy (2011)
BYU	2	2014, 2018	Shawn Olmstead (2014) Heather Olmstead (2018)
Hawai'i		1982, 2009	Dave Shoji (1982, 2009)
Kentucky		1987, 2020	Kathy DeBoer (1987) Craig Skinner (2020)
Northern Iowa		1999, 2002	Iradge-Ahrabi Fard (1999) Bobbi Peterson (2002)
Baylor	1	2019	Ryan McGuyre (2019)
Fresno State		1984	Leilani Overstreet (1984)
Long Beach State		1998	Brian Gimmillaro (1998)
Michigan State		1995	Chuck Erbe (1995)
California		2010	Rich Feller (2010)
UCSB		1993	Kathy Gregory (1993)
Illinois		1985	Mike Hebert (1985)
Louisville		2021	Dani Busboom Kelly (2021)
Minnesota		2015	Hugh McCutcheon (2015)
USC		2003	Mick Haley (2003)
Texas		2012	Jerritt Elliott (2012)
UTSA		1988	Lisa Love (1988)
Pacific		1983	Taras Liskevych (1983)
San Diego		2022	Jennifer Petrie (2022)
Washington		2004	Jim McLaughlin (2004)

National Assistant Coach of the Year – Women's teams[edit]

The AVC began awarding the Division I National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2009.

2023: Kellen Petrone, Pittsburgh
2022: Dan Meske, Louisville
2021: Brittany Dildine, Wisconsin
2020: Leslie Gabriel, Washington
2019: Angie Oxley Behrens, Creighton
2018: Burdette Greeny, Washington State
2017: Lindsey Gray-Walton, Kentucky
2016: Dani Busboom Kelly, Nebraska
2015: Laura "Bird" Kuhn, Kansas
2014: Eva Rackham, North Carolina
2013: Salima Rockwell, Texas
2012: Denise Corlett, Stanford
2011: Holly Watts, Florida State
2010: Denise Corlett, Stanford
2009: Kelly Files, Oklahoma