IU Volleyball

[mamasa 15,306]

Good luck to our Hoosiers as they take on Michigan tonight at 6 pm.  The Wolverines (also known as the skunk bear, glutton, carcajou or quickhatch!) are 8-10 in B1G and 18-11 overall.  Our Hoosiers come in at 5-13 in B1G and 15-15 overall.  Match is in Bloomington- come out and support the Hoosiers!!

[mamasa 15,306]

Congrats to to Hoosiers as they took down the Wolverines 3-1! Tough test coming this Saturday as they host Minnesota (24-4, 16-2 in B1G) in the last regular season game

[JaybobHoosier 11,843]

Way to go ladies, keep it up. Doing better as of late. Go Hoosiers!

[JaybobHoosier 11,843]

We take on UTEP @ 10 am ET. Best of luck ladies, let's get back on the winning side of things.  

[ccgeneral 38,084]

Good luck to our Lady Hoosiers (11-2) as they open up B1G play tonight @ 7 pm ET vs Northwestern. They also start us off in the Governor's Cup on Saturday in WL @ 7 pm ET.

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[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,773]

Indiana University Head Volleyball Coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan's Contract Not Renewed, Search for New Permanent Head Coach Underway

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana University Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass announced today that he did not renew Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan's contract as head coach of the Indiana University volleyball program. Dunbar-Kruzan served as head coach for 11 seasons beginning in 2007. A search for Coach Dunbar-Kruzan's successor has begun.

"I'm proud of all we've accomplished, am appreciative for the opportunity to have been a part of the Indiana University family, and will miss all the staff and fans who've been so supportive throughout the years," said Dunbar-Kruzan. "I've been fortunate to have gotten to know, coach and teach players, past and present, who were dedicated to something bigger than themselves. I wish nothing but the best for the program and am looking forward to the next challenge."

"We thank Sherry for her many positive contributions to Indiana University," said Glass. "She has been committed to her students and dedicated to the community, and we wish her well in all of her future endeavors."

Assistant coaches Paul Koncir and Jason Oliver will remain in their roles until a successor is named and determines whether to retain them. Koncir will serve as interim head coach, effective immediately. Senior Associate Athletic Director/SWA Mattie White will otherwise oversee the program until a new head coach is hired. That search will begin immediately and be led by White.

[mamasa 15,306]

I'm not really plugged in with recruiting or coaching in volleyball, but would love to see this program turn the corner!


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[Aaron 4,293]

Dunbar's firing makes me very sad. It's deserved and I knew it was probably coming but since I know her personally and really like her its hard to see happen.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,773]

I'm just reporting the announcement; is this a good hire, a so-so hire or OMG what was Glass thinking?

 

Indiana Hires Aird as Head Volleyball Coach

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana – Indiana University Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass announced today that Steve Aird is the new head volleyball coach at Indiana University. A two-time NCAA champion as an assistant coach at Penn State, Aird is an elite recruiter who has spent the last four seasons successfully turning around the Maryland program as its head coach.

"Being located in the middle of a volleyball hotbed and opening a new, state-of-the-art $17 million facility, it was important that Indiana University hire the right coach to lead our program into this exciting new era," Glass said. "In Steve Aird we have found that person. He is an elite recruiter, a program-builder of the highest order, a great trainer and tactician, knows the conference well, connects with and graduates his students, and is regarded as one of the best young coaches in America. We are thrilled to welcome Steve and Brandy to the IU Athletics family."
 

 

View image on Twitter

 

 

 

 

At Maryland, Aird inherited a program that not only went 13-19 and finished 13th in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013, but was also preparing the join arguably the nation's best volleyball conference - the Big Ten. After winning just 10 matches overall and three in the Big Ten in his debut season, Aird quickly turned the Terrapins' fortunes around. This year's 18 wins represented the program's most since 2010, while the seven conference victories was easily the most since UM joined the Big Ten. Notable wins this fall came against eventual Elite Eight participant USC as well as NCAA qualifier Purdue.

"I am humbled and honored to accept the Head Coaching position at Indiana University.  I believe Indiana Volleyball has a rightful place among the nation's elite and we will work tirelessly to make that a reality," Aird said. "I cannot thank Fred Glass and his staff enough for this opportunity and for their commitment to building an excellent program the right way.  Brandy and I could not be more excited to be a part of the IU family and the Bloomington community."

Among Aird's greatest attributes is his ability to recruit. In 2016, Aird welcomed the nation's 16th ranked recruiting class to College Park, Maryland, and he followed that up with the program's first-ever top-10 class in 2017. That infusion of talent not only helped elevate Maryland in the Big Ten standings, but also created a level of excitement that had been lacking.  Six of the program's top-10 attendance marks came during Aird's four-year stint.

Before taking over at Maryland, Aird enjoyed highly-successful assistant coaching stints at Penn State (2007, 2012-13), Cincinnati (2005-07) and Auburn (2002-05). At Penn State, he helped the Nittany Lions to NCAA titles in both 2007 and 2013 along with a Final Four berth in 2012.

In addition to his success in the coaching ranks, Aird also served as the President and CMO of Complete Athlete Inc., from 2007-12, where he helped train and develop youth volleyball players. Many of his players went on to play at the D-I level, including programs such as Penn State, Stanford, Washington, Florida and Tennessee.

A native of London, Ontario, Canada, Aird was a four-year member of Penn State's men's volleyball program from 1997-01. He was a two-year captain and helped the Nittany Lions to three appearances in the Final Four.

Aird, who earned his bachelor's degree in Letters, Arts and Sciences from Penn State in 2001, is married to the former Brandy Wilson. The couple has two sons, Caelan and Padraic, and a daughter, Mackenzie.
 

[Aaron 4,293]

Interesting question on the hire. Maryland has certainly improved massively since Aird has been there but they did not become an elite program and have not made the tournament yet and he was still in the process of building it as he is leaving.

I also like that he was an assistant at Penn State for quite a few years before Maryland and learned under Russ Rose who is far and away the best volleyball coach in the country. Rose is the Coach K or Bob Knight equivalent of volleyball coaches in basketball terms or the Jerry Yeagley of volleyball if we are going soccer.

The thing that raises my eye brow is why you would leave Maryland for IU as both are equivalent near bottom of conference programs historically? It would be the basketball equivalent of leaving Northwestern for PSU or Nebraska for Rutgers.

As long as he is not running from some sort of problem at Maryland he could be very successful here, especially with the new stadium opening this year. However, to leave Maryland in the middle of building something up seems odd and I hope nothing bad comes of this. I have no specific reason to believe he messed up something behind the scenes at Maryland but leaving for an equivalent school in the middle of a fine rebuild job you are doing definitely makes me wonder if either he is a pain to get a long with or if he is running from a violation.

All that said I wish him the best of luck and hope this works out. He certainly can recruit given the rankings of the top 15 classes he pulled in at a place like Maryland. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,773]

When I first read the press release my cynical mind raised the same question Aaron pointed out - WHY?   Seems like a strange and unusual move but I don't follow the world of college volleyball (now the world of women's beach volleyball  is another topic!!)   On paper, the guy seems like a really solid hire so I hope he's not dragging any excess baggage with him to Bloomington.  

[Aaron 4,293]

I went over to Maryland's message board and no one can seem to understand why he left and most posters don't follow volleyball enough to really know whats going on. However, most posters seem to blame the administration for a lack of support and direction for him and the program based on their view from a far. If that's all it is than certainly their loss is our gain but I am not sure anyone over there really knows for sure.

As I said if nothing nefarious happened behind the scenes at Maryland that no one knows about and the Maryland fans are indeed right than it was a support issue this is a fantastic hire. 

[8bucks 6,455]

We are building a new volleyball building right? That might be an indication of our support being higher than Maryland and perhaps he saw that as an better opportunity


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[Aaron 4,293]

Another thing I just saw and I am not sure how this went over my head at the time given how closely I follow Big Ten Baseball is Maryland lost their highly successful head coach in baseball John Szefc to Virginia Tech in the summer which is also an equivalent if not lower program in baseball's hierarchy. I don't know if Maryland is being cheap but to me I am starting to think them losing Aird is more about Maryland not valuing and paying their top tier head coaches correctly than anything nefarious going on.

Obviously we lost Tracy Smith in baseball a few years ago (which was very unfortunate) but that was to a program that is much higher in the pecking order in Arizona State. Losing Smith was the football equivalent of losing a coach from IU to Florida State or Clemson versus losing Szefc is the football equivalent of Maryland losing a coach to Illinois or Virginia.

It starting to look like this is on Maryland incompetence (and I didn't realize this yesterday) and not anything sleazy on Aird's part although you never know. I am certainly not mad, but Maryland fans should be furious (and they are) that their department is losing great coaches to equivalent programs. No excuse for that.   

[ccgeneral 38,084]

Nice addition here.

http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2018/1/26/womens-volleyball-vansant-named-assistant-coach.aspx

Two-time Honda Award winner and 2013 National Player of the Year Krista Vansant has been named an assistant coach for Indiana volleyball, IU head coach Steve Aird announced Friday.
 
Vansant, a 2014 graduate of the University of Washington helped the U.S. win gold at the Pan American Games and she was named an alternate for the 2016 Rio Olympic Team. She played professionally from the fall of 2015 through spring of 2016 with Volero Zurich in Switzerland.
 
"The entire volleyball family at Indiana is thrilled to welcome Krista," IU head coach Steve Aird said.  "Her career speaks for itself and now she will turn her attention to training, recruiting and mentoring.  She has a deep desire to help players grow as people and reach their full potential as athletes.  She understands the game at a very high level and I am excited to work with her.  Our goal is to transform this program into one of the nation's elite and Krista is built for that challenge."
 
This past volleyball season Vansant served as a Volleyball Program Assistant at Washington and oversaw recruiting for the program. She also coached the Seattle Juniors 16 Volleyball Club.
 
As an outside hitter, Vansant left UW as the most decorated volleyball player ever to wear the purple and gold. In 2013, Vansant became the first Husky to claim the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year award. She earned ESPNW National Player of the Year recognition for the 2014 season, her senior campaign. This past season the Huskies' retired her No. 16 jersey.
 
In the 2013-14 season and 2014-15 season Vansant earned the Honda Sports Award, given to the best collegiate volleyball player.
 
On the international stage, Vansant earned Most Valuable Player honors and best outside spiker at the 2015 Pan American Cup, her first international tournament. She led Team USA to gold at the 2015 Pan Am Cup with a tournament-leading 50.4 kill percentage to go with 81 total points.
 
"I am thrilled to join Coach Aird at Indiana," Vansant said. "The passion and commitment that the athletic department are displaying surrounding volleyball are second to none. It is an unbelievable opportunity to build a successful, elite program. I am beyond thankful to Coach Aird and Mattie White for giving me this opportunity. Indiana University is a truly special place and I couldn't be more thrilled to join the Hoosier community. The future for Indiana volleyball is bright." 
 
Vansant, a native of Redlands, Calif., graduated from Washington in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in Sociology.
 
Vansant finished her playing career at UW with 1,893 career kills, which included 565 kills (4.67 kills per set) and a .320 hitting percentage in her senior year.

[RBB89 3,497]

Although I doubt anyone will miss it (it pretty much sucked), IU wrestling played their last event at University Gym today. They and the volleyball team will move into Wilkinson Hall in the fall.

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,773]

Pretty good article on our new volleyball coach.

https://www.hoosiersportsreport.com/2018/03/aird-says-hoosiers-need-a-little-sauce/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[RBB89 3,497]

 

[RBB89 3,497]

Wilkinson Hall webcam:

http://webtech.webhost.iu.edu/build/wilkinson/popup.html

[RBB89 3,497]