O'BRIEN NAMED NEW HEAD VOLLEYBALL COACH AT UM
MONTEVALLO (3/13) -- Katie O’Brien
has been named the new head volleyball coach at the
University of Montevallo. She will become the seventh
head coach in the 35-year history of the program. She
will succeed William "Perry" Robinson, who left UM at
the conclusion of the 2007 season. O’Brien’s selection
as UM’s head volleyball coach was announced this week by
Jim Herlihy, Montevallo’s director of athletics.
“We are very excited that Katie O’Brien will be joining
the University of Montevallo,” Herlihy said. “She is an
outstanding coach and educator who
brings an overwhelming
desire to succeed and has been associated with winning
programs as a student-athlete, assistant coach and as a
head coach. We are confident that she will
continue the strong tradition of volleyball here at
Montevallo.”
O’Brien will take over a youthful Montevallo team that
finished 11-27 overall and 4-8 in Gulf South Conference
play a year ago, but will return its entire roster for
the fall 2008 season.
“I am looking
forward to this opportunity and being
part of the Montevallo family,” said
O’Brien. “There is quite the volleyball
history at the school, and I’m ready for
the challenge. I truly enjoyed the warm
reception that I received during my
visit. I believe Erin Heffner (the
assistant coach) has done a nice job
this spring, and I look forward to
working with her and the Falcons’
athletic staff.”
O'Brien comes to UM from Piedmont
College in Demorest, Ga., where she
served as the head volleyball coach
for the past eight seasons. She guided
the Lady Lions to their first-ever NCAA
Division III National Tournament this
past November. With a career record of
182-109, O’Brien led her team to two
Great South Athletic Conference
Tournament Championships, in 2001 and in
2007. She was also voted twice named
GSAC Coach of the Year in 2005 and
2007.
O’Brien, who also serves as Piedmont’s senior women’s administrator, has mentored 36 Academic All-Conference honorees, 22 All-Conference selections, 12 Freshmen All-Conference picks, three GSAC Freshmen-of-the-Year selections, one league Player of the Year and two tournament MVPs.
Coach O’Brien’s players also are known for their successes in the classroom. During her career at Piedmont, her teams’ cumulative grade-point average was 3.26. The 2006 season saw O’Brien’s team earn the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) GamePlan Academic Team Award as the squad carried a 3.42 cumulative GPA.
A former intramural director at Piedmont, O’Brien is a member of the South Regional Advisory Committee and is chapter adviser of the National College Athletic Honor Society, Chi Alpha Sigma.
O’Brien received her bachelor of science degree in sports, health, leisure and physical studies from the University of Iowa in 1999. She earned her master’s degree in public administration from Piedmont in 2001.
Prior to beginning her coaching career, she was a standout volleyball player at the University of Iowa. She is currently ranked 14th on the Hawkeyes career blocks list and is 13th in career attack percentage. Additionally, O’Brien posted back-to-back top-10 finishes in the Big-10 Conference in blocks per game (1997 and 1998).
She is a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and the American Coaches Federation. She is a former member of the board of directors of the Vertical 1 Club Team and is a former coach for the Northlake Kaepa Volleyball Club.
In 2005,
O’Brien married Freddie Chapman. They
live in Clarkesville, Ga.
O'Brien will begin at UM in late
March.
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