 | |
| Company type | Private, non–profit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sports (Volleyball) |
| Founded | October 26, 1981; 43 years ago (1981-10-26) |
| Founder | Andy Banachowski Terry Liskevych |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Jaime Gordon (CEO) Kirsten Bernthal Booth (President) |
Number of employees | 9,000+ members |
| Website | www |
TheAmericanVolleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 9,000 members, incorporated as a privatenon-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered inLexington, Kentucky.
The original members of the AVCA were intercollegiate coaches who banded together to form this particular coaching body. In 1986, during theSan Francisco convention, the membership recognized the growing and developing high school andclub 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.
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 fromSan Mateo, California, toColorado 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 majorNCAA conferences are represented and membership among the club coaches has risen dramatically.
In July 2006 the association moved its headquarters toLexington, Kentucky and entered into an association management partnership with Associations International (formally Host Communications then IMG College). The current president of the AVCA isKirsten Bernthal Booth (head coach –Creighton). The Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Jaime Gordon and the Chief Operating Officer is Jason Jones.
The beach volleyball championship was introduced to the women's collegiate scene by CBS College Sports with theCollegiate 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 theAssociation 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 2007Nebraska (Jordan Larson/Sarah Pavan) won an invitational competition of 8 colleges, which featured only two players per school, as opposed to entire teams. 2008 sawTexas 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 byLoyola 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 theNCAA categorized women'sbeach 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:
The NCAA granted full sponsorship to beach volleyball in all three NCAA divisions, with the first NCAA championship being held in May, 2016.
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 theNCAA Final Four 10 times out of 13. The only time the winner failed to advance to the Final Four wasColorado State in 2000,Texas in 2006 andNebraska in 2007. However, only twice has the showcase champion won the NCAA Championship:Long Beach State in 1998 andSouthern California in 2003.
In 2012, the Showcase featured four collegiate teams competing in one match each against theChinese Volleyball League champion, Jiangsu.
Past sponsors include NACWAA, Runza Restaurants, Rockvale Outlets andState Farm.
BothBig West volleyball andBig Ten Conference volleyball have been prominently featured in this tournament throughout the years.
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.
| † | AVCA Hall of Fame member | ||||
| * | Won NCAA championship same year | ||||
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.
The AVCA began awarding the Division I National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2009.
Since 1985, the AVCA has recognized the Division I national player(s) of the year.
| † | Honda-Broderick Cup Award Winner | ||||
| * | Won NCAA championship same year | ||||
Stanford leads all universities with 10 total selections (three co selections), followed by Long Beach State with 6 selections (one co), Nebraska, Penn State, and Hawai'i each have 4 selections. Ohio State (one co) and Southern California (USC) each have 2, while the remaining schools have had 1 winner.
Since 2001, the AVCA has recognized the Division I freshman player(s) of the year.
| † | Went on to win AVCA National Player of the Year during career | ||||
| Year | Image | Name | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Stacey Gordon† | Ohio State | |
| 2002 | .jpg) | Kim Glass | Arizona |
| 2003 | Kanoe Kamana'o | Hawai'i | |
| 2004 |  | Sarah Pavan† | Nebraska |
| 2005 | .jpg) | Nicole Fawcett† | Penn State |
| 2006 |  | Megan Hodge† | Penn State |
| 2007 |  | Juliann Faucette | Texas |
| 2008 |  | Kelly Murphy | Florida |
| 2009 | Lauren Cook | UCLA | |
| 2010 |  | Deja McClendon | Penn State |
| 2011 |  | Haley Eckerman | Texas |
| 2012 | Ziva Recek | Florida | |
| 2013 |  | Ebony Nwanebu | USC |
| 2014 |  | Ali Frantti | Penn State |
| 2015 |  | Hayley Hodson | Stanford |
| 2016 |  | Kathryn Plummer† | Stanford |
| 2017 |  | Dana Rettke† | Wisconsin |
| 2018 | Heather Gneiting | BYU | |
| 2019 | Magda Jehlárová | Washington State | |
| 2020 | Emily Londot | Ohio State | |
| 2021 | Lexi Rodriguez | Nebraska | |
| 2022 | Mimi Colyer | Oregon | |
| 2023 | Olivia Babcock† | Pittsburgh | |
| 2024 | Izzy Starck | Penn State |
Penn State leads all universities with 5 selections, followed by Stanford, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Texas who each have 2 selections. The remaining schools have had 1 winner.
| School | Winners | Year(s) | Winning Player(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penn State | 5 | 2005, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2024 | Nicole Fawcett(2005) Megan Hodge(2006) Deja McClendon(2010) Ali Frantti(2014) Izzy Starck (2024) |
| Florida | 2 | 2008, 2012 | Kelly Murphy(2008) Ziva Recek(2012) |
| Nebraska | 2004, 2021 | Sarah Pavan(2004) Lexi Rodriguez (2021) | |
| Ohio State | 2001, 2020 | Stacey Gordon(2001) Emily Londot (2020) | |
| Stanford | 2015, 2016 | Hayley Hodson(2015) Kathryn Plummer(2016) | |
| Texas | 2007, 2011 | Juliann Faucette(2007) Haley Eckerman(2011) | |
| Arizona | 1 | 2002 | Kim Glass(2002) |
| BYU | 2018 | Heather Gneiting(2018) | |
| Hawaiʻi | 2003 | Kanoe Kamana'o(2003) | |
| Oregon | 2022 | Mimi Colyer(2022) | |
| Pittsburgh | 2023 | Olivia Babcock(2023) | |
| UCLA | 2009 | Lauren Cook(2009) | |
| USC | 2013 | Ebony Nwanebu(2013) | |
| Washington State | 2019 | Magda Jehlárová(2019) | |
| Wisconsin | 2017 | Dana Rettke(2017) |
For Division I/II men. Stanford (1991–92) and Penn State (2007–08) are the only schools in which both the men and women teams' coaches won the award in the same academic year.
Long Beach State, Hawai'i, Penn State, Stanford, BYU, UCLA and Ohio State are the only universities in which a male and female volleyball player was named the AVCA NPOY. Pepperdine and Long Beach State lead with seven selections, followed by Hawai'i with five and UCLA with three.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
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