Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Former Panthers Moving Up In Coaching World

Add Melissa David to the list of former Panther volleyball players who have spots on Division I coaching staffs.

David was named an assistant coach at Western Illinois last week. You can read the official release from Western Illinois here.

After finishing her career at UWM, David went home to Champaign to pursue a master's degree at Illinois and work as a volunteer assistant.

Other former Panthers in the collegiate coaching ranks include Trudy Vande Berg at Duke and Julie Yankus at Southern Illinois. Plus, Lindsey Vanden Berg is an assistant right here at UWM.

Also, former Panther assistants Matt Houk, Erik Olson and Ryan Theis are Division I head coaches. Houk, also a former Panther baseball player, is the head coach at South Dakota. Olson is the head coach at Central Michigan and Theis is the head coach at Ohio. Those two were both standout men's players at UWM before assisting with the women's team.

A number of other former Panthers are coaching in the high school ranks or with local club teams. We'll try to put together a complete list for this year's media guide.