Valparaiso University Volleyball Camps
Head Coach Carin Avery

Carin Avery took over the Crusader volleyball program in July 2002, and immediately began a run of unprecedented success on the court and in the classroom.  The Brown and Gold are one of just 15 programs nationwide to have won at least 20 matches in each of the last seven years, during which time Avery has led the Crusaders to three conference regular season and tournament championships, as well as advancing to the NCAA Tournament on three occasions.  Avery now has the Crusaders’ eyes set on rising to the top of the Horizon League after finishing in third place and second place in their first two seasons as league members.

In 1999, Avery became a part of the Valpo family, joining then-head coach Becky Madden’s staff that faced the challenge of restoring a program that had followed up three straight 24-plus win seasons with back-to-back losing years in 1997 and 1998.  In her three years as an assistant coach, Avery worked with Madden to rebuild the program and to recruit players to get the Crusaders back to the next level.  And when Madden left to take over the Louisiana-Lafayette volleyball program before the start of the 2002 season, Avery was thrust into the head coaching role and quickly helped her squad fulfill that potential.

The 2002 Crusaders were young but talented, mixing an up-and-coming crop of juniors that included three All-Conference performers with four freshmen who would eventually join Avery in taking the Valpo volleyball program to its current height.  After beginning the year 8-3, the 2002 squad would sputter in early October before ripping off six straight conference wins and posted a second consecutive second place finish in the Mid-Continent Conference.

While the 2002 team bowed out in the first round of the Mid-Con Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., the 2003 squad had the luxury of knowing they could claim a league title at home when the Crusaders were named as hosts for the 2003 conference tournament.  After blitzing through the regular season with 25 wins and a 13-1 mark in the Mid-Con, Avery and Valpo set a school record for wins and reached their first NCAA Tournament in seven years by defeating Oral Roberts 3-2 in the conference tournament final.  Avery would be rewarded for the Crusaders’ 27-8 season with the Mid-Con’s Coach of the Year award, but saw Valpo fall in three games to #9 Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament.

Then, in the fall of 2004 coming off the best season in school history, the Crusaders put together a run for the ages.  An early-season win at local rival Notre Dame, the first win by a Crusader squad against the Irish, was a harbinger of the success to come.  Valpo put together a school-record 14-match winning streak during the middle portion of the season and ran undefeated through the Mid-Con schedule, a perfect 14-0 mark.  Avery repeated as the Mid-Con’s Coach of the Year after a 29-5 campaign that ended at the hands of Notre Dame in the Crusaders’ second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

In 2005, the four freshmen who arrived at Valpo in 2002 with Avery’s ascension to head coach began their senior seasons looking for one final crown.  The Crusaders started the year strong, winning eight of their first nine matches, and continued their dominance in Mid-Con play, eventually running their conference winning streak to 21 matches, dating back to the later stages of 2003.  The streak finally ended October 14 at Oral Roberts, but Avery and the Crusaders would get their revenge, dropping the Golden Eagles at home to round out the regular season and again one week later in the final of the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament.  Again the season would end in a loss at the NCAA Tournament, this time to #16 California, but Avery would still send her first class of freshmen out with a 103-31 record, the best four-year run ever at the program.  Avery herself had etched a spot in the Crusader record books, becoming the winningest coach in school history with her 93rd win on October 21 against Western Illinois.

2006 looked on the surface like it would be a rebuilding year for the Crusaders with the loss of the previous year’s senior class, but Avery had compiled a group of players determined not to let the word rebuild enter the vocabulary of the program.  Avery guided the Crusaders to a record-setting year on the offensive side of the ball, as the team set new single-season records for kills, assists and hitting percentage.  When the season’s final totals were in, Avery had led Valpo to 23 victories.

2007 brought new challenges, as the Crusaders moved to the more-competitive Horizon League and faced potentially-devastating injuries through the season.  But Avery guided the team through the rough waters, as Valpo overcame the challenges to finish tied for third in the Horizon League in the regular season, while she earned her 200th career victory along the way and also coached her first AVCA Honorable Mention All-American .  In the postseason, the Crusaders knocked off top-seeded Milwaukee on its home court to advance to the league championship match for the fifth straight season, before falling just one step short of an NCAA Tournament berth.

2008 brought some of Avery’s most impressive feats at the helm of the Crusader program.  Valpo again knocked off Notre Dame at the Joyce Center, this time to win the Shamrock Invitational title.  The very next week, Avery guided the Crusaders to an upset of Big East preseason favorite Louisville, followed the next day by a win over ACC foe Wake Forest.  Valpo put together a 13-match winning streak in the second half of the season, the second-longest in program history, and rebounded from an 0-3 Horizon League start to finish second in the league with a 12-4 mark.  The season closed with a win at Western Michigan, which advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Avery and the Crusaders closed the 2008 campaign with a 25-7 mark, the seventh straight year Avery has guided Valpo to at least 20 victories and the fourth time in her tenure they’ve been victorious at least 25 times.  She led the Crusaders as they paced the nation in both kills/set and assists/set, while also coaching the Horizon League Player of the Year as well as two Honorable Mention All-Americans.

Avery’s winning percentage of .725 in her eight seasons as a collegiate head coach is 19th among active Division I coaches, while she also is the third-youngest Division I coach with at least 200 career victories.  In addition, Avery’s squad earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the sixth consecutive season in 2008.  For her efforts putting together a stellar program on the court and in the classroom, Avery was rewarded with a four-year contract extension this summer.

Before arriving at Valpo, Avery sharpened her coaching teeth in the NAIA ranks, serving as an assistant at Bethel (Ind.) College from 1995-96 before taking over as head coach in 1997.  After going 43-10 and leading the Pilots to the NAIA Great Lakes Region Championship Game that season, Avery was named NCCAA Regional Coach of the Year.

In 1998, Avery moved out west, leading Southern California College (now Vangard University) to four wins over NAIA Top-20 opponents with four freshmen starters, and finishing the year 12-14.

Before her coaching career began, Avery was a standout player, honing her skills at Mishawaka High School where she was twice named a High School All-American by USA Today and earned the Mental Attitude Award for the state of Indiana in 1990.  One of the top athletes in the school’s history, Avery was inducted into the Mishawaka High School Hall of Fame in 2002.

Avery began her collegiate playing career at the University of Kentucky, playing on an NCAA Tournament “Sweet Sixteen” team in 1992.  Following that season, Avery transferred to Ball State University and led the Cardinals to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances.  During her time at Ball State, Avery earned All-Mid East Regional, First Team All-Conference and was named Most Valuable Player of the MAC Tournament.  In 1995, Avery recorded 408 digs (3.61 per game) for the Cardinals, the second highest total and average in school history.  Today, Avery ranks among the career leaders in 11 different statistical categories.

A 1996 graduate of Ball State with a degree in Special Education, Avery has played professionally on the Midwest Professional Volleyball Association Beach Tour since 1995, twice being named the tour’s Most Valuable Player (2000 and 2002).

Avery and her husband, Valpo men’s soccer head coach Mike, reside in Valparaiso with their son Alex, born in 2003.