COACH BIOGRAPHIES COLLEEN MUNSON HEAD COACH Texas-Arlington 92 4th Year at WMU (62-36.633) 9th Year Head Coach (114-135.458) Munson to become the second most efficient hitter in the MAC (.313 attack percentage). The Broncos also featured a talented freshmen class that received Prepvolleyball.com High Honorable Mention honors for its depth and quality. Three of those players made an immediate impact and two, Katie Eberling and Strimel, were named to the MAC All-Freshman Team. Eberling delivered 460 kills in her rookie campaign, the seventh-best single season total in school history, while Strimel finished with a schoolrecord 700 digs. The Western Michigan volleyball program has had one of the best three-year runs in school history in the first three seasons under head coach Colleen Munson, the seventh head coach in school history. Munson has led the Broncos to three consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since the Broncos ended their run of seven-straight 20-win campaigns in 1987 and her.633 winning percentage is the second best in school history. Not only have the Broncos achieved team success under Munson s tutelage, but she has also helped mentor nine different All-MAC performers. Last season, the Broncos won their first Mid-American Conference West Division title since 2000 with a 12-4 conference mark and a 21-12 record overall. WMU was led by sophomore libero Caitlin Strimel, the first MAC Defensive Player of the Year in school history, First Team All-MAC outside hitter Michelle Moore, Second Team All-MAC middle blocker Ashley Vogl and MAC All-Freshman Team outside hitter Allyson Doyle. With that colletion of talent, Munson s team was a force on offense (nationally 29th in assists, 45th in kills, 68th in attack percentage out of 325) and on defense (33rd in digs). The Broncos opened the year by splitting against two 2007 NCAA Tournament teams in Northern Iowa and Kentucky (W, 3-0) at the UNI Invitational and then closed the season against two more NCAA Tournament members to finish the season with six on the schedule (No. 15 Dayton, No. 20 Ohio, Xavier, Miami- Ohio). In 2006, Munson led the Broncos to a 21-15 campaign and a berth in the MAC Tournament semifinals. WMU featured five all-conference performers, led by First Team All-MAC senior setter Jenifer Sulewski. Sulewski led the MAC with a WMU record 1,760 assists and the first two tripledoubles in school history. Outside hitter Kathryn Babcock and Vogl were both named Second Team All- MAC. Babcock was among the MAC leaders in kills and points and finished the year with 1,014 career kills to become only the 15th player in school history to achieve that feat. Vogl blossomed in her second season under The team continued to play a tough schedule that included five 2006 NCAA Tournament teams, three of which finished the season in the CSTV/ AVCA Coaches Top 25 (No. 3 UCLA, No. 18 Purdue, No. 25 Ohio, Long Beach State and UC-Santa Barbara). In her first season as head coach, Munson led the Broncos to their best finish since 2000 (20-9, 11-5 MAC) and a bye into the second round of the MAC Tournament. The Broncos started the season strong by winning the Indiana University TIS Invitational and the WMU Fall Kickoff Tournament and ended strong as Marquette Tournament champions. The team was also successful in the classroom and was awarded the AVCA Academic Award. Munson helped Shaylen Jackson and Sulewski earn All-MAC accolades and Jackson received Honorable Mention All-Mideast Region honors by the AVCA. Munson spent five seasons as head coach at East Carolina (2000-04). During her first season, she became only the third coach in program history to post a first-year winning record in leading the Pirates to their first winning campaign since 1995. The team went 17-13 behind the play of two all-conference performers and finished third in the Colonial Athletic Association and ranked sixth regionally, the first regional ranking in school history. ECU made the move up in competition to Conference USA in 2001 and Munson guided the team to the Conference USA Tournament in her first season in the league. In 2003, Jaime Bevan made the C-USA All-Freshman Team to become the first Pirate volleyball player to earn all-conference honors since ECU joined the league. A native of Glen Ellyn, Ill., Munson spent three years (1997-99) as an assistant at Western Michigan for head coach Cathy George. During her stint in Kalamazoo, the Broncos had a.619 winning percentage (57-35), including a 25-7 season in 1999 that saw the team go 15-3 in the MAC and advance to the MAC Tournament title match for
the first time in a decade. With several players that Munson helped recruit, WMU went on to go 26-5 and advance to the NCAA Tournament in 2000. Munson and her husband, Matt, are the parents of a four-year old son, Jacob, and 18-month old daughter, Bryn, and reside in Portage. With Munson s help, four players earned all-conference honors (Traci Morin, Mandy Whitfield, Stefanie Rotunno, Jen Nowak) and two players were alternates and training squad members for the United States entry in the Pan Am games in 1999. Munson was also a successful coach at the club level for the West Michigan Volleyball Association s 17- and 18-year old teams. Her nationally-recognized Dead Frogs competed at the highest levels possible and continually earned regional and national acclaim. In both 1998 and 1999, the Dead Frogs finished fifth in the country at the national tournament and featured three total All-America honorees during that span. Munson started her collegiate career at North Dakota State before transferring to Texas-Arlington for the 1990 season. She helped lead the Mavericks to the NCAA Tournament in 1990 and Southland Conference championships in 1990 and 1992. As a three-year starter, Munson ended her career fifth alltime at UTA with 4,089 assists. Munson earned a bachelor s degree in marketing from Texas-Arlington in 1993 and a master s in athletic administration from Western Michigan in 2001. Prior to moving on to the college ranks, Munson was a player on the 1986 and 1987 Sports Performance back-to-back national championship club teams. Colleen and Matt Munson with son, Jacob, and daughter, Bryn. MUNSON S COACHING ACCOMPLISHMENTS Led WMU to back-to-back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since WMU had seven straight 20-win seasons from 1981-87.633 winning percentage at WMU is second-highest in school history Holds the record for most wins by a first-year coach in WMU history (20-2005) Nine different Broncos have earned 17 All-Mid-American Confer ence honors (3 First Team, 5 Second Team, 3 All-Freshman, 5 Academic, 1 All-Tournament) Coached the first MAC Defensive Player of the Year in school history (Caitlin Strimel, 2007) Coached Shaylen Jackson to AVCA All-Mideast Region Team in 2005 2006 team set new WMU records for kills (2,218), digs (2,314) and assists (2,076) in a season 2006 team set a new Mid-American Conference record for assists in a season (2,076) 2006 WMU recruiting class earned High Honorable Mention honors from Prepvolleyball.com Broncos have won five in-season tournaments in three years 2005 Broncos earned the AVCA Academic Award Led East Carolina to its first regional ranking in school history in 2000 Led ECU to its first-ever Conference USA Tournament berth and coached the Pirates first All-C-USA player WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
COACH BIOGRAPHIES RYAN MANNING ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH Western Michigan 00 4th Year at WMU Western Michigan alumnus Ryan Manning enters his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Broncos and his first season as the associate head coach. Manning has served in a variety of roles within the program, including being the Broncos recruiting coordinator. Manning has been an assistant for Colleen Munson in every one of her years as a head coach after spending five seasons as an assistant at East Carolina. Manning has been instrumental in helping WMU to three-straight 20-win seasons for the first time since 1987. As the Broncos recruiting coordinator he has helped prepare WMU for sustained success as the 2006 recruiting class earned Prepvolleyball.com High Honorable Mention honors. Three members of that class started as freshmen and Katie Eberling and Caitlin Strimel earned MAC All-Freshman Team honors in 2006 and Michelle Moore was First Team All-MAC in 2007. As an assistant coach at ECU (2000-04), Manning served as recruiting coordinator, scouted opponents and served as the director of volleyball camps that were attended by over 200 athletes each year. In 2000, Manning helped East Carolina to its first winning record since 1995. The team went 17-13 and finished third in the Colonial Athletic Association and ranked sixth regionally, the first regional ranking in school history. ECU made the move up in competition to Conference USA in 2001 and Munson and Manning guided the team to the Conference USA Tournament in their first season in the league. A native of Woodridge, Ill., Manning spent one year as a volunteer assistant at Western Michigan alongside Munson in 1999. In that season, WMU went 25-7 overall and 15-3 in the Mid-American Conference, while advancing to the MAC Tournament championship match. Manning was also active with the WMU men s club volleyball team for four seasons as president, captain and coach during his career. He was an accomplished player on the squad as he was a three-time all-conference selection and was named to the All-Midwest 10 team. He was team and Midwest 10 League MVP for WMU in 2000. Since returning to WMU, Manning has helped coach the club team each of the past two seasons. As a high school coach, Manning led the Portage (Mich.) Northern High School junior varsity to a 118-10 record over two seasons (1997-98), including two league titles and one undefeated season. He also has been a successful club coach for the Kalamazoo Dead Frogs Junior Volleyball Club. He led the 17s to a fifth-place finish and the 16s to a ninth-place finish at the national championships. Two of his players earned All-America honors at the national tournament. Manning resumed his duties coaching the Dead Frogs upon his return to Kalamazoo. Manning also has international coaching experience after going to Osaka, Japan, in January of 2004 to work with the Sakai Blazers, a men s professional team consisting of five Olympians (among them was Brook Billings of the USA) coached by Manning s high school club coach, Gordon Mayforth. Manning is a 2000 graduate of Western Michigan with a bachelor s degree in advertising. He attended Downers Grove (Ill.) South High School and was an all-area volleyball first team selection and a member of the Mizuno All-Star Team as a senior. Manning and his wife, Brandy, are the parents of Isabelle (5) and Vienna (4) and reside in Portage. Ryan and Brandy Manning with daughters Isabelle and Vienna.
JASON REED ASSISTANT COACH Michigan State 05 Jason Reed is entering his second season as a member of the Western Michigan coaching staff after stints at Michigan State and West Alabama. In his first season with the Broncos, the team won the MAC West championship for the first time since 2000 and reached the 20-win plateau for the third season in a row. Reed also helped mentor libero Caitlin Strimel as she became the first MAC Defensive Player of the Year in school history. Reed came to WMU after beginning his second stint at his alma mater, Michigan State, under former Broncos head coach Cathy George. Reed was a volunteer assistant working with players on defense and was involved with planning and working the Michigan State volleyball camps. Reed was also a manager for the Spartans during the 2005 season where he filmed matches and performed video scouting and editing. He helped create weekly scouting reports as the Spartans audio-visual technology specialist. Reed spent the 2006 season as the top assistant at NCAA Division II West Alabama for former Western Michigan and Michigan State assistant coach Ron Arenz. Reed s on-court duties involved working with the Tigers defense and off the court he was involved in recruiting, team travel and practice planning. Reed helped sophomore Jacquie Swan earn Gulf South Conference East Division Defensive Player of the Week honors during the season and helped sophomore outside hitter Allison Nail on her way to being named to the All-Gulf South Conference East Division Second Team. Despite not playing volleyball in high school, Reed became a standout libero on the Michigan State club volleyball team during his four-year career. He won back-to-back Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Big Ten Tournament awards in 2005 and 2006. The Spartans won the Big Ten Tournament in 2005 and the Big Ten regular season championship in 2006. During the 2006 season, Reed helped MSU to the highest national ranking in school history, No. 3, and the Spartans were the only team to defeat eventual national champion Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He also helped MSU win back-to-back State of Michigan Championships in 2005 and 2006. Reed has also been involved in club volleyball coaching the Magic City Thunder during his stint in Alabama and he is now coaching the Dead Frogs Volleyball Club in Kalamazoo. Born into a U.S. military family in Germany, Reed graduated from Battle Creek (Mich.) Harper Creek High School in 2001 and then went on to receive a bachelor s in exercise science from Michigan State in 2005. WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
VOLLEYBALL STAFF SCOTT MAIS VOLUNTEER ASSISTANT Palmer 89 KYLE STAHL UNDERGRADUATE ASSISTANT Western Michigan 09 DAVE CORSTANGE ASSOCIATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR VOLLEYBALL AD Western Michigan 73 29th Year at WMU JOYCE FOOY HEAD EQUIPMENT MANAGER 19th Year at WMU VOLLEYBALL STAFF TIM HERRMANN STRENGTH & CONDITIONING COACH Western Michigan 00 9th Year at WMU KAREN ENGFEHR ATHLETIC TRAINER Eastern Michigan 06 20