NCAA Division II program Northern Michigan University has dipped into the D1 coaching pool to find its next head coach. They’ve hired Rashinda Reed as the 13th head coach in program history, announcing the move on Friday afternoon.
“Throughout the search process, Rashinda demonstrated the value she places on serving as a mentor and an educator,” said Director of Athletics Forrest Karr. “She emphasized how important it is to prioritize student-athlete well-being and to instill that the standard on the court and in the classroom is to work hard and have a winning mentality.”
Reed spent one season as an assistant at the University of Alabama – Birmingham, where she also led the school’s annual volleyball summer camp.
Prior to UAB, Reed spent a season as an assistant at Division 1 Northwestern University, and from 2011-2014 was an assistant at Division I Binghamton University, which she helped lead to an NCAA Championship tournament berth in 2012.
In addition to her Division I experience, Reed also had considerable credentials in Divisiion II. In her first coaching job, at the University of Southern Indiana, she coached one All-American from 2009-2011 and was a part of a team that qualified for the 2010 NCAA Division II Tournament.
Reed herself is a 2005 graduate of the University of Georgia, after which time she spent 5 seasons playing professional volleyball overseas in Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, and Finland while studying anthropology and Hungarian at the Central European University in Budapest; and German at Innsbruck University in Austria.
She was one of 4 finalists, and the only woman, to succeed coach Dominic Yoder, who resigned in November.
The finalists were Bob Crank (Quincy University head coach), Jeff Huebner (Middle Tennessee State University interim head coach), Michael Lozier (Wayne State University assistant coach) and Rashinda Reed (University of Alabama at Birmingham assistant coach).
NMU has a strong history in volleyball, including a 191-117 record under Yoder. In their history, they’ve qualified for 16 NCAA tournaments and have turned out 23 AVCA All-Americans – including Madison Whitehead last year as a sophomore.
Last season, the team’s year ended early with just a 17-14 record, anchored by a tough stretch in late September and early October where the team lost 6 of 7 games; and then another 5-game losing streak in late October. The team recovered to win their last 4, but ultimately that wasn’t enough to stave off the team’s 6th-straight season without an NCAA tournament bid.
UAB finished 10th out of 12 teams in Conference USA last year with a 9-19 overall record.
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