Former college standout Blair Brown Lipsitz was named new head coach of the volleyball team on Tuesday night.
The two-time All-American and four-time national champion will replace Reed Sunahara, who left the team on March 2 to assume the same position at West Virginia. Lipsitz has no prior coaching experience.
Athletic Director Danny White released a statement regarding the arrival of the new head coach.
“Blair represents our philosophy of developing champions in the classroom and on the court," White said. “She grew up and played in a championship culture, and winning is all she knows. We are confident that Blair can bring this culture to our volleyball program and lead us to the top of the Mid-American Conference.”
This isn’t the first time Lipsitz will be working with the Bulls. Last summer, Lipsitz worked as a volunteer assistant on the team team under Sunahara. She also was an analyst for ESPN3 and covered Bulls game last season.
Lipsitz was a standout performer at Penn State from 2007-10 and led the Nittany Lions to four consecutive national championships. She was named First-Team All-American in 2009-10 and was named Second-Team All-American in 2008.
In 2010, Lipsitz was named the Big 10 Player of the Year and won the Honda Sports Award, which is awarded to the best player in each Division-I sport.
After college, Lipsitz played professionally for three years from 2011-13 in Italy, Puerto Rico and France before returning to the United States to continue work with the U.S. Elite Volleyball Camp.
Brown Lipsitz co-founded the camp with her husband, Buffalo-native and three-time All-American, Max Lipsitz in 2011. The camp expanded to over 340 campers as of 2013 and travels to various areas of the Northeast United States.
“I want to thank Danny White, Kathy Twist and everybody at UB for this tremendous opportunity,” Lipsitz said in a press release. “I am honored to be part of the women's volleyball team and the entire athletic department and I am looking forward to bringing this program to the next level.”
Jordan Grossman is the senior sports editor. He can be reached at jordan.grossman@ubspectrum.com
