Alumni On The Sidelines

The 2011 edition of the VolleyBlog will include a variety of features, including extra news and notes, player and coach insights, videos and more.

I thought the place to start this year was to put together a list of Panther volleyball alums who also got their seasons started this past weekend as collegiate head or assistant coaches.

This is, of course, in addition to UWM alum Lindsey Vanden Berg continuing to hold down her spot on the Panther bench as an assistant coach to Susie Johnson. Vanden Berg, who was Lindsey Spoden when she played in Milwaukee, was an All-American in 2003.

Julie Yankus received a big promotion this past off-season, moving from an associate head coach role at Southern Illinois to the position of head coach at Southeast Missouri State. She had been at SIU for the past five years and was at Georgia State for two seasons before that.

Yankus played at UWM from 1998-2001, playing on four NCAA Tournament teams.

Melissa (David) Emkes will be starting her second season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Bradley. She had previously been an assistant coach at Western Illinois and also spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant at Illinois.

Emkes earned all-league and all-league tournament honors at UWM as a senior, when the Panthers advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers won four regular season league titles and nearly 76 percent of their matches overall during Emkes’ collegiate career.

Trudy Vande Berg is back as an assistant coach at Iowa State this season. She also serves as the recruiting coordinator and assists in coaching the middle blockers. Vande Berg has also been an assistant coach at Duke and North Florida.

At UWM, Vande Berg set school records for blocks in a match and was the career leader in blocks until this past season. She played for the Panthers from 1994-97.

Meanwhile, former Panther standout Leanne Felsing is working for former Panther assistant coach (and baseball star) Matt Houk at South Dakota.

Felsing is entering her third season at USD and her first as the top assistant. She played at UWM from 2004-07 and put together one of the best all-around seasons in UWM history as a senior. She led the nation in triple-doubles while earning AVCA All-Region and honorable mention All-America honors for a second-straight season. Felsing finished her career with 1,146 kills, 1,329 digs and 2,264 assists while also helping the Panthers to four regular season league titles.

Her extensive list of honors also included League Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year recognition in addition to a pair of national player of the week honors. She also excelled in the classroom, earning ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District and Horizon League All-Academic Team nods.

Meanwhile, Houk is in his fourth season as the head coach at USD. He assisted the Panthers in 2002 and 2003. As a student on the diamond, he played in 104 games, batting .342 with 58 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases. He was recently named to UWM’s 20th-Anniversary Team.

There are also two other former Panther assistants – and graduates – who are currently leading Division I programs in the Mid-American Conference. Ryan Theis is the head coach at Ohio University and has led the Bobcats to three-straight NCAA Tournaments. Erik Olson is in his eighth season as the head coach at Central Michigan.