Elliott named AVCA Central Region Coach of the Year
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Texas Volleyball head coach Jerritt Elliott was voted Tachikara/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Central Region Coach of the Year, the organization announced on Wednesday. Elliott, in his fourth season as Texas' mentor, joined Georgia Tech's Bond Shymansky (East), Ohio State's Jim Stone (Midwest), Louisville's Leonid Yelin (Midwest), Yale's Erin Appleman (Northeast), Washington's Jim McLaughlin (Pacific), Hawaii's Dave Shoji (West), Tennesse's Rob Patrick (South) as regional honorees. Each regional coach of the year will represent their region on the Tachikara/AVCA National Coach of the Year ballot, which will be presented at the Tachikara/AVCA Coach of the Year and Victory Club Awards banquet in Long Beach, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 16, at the 2004 American Volleyball Coaches Association Annual Convention. Seven of the eight coaches have led their teams to the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship regional semifinal round. The honor is Elliott's second career regional nod. After leading Southern California to the Final Four in 2000, he earned Pacific Region honors. In 2004, Elliott has resurrected Texas' program, turning last year's 15-14 squad - one that missed the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in school history - into a 26-4 team that has earned the No. 6 national seed in the NCAA Tournament and has advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1998. With an active roster that has only two seniors and no juniors on it, the Longhorns finished second in the Big 12 with a 16-4 record and have claimed a national top-10 ranking since October. His usual eight-player rotation utilizes both seniors and six underclassmen - including four freshmen - and true freshmen starting at both setter and libero. For his efforts and his team's success, his conference peers voted Elliott Big 12 Coach of the Year. That honor was his third career conference coach of the year nod, also copping 1999 and 2000 Pac-10 Coach of the Year accolades during his two-year interim stint at USC. Elliott, who has an 81-41 (.664) record at Texas and a 131-52 (.716) career mark, will guide the Horns against No. 11 seed Stanford (26-6) in the NCAA Tournament's round of 16 on Friday, Dec. 10, at 5 p.m. in Green Bay, Wisc. The winner of that match will face the winner of the No. 3 Hawaii/No. 14 Wisconsin match on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. in a match that will be aired live on CSTV.
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