Head volleyball coach, Jason Bibler, has been relieved of his coaching duties after three seasons.
Director of athletics, Lee De Leon, who announced the decision earlier today said the search for Bibler’s successor will begin right away.
“I appreciate all the effort Jason has put in to make our volleyball program competitive within the Southland Conference,” De Leon said. “We will begin a national search immediately for a coach that will be a great fit for ACU and the outstanding student-athletes on our volleyball team.”
(Photo Courtesy of ACU Sports)
In his three seasons Bibler guided the team to a 27-63 record overall, but was 24-24 in Southland play. Bibler struggled mightily his first season as the team won just six games and finished second to last in the conference. However, the team surprised people in 2015 with a fifth place conference finish and improved on that mark again this year with a 11-5 conference record and third place finish.
“We’ve had good record the last two years, especially in conference,” De Leon said. “It was more of an issue with the leadership style and the culture of our volleyball program.”
In 2017, the program will be eligible to advance to the NCAA tournament and will begin to compete at the Div. 1 level in beach volleyball in the spring of 2018.
The beach volleyball team was set to be coached by Breann Nesselhuff, who served as Bibler’s assistant in 2016, but De Leon said Nesselhuff has moved back to the Mountain West conference, taking a coaching job at the University of Wyoming.
Bibler was the ninth coach in ACU’s history, and served as the assistant at ACU from 2010-2012 before coaching at UT-Arlington as the assistant in 2013. His successor will inherit a fairly young, but talented team with the 2016 roster having been comprised of 12 freshman and sophomores, including sophomore Jacey Smith, who earned second team all-conference this past season. Bibler, along with Keith Barnier and Ken Collums is the third head coach to have been fired since De Leon took over in November of 2014.
