For the sixth time in her career, Florida head coach Mary Wise has been named the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association’s South Region Coach of the Year, the Lexington, Ky. – based organization announced Tuesday.
Wise has directed the Gators to one of their finest seasons in program history with a 29-1 overall record and a perfect 20-0 mark in the Southeastern Conference. Florida earned its first No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed in program history and has been ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll for eight consecutive polls.
Florida, which became the first team in SEC history to post a perfect 20-0 record, advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinals for the 19th time in the last 20 years. This season, Wise earned her 700th career victory, becoming just the 16th coach in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball history to achieve that milestone. She was named the 2010 SEC Coach of the Year, earning that honor for the 12th time in her career.
Under Wise’s direction, junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) was named the 2010 SEC Player of the Year and six Gators earned All-SEC recognition. Four Gators also were named AVCA All-South Region for the first time since the 2003 campaign.
Wise is in her 24th season as a collegiate head coach with a career record of 713-131 (.845). In her 20th season at Florida, Wise is 632-68 (.903). She is the nation’s winningest coach since 1991.
No. 1 Florida returns to action on Friday when it travels to Austin, Texas, to take on 16th-seeded Purdue in the NCAA Regional Semifinal. Opening serve is slated for 6 p.m. ET in Gregory Gymnasium. The match will be carried live on Sun Sports with Larry Vettel and Missy Whittemore and on WRUF Sports Radio 850 with Tom Collett.
2010 AVCA REGIONAL COACHES OF THE YEAR
Central Region: Jerritt Elliott, Texas
East Region: Jolene Nagel, Duke
Mideast Region: Russ Rose, Penn State
Midwest Region: Ed Allen, Tulsa
Northeast Region: Kelly Sheffield, Dayton
Pacific Region: Rich Feller, California
South Region: Mary Wise, Florida
West Region: Carolyn Zimmerman, Cal State Fullerton
