After serving this past season as interim head coach at Northwest Missouri State, Amy Phelps has been promoted to Head Coach of the Bearcat volleyball team.
“I’m very excited for this opportunity and would like to thank President Jasinski and Wren Baker for having the confidence in me to continue as head coach,” Phelps said. “We have tremendous student-athletes and a solid nucleus to build around. I want to continue building on the momentum Coach (Jessica) Rinehart started during her time here.”
Phelps will be formally introduced to the media as the 11th Head Coach for Northwest volleyball Tuesday, Nov. 27 during Northwest’s regularly scheduled media luncheon at noon.
“I am thrilled Amy Phelps has agreed to serve as the next Head Coach of the Northwest volleyball team,” Baker said. “I was impressed with the way she led the program this year after the resignation of Jessica Rinehart and have no doubt that she can build off that momentum for next season. I am confident that she is bringing in the right student-athletes and is the best choice to lead the Bearcat program into the future.”
As interim head coach, Phelps guided the Bearcats to a 15-17 overall mark and 9-9 record in the MIAA. After spending the entire 2011 season as an assistant under Rinehart, Phelps was named interim head coach July 12.
Phelps, 33, inherited a young team that included only three seniors, three juniors, seven sophomores and six freshmen. She led Northwest to a sixth place finish and a berth in the MIAA Postseason Tournament where they fell to nationally ranked Central Missouri in the first round.
Northwest jumped out to a 5-0 MIAA record for the first time in over a decade and started the first two months of the 2012 season at 9-6 overall. Two Bearcats earned All-MIAA honors in her first season, as senior Tori Beckman earned first-team honors and sophomore Brooke Bartosh was named to the third-team. In addition, Beckman set a single season record for digs with 716.
“We made strides in the right direction,” Phelps added. “The MIAA is one of the toughest conferences in the nation and we want to be in the top four and compete for conference championships.”
Phelps, a native of Holden, Mo., began her first stint at Northwest in 2003 as a graduate assistant under Lori Slight. She received her masters from Northwest in the spring of 2005 with a degree in physical education and an emphasis in sports administration.
Prior to returning to Northwest, Phelps spent six seasons at Alaska-Fairbanks as an assistant coach. She was elevated to associate head coach in 2007. During that stretch, she helped coach 10 All-Conference honorees in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and 31 GNAC Academic All-Conference student-athletes. Under Phelps the Nanooks also earned one GNAC Newcomer of the Year and one GNAC Freshman of the Year.
Her coaching career began in 2001 at her alma mater, Graceland University, where she assisted with both the men’s and women’s teams. In 2002 the Lady Jackets were Region V finalists and qualified for the NAIA National Championships.
During her time as a player, Phelps earned first-team all-conference and all-region honors and was named honorable mention NAIA All-America as well as NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete. Serving as a co-captain, her team claimed both the regular season and postseason titles in the Heart of America Conference as a senior.
— NWMSU Sports Information —