The Benedictine College Athletic Department and Athletic Director Charlie Gartenmayer have announced the hire of Erin Pick-Cooper to the head volleyball coaching position.

“We are pleased that Coach Cooper is joining our staff here at Benedictine,” said Gartenmayer. “She brings a wealth of experience at many levels of volleyball and we are excited to have her become part of the Benedictine community.”

Coach Cooper’s most recent stop was at defending Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Champion MNU in Olathe where she served as an assistant from 2010-11.

Prior to MNU she severed as an assistant coach at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.

The head coaching position at Benedictine will be her third head coaching job as she previously served as head coach at Dodge City Community College from 1999-2001 and Seminole State College from 2001-2007.

“I’m excited to become part of the Benedictine community,” said Coach Cooper. “A lot of the colleges that I’ve been at haven’t had the feel that Benedictine has. This really feels like it can be a home away from home for me.”

She built the volleyball program at Seminole from scratch, guiding it to a No. 9 ranking in just three years after inception of the program. She was named Coach of the Year in 2004 and guided Seminole to a NJCAA Region II championship in 2004 and a runner up finish in Region II in 2005 and 2006.

“I look forward to being able to work with an athlete for four years,” said Coach Cooper. “When I was coaching at the junior college level, I felt like I was just getting to see the greatness in a player and they moved on to play somewhere else.”

Coach Cooper will begin her duties as head coach on Feb. 1 and will hit the ground running, getting to know the current group of Raven volleyball players and beginning the recruiting process.

“I’m going to need to get know what we have first,” Coach Cooper said. “Then we’ll see what we still need.

“Having spent time with MNU, I’ve seen what it’s going to take to be at the top of the conference and a look forward to making that climb with Benedictine.”

Benedictine went 7-23 this past fall and 2-7 in the HAAC. They qualified for the HAAC Postseason Tournament but were knocked out by MNU in the quarterfinal round.

— BC Sports Information —