Liz Underwood Hired as AU Volleyball Assistant Coach 

Jan. 5, 2004

Liz Underwood

AUBURN - Liz Underwood has been hired as Auburn's new assistant volleyball coach, Laura Farina has announced. Underwood brings 24 years of volleyball coaching experience, 11 of it at the Division I level, and will help in the recruiting and developing of athletes in the Auburn program.
 
"It is great to have Liz as part of this staff. I am so excited about this for the team, the program and for Auburn," Farina said. "Liz brings maturity, experience and wisdom to every facet of this program. She loves Auburn, she knows Auburn and she is ready to return to collegiate coaching at Auburn."

Underwood, formerly Liz Bitzer, was the head coach at Auburn from 1992 until 1997 and compiled a 99-81 record for a .550 winning percentage. During her time on the Plains the Tigers won their only SEC West Championship (1996) to date.

Prior to that, she had spent time at Louisville as the top assistant (1988-92) and at Colorado as the graduate assistant (1987-88).

After leaving Auburn, Underwood moved to Texas where she coached the Texas Advantage Volleyball Club to a top-5 five finish at the USAV Junior Olympic Nationals * 18 National Division in 2004 following a 7th-place finish in the 17 Open Division in 2002.

Underwood's success as a coach can be seen in her development of players. With Texas Advantage, she coached current Tiger Whitney Jacob who went on to earn First Team All-State honors as well as the District MVP honors. While at Auburn, she coached three All-SEC First Team and six second-team selections as well as two SEC Freshmen of the Year.

Underwood replaces Matt Darling who left at the conclusion of the 2004 season after three years on the Plains to finish his PhD.