C-USA Volleyball Coach Earns All-Region Coach of the Year

Leonid Yelin

IRVING, Texas - In addition to producing four of the 12 women’s volleyball players that were named to the 2004 AVCA Midwest Region first team, Louisville’s head coach Leonid Yelin has been named 2004 Tachikara/AVCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year.

Yelin led the Cardinals to an undefeated Conference USA season, league tournament championship and berth in the NCAA Division I National Women’s Volleyball Championship region semifinals. Louisville has claimed at least a share of the C-USA regular title six times in the last nine years, including the league championship four times. Louisville makes its third NCAA Tournament ‘Sweet 16’ appearance this coming weekend after earning its eighth NCAA Tournament berth in Yelin’s nine-year tenure with the Cardinals. Louisville is currently ranked 15th in the USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches Poll.

The Cardinals, playing as the visitor, defeated 24th-ranked Missouri in this year’s NCAA Tournament second round. Louisville rides a 22-match win streak into the Sweet 16. Yelin holds a 339-99 career coaching record and ranks among the top 10 winningest active NCAA Division I coaches. He was selected Tachikara/AVCA Division II National Coach of the Year in 1995 while leading Barry University to a national championship.

The honor marks just the third time in C-USA history in which a league coach received the accolade. USF's Nancy Mueller won in 2002, while the Bulls' former coach Perry Hankins was named 1997 District Six Coach of the Year. Yelin was named to C-USA’s All-Decade team, announced by the league office in conjunction with its 10th anniversary during the season as well as the 2004 C-USA Coach of the Year.