University of North Florida Director of Athletics Lee Moon announced the hiring of Steve Loeswick as the head coach for the UNF volleyball program.
Loeswick takes over the Osprey program following a 14-year assistant coaching career including spending the past five seasons at LSU. The Tigers finished 19-11 this past season and earned their fifth consecutive SEC Western Division title.
“Steve is going to be a tremendous asset for our volleyball program,” said Moon. “He has a strong reputation for developing and instructing the fundamentals especially with setters. Steve has been part of successful programs throughout his career as a coach and a player and brings that experience and knowledge with him to the University of North Florida. His understanding of the game and his winning attitude are factors that will allow our program to move to the next level. In addition, Steve fits in perfectly with the family atmosphere we continue to build in the athletic department.”
During his time at LSU, Loeswick was a key component in the Tigers winning five consecutive SEC Western Division titles sparked by the 2009 SEC overall championship, the program's first since 1991. The Tigers also accumulated 112 victories and were one of 25 programs nationally to put together four straight NCAA Tournament appearances (2007-10) fueled by a trio of 25-win campaigns in 2007, 2009 and 2010, respectively.
“First and foremost, I want to thank Coach (Lee) Moon for giving me this amazing opportunity,” said Loeswick. "I believe that the pieces are in place for North Florida to be a highly competitive program. UNF’s location and quality of education are great recruiting advantages that I plan on utilizing immediately. I am anxious to meet the student-athletes and start working on our development as a team and I’m excited to hit the recruiting trail to build for the future. I also want to thank Coach Fran Flory and the staff at LSU for helping my preparation in reaching this point to have the chance to lead my own program.”
The Tigers garnered several honors during Loeswick’s tenure including the 2009 SEC Player of the Year, a pair of SEC Defensive Players of the Year, eight All-SEC selections, a first-team AVCA All-American, seven honorable mention All-American selections and six AVCA All-South Region first-team honorees. A quartet of players also eclipsed the 1,000 kill plateau during his time with the LSU program.
In addition, Loeswick guided LSU to its first sand championship, as all four Tiger squads made the gold bracket playoff on the sands of Siesta Key, Fla. in April 2010. He also represented LSU on the national stage as an assistant coach of the USA National A2 Red Team and received a bronze medal for his efforts at the 2010 USA Adult Open Volleyball Championships.
“Steve is a tremendous coach with a strong balance of knowledge between technical and tactical,” said LSU head coach Fran Flory. “He is a very loyal person and is definitely a player’s coach that will do everything possible to make the student-athletes experience outstanding. Along with being a great coach, Steve is an even better person. We will definitely miss him here at LSU but are thrilled and excited for his opportunity at North Florida.”
Prior to his arrival at LSU, Loeswick spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 2004-06. As a member of 2006 AVCA Central Regional Coach of the Year Santiago Restrepo's staff, Loeswick aided the Sooners record turnaround in 2006 highlighted by a 28-6 record and a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. The 28 victories and .824 winning percentage were school records, while the 15 more league wins marked the best one-year turnaround in Big 12 history.
OU finished the 2006 season ranked No. 12 in the AVCA poll, its highest ranking in program history and boasted a pair of All-America honors along with the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and Libero of the Year.
Before Oklahoma, Loeswick served as an assistant coach for six seasons at Cornell. During his tenure, the Big Red racked up a 93-38 record and 16 All-Ivy League selections, including 2000 Player of the Year Robin Moore. Cornell posted a top three finish in the Ivy League standings during three of Loeswick's final four seasons, including a 21-4 mark and a second-place finish in 2003.
Loeswick began his coaching career in 1997 where he was an assistant coach for the Martinus Club, a professional women's club in Holland, for one season. He entered coaching after a year of playing in Germany's top professional volleyball league.
A 1996 graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in exercise science, Loeswick was a four-year starting setter for the Trojans. He also served as team captain for the silver medal winning squad at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1993 and 1994.
A native of North Tonawanda, N.Y., Loeswick is married to the former Jennifer Arbuckle, a former standout volleyball player at Virginia Tech, and the couple has two daughters, Isabella Rose and Lillian Ann, and are expecting their first son in April.
Loeswick takes the helm of a UNF volleyball program that returns its entire squad from a team that finished 2011 with a 14-17 overall mark (5-8 Atlantic Sun) and made a second consecutive appearance in the conference tournament.
