Kyle Shondell, the 2022 AVCA National Coach of the Year in NAIA men's volleyball, has been hired to the lead the Butler women's volleyball program.
 
Butler Vice President and Director of Athletics Barry Collier made the announcement Tuesday, March 7.
 
Shondell is the sixth head coach in the program's NCAA history, which dates back to the 1975 season.
 
Shondell arrives at Butler after restarting the Indiana Tech men's volleyball program in 2019. He led the team to a record of 56-21 in the program's first three seasons, including a 29-3 mark in 2022. Indiana Tech finished the 2022 season ranked No. 3 nationally in the final NAIA poll, earning Shondell the AVCA National Coach of the Year honors.
 
"Kyle stood out during our search for a leader of our volleyball program as an elite communicator with strong tactical expertise," said Collier. "His experience has been on display as he has built programs at various levels. Most importantly, his values align with those of The Butler Way. We are excited for him to hit the ground running with our team."
 
"It's beyond a dream for me to be at a university with such rich history in a state covered with great volleyball," said Shondell. "I am ecstatic to get started building something special at Butler."
 
Indiana Tech made consecutive appearances in the NAIA National Tournament (2021 and 2022), while claiming the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) regular season championship both seasons. In each of those seasons, Shondell was also named the conference Coach of the Year and his team was ranked among the Top 10 nationally.
 
On the women's side, Shondell has experience leading the Huntington University program for the 2015 through 2018 seasons. He recruited and developed four All-Americans and 12 all-conference players during those four seasons, qualifying for the conference tournament each year. His Huntington teams won 28 conference games over his four seasons, while the program only posted a total of eight in the four seasons prior to his arrival. During his time at Huntington, he also worked for the university's career services office while leading the women's volleyball program.
 
As the head coach at Rock Valley College in Illinois during the 2013 campaign, Shondell led the women's program to 21 wins and was ranked seventh nationally in NJCAA Division III.
 
Shondell has experience as an assistant coach at both Chicago State (2014) and Western Illinois (2012). He has coached at clubs and at camps throughout the Midwest since 2009.
 
Shondell comes from a strong lineage of volleyball greatness. He is the grandson of Don Shondell, who started Ball State's men's and women's volleyball programs, co-founded the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) and is currently second in NCAA history in career wins. His father Dave is the head coach of the Purdue women's volleyball team, and his uncle John is an assistant with the Boilermakers.
 
Shondell graduated from Purdue in 2012 with a degree in Professional Writing and a minor in History. He received his Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from Huntington in 2018. He and his wife LeeAnn have two children, son Asher and daughter Annie.