CHICAGO – Loyola University Chicago is proud to announce the return of former Rambler student-athlete and coach Shane Davis as the new leader of the men's volleyball program. Davis, who played for the Maroon and Gold from 2000-2003 and served as head men's volleyball coach from 2004-2015, returns to the bench where he led the Ramblers to back-to-back national titles in 2014 and 2015.  

"I am deeply honored to return to Loyola as head coach of the men's volleyball program—a program that has shaped my life and career in extraordinary ways. Loyola has always been home, and I can't wait to reconnect with our athletes, alumni and community. With a solid foundation beneath us, I'm fired up to launch this new era of Rambler volleyball and take our team to championship heights once again," said Davis. 

"We're super excited to have Shane back in the Maroon and Gold leading our men's volleyball program," said Athletic Director Steve Watson. "We're welcoming back a Loyola Hall of Famer who was a standout here as both a student-athlete and a coach. Shane led the Ramblers to national championships in 2014 and 2015, and we look forward to watching him take our program back to national prominence." 

Davis returns to Rogers Park for his 21st all-time season as a head coach and his 13th at Loyola, where he remains the winningest coach in program history with a 265-88 (.751) record.  

The four-time Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Coach of the Year and the 2014 AVCA Coach of the Year piloted the Ramblers to three straight NCAA Final Four appearances between 2013 and 2015, clinching two consecutive national championships in '14 and '15.  

During his previous tenure at Loyola from 2003 to 2015, Davis produced 43 All-MIVA picks, four of whom were MIVA Players of the Year, and 12 All-Americans, including two Olympic bronze medalists. Thomas Jaeschke ('15) and Jeff Jendryk ('18) earned bronze in the Paris 2024 Olympics; Jaeschke previously won bronze in the 2016 Olympics. Jaeschke was named the 2015 AVCA National Player of the Year while Jendryk earned the 2015 AVCA Newcomer of the Year.  

Hailing from Denver, Iowa, Davis was an exceptional member of Loyola's men's volleyball team from 2000 to 2003, during which time he set a school record for career assists (5,337), reaching second place in school history in career digs (723) as well. Davis was named Loyola's 2003 Male Athlete of the Year. 

As a freshman, he recorded 1,528 assists in a single season, good for third all-time, and was named MIVA Freshman of the Year in addition to grabbing Third Team All-MIVA honors. He received First Team All-MIVA honors in each of the next three seasons and was also a Second Team All-America selection in 2003.  

Davis led Loyola to 78 wins in his collegiate career, highlighted by a 24-6 season in 2002, when the Ramblers reached the MIVA Tournament championship match for just the third time in school history.  

He is a Rambler through and through and was the first men's volleyball student-athlete or coach to be inducted into the Loyola Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.  

After 12 seasons at Loyola, Davis left the helm for Northwestern where he spent eight seasons as the head women's volleyball coach. Davis's first two Wildcat recruiting classes ranked 22nd and 18th, respectively, with the 2017 season squad posting the best hitting percentage in program history.  

His 2022 recruiting class ranked seventh in the country, marking the highest ranked recruiting class in Northwestern women's volleyball history. In every season since he took over in 2016, the Wildcats had an outside hitter rank top five in the Big Ten in kills per set.  

Davis and his wife, Andrea, are the proud parents of daughters Sydney, Jordyn, and Riley.